Video game addiction has been a topic of discussion for the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2014.
After being included four years later in the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), the following year this new list was accepted during the World Health Assembly, within the framework of its seventy-first edition.
The so-called gaming disorder was thus included, officially, within the section on mental, behavioral or neurodevelopmental disorders. “It is characterized by a persistent or recurrent pattern of gambling behavior” , specifically defined by the WHO.
Putting aside other activities – whether social, family or professional – to stay at home and spend hours at the console or computer is one of the most significant symptoms. Those affected make gambling a top priority. So is losing track of screen time ; in many cases, they even sacrifice hours of sleep, which affects the mental and physical health of the gamer .
Although a good use of digital entertainment gives rise to a multitude of beneficial effects for health , some titles hide mechanisms that border on the mere game and encourage gambling and addiction, such as loot boxes or loot boxes. Its operation is apparently simple: by paying with real money, the user gets content – weapons, armor or a new outfit or appearance for the character, for example – within the video game.
The key to everything is that you never choose what you receive: rewards are only distinguished by their degree of quality. The result is that, due to the randomness of the system, it ends up becoming a sort of camouflaged slot machine . Its consequences for children and adolescents, who are more frequent consumers of digital entertainment – and especially vulnerable to these mechanisms – would lead to addiction.
Sophia Achab, director of the program on addictive behaviors at the University Hospital of Geneva (Switzerland), has highlighted the constant increase in the number of people suffering from disorders related to this type of leisure. And also of the growing proportion of young men: “ 43 of our 110 patients with internet addiction are mainly addicted to games . Among them there are forty boys or young men, and only three girls ”, Achab has specified.
In addition, the expert warns of the danger posed by the aforementioned loot boxes. “His search pushes the user to continue playing to achieve real or virtual victories,” he pointed out.
By Mario Ruiz .
