Gaming addiction has become yesterday a mental disorder according to the World Health Organization, and the decision will become effective as of January 2019. The games industry has reacted to the decision, and in an open letter signed by the ESA, the ESA of Canada, the European Games Developer Federation, Interactive Entertainment South Africa, Interactive Games & Entertainment Association, Korea Association of Game Industry, Interactive Software Federation of Europe, and United Brazilian Organization of Video Games has expressed its concern about it.
Gaming addiction has become yesterday a mental disorder according to the World Health Organization, and the decision will become effective as of January 2019.
The games industry has reacted to the decision, and in an open letter signed by the ESA, the ESA of Canada, the European Games Developer Federation, Interactive Entertainment South Africa, Interactive Games & Entertainment Association, Korea Association of Game Industry, Interactive Software Federation of Europe, and United Brazilian Organization of Video Games has expressed its concern about it.
“Video games across all kinds of genres, devices, and platforms are enjoyed safely and sensibly by more than 2 billion people worldwide, with the educational, therapeutic, and recreational value of games being well-founded and widely recognized,” the open letter says.
“We are therefore concerned to see ‘gaming disorder’ still contained in the latest version of the WHO’s ICD-11 despite significant opposition from the medical and scientific community. The evidence for its inclusion remains highly contested and inconclusive. “
“We hope that the WHO will reconsider the mounting evidence put before them before proposing the inclusion of ‘gaming disorder’ in the final version of ICD-11 to be endorsed next year,” is then the proposal of the organizations.
“We understand that our industry and supporters around the world will continue raising their voices in opposition to this move and urge the WHO to avoid taking steps that would have unjustified implications for national health systems across the world.”
We are interested in learning your opinion about this, what do you think of the decision of the WHO to introduce the gaming addiction among its recognized disorders?
