The WHO votes to recognise ‘gaming disorder’ as an official disease
The World Health Organization unanimously voted to recognize compulsive gaming, or ‘gaming disorder,’ as an official disease at its 25th annual general meeting, taking place this weekend in Geneva, Switzerland.
Video Games Chronicle reports that gaming disorder will now be included in the International Classification of Diseases, which is used internationally by healthcare professionals and insurers.
The definition of gaming disorder has remained more or less the same since the WHO introduced it as a mental health disorder last year. The disease is characterized as “impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities,” and that those afflicted with the condition will continue to play games despite experiencing negative life consequences as a result.
In other words, if you miss work and get fired because you stayed up all night playing a game that just launched, you may have an addiction problem, according to the WHO. To qualify as a gaming disorder under the new guidelines, this kind of behaviour must persist for at least 12 months.
from PCGamesN http://bit.ly/2K0mfEE
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