Why gaming is considered a disorder and not an addiction?

Gaming has emerged as one of the largest industries across the world. The most dominant country in the market is China which made $14.6 B of revenue in 2017. If we inspect about the games, then there are 3 games that have been dominantly cashing the market; namely, Fortnite, PUBG, and LoL.

Not long ago, The Word Health Organization identified gaming as a disorder and listed it among the prevailing psychological diseases around the globe. The organization states that “increasing priority [is] given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities”. However, it fails to highlight a number of important aspects which is why there has been a considerable number of arguments raised against the identification. Subsequently, there has been an outburst in the community since W.H.O declared gaming as a disorder. The more specific reasoning about gaming disorder could have helped W.H.O to escape from the arguments. Many people claim that if Gaming is a Disorder, then there would also be researches on usage of smartphones and any other activity that generates a rewarding stimuli.

Before delving into the discussion about whether gaming is a disorder or an addiction or nothing serious, let’s find out a brief difference between Disorder and Addiction.

Disorder
An illness that disturbs the mental and physical conduct of an individual is considered as a disorder.

Addiction
When a person consistently responds to a rewarding stimuli without focusing on its consequences, the person is said to be addictive.

Firstly, it is essential to notice that previously W.H.O has already revealed gaming as a real addiction. The announcement, unsurprisingly, was challenged by a number of doctorates who had been studying about games and stimuli feedback. Being cautious of the word ‘Addiction’, this time the organization has preferably used ‘Disorder’ to portray the hazardous effects of gaming. If it were to use ‘Addiction’, then many other countless arguments could have been hoisted. The WHO misses out a considerable amount of evidences to prove how gaming is comprehensively an addiction. It implies the organization has used the terminology Disorder by purpose, which could be a deviation from the main subject.

Secondly, it is true that addiction does exist in gaming, but it does not mean every gamer is an addictive. The addiction is a general term that means usage of anything in excess in reaction to a rewarding stimuli, while neglecting the ramifications. For instance, if a person who drives fast or reads a lot, does he belong to an addictive category? Because similar to gaming, there is an addiction of reading and fast-driving that give rise to a rewarding stimuli. Does that mean reading and driving fast should be considered a disorder?

Thirdly, there has been no appropriate research on how many people have gone through or currently under the gaming disorder. It is said that only 1% of gamers are addictive that are willing to avoid/sacrifice everything for gaming, such as outgoing, studying, eating etc., and it is absolutely understandable that such individuals should be medically treated as soon as possible. However, the other 99% should not be considered suffering from Gaming Disorder. According to a research, most of the gamers who daily play games are suffering from anxiety, isolation, and depression, and therefore they need an escape from the real world, so that they can be happy and cherish their triumphs. What is more, many gamers have been earning millions of dollars from gaming, and they consider gaming as their full time profession.

Lastly, there should be a revise in the term “Gaming Disorder” and its definition. The W.H.O needs to clarify that only Extreme Gaming causes the Disorder and not just a few hours of usual gaming. Therefore, if we begin considering everything repetitive an addiction or a disorder, the world will lose a lot of its resources – 2 Billion Gamers and $128 Billion of Revenue by 2020 and 51% of the global market in 2018.

We would like you to have your opinion on the subject. Kindly let us know the following in the comment section:

• Are you a gamer? If yes, do you consider W.H.O’s decision to be exactly based on facts?
• Do you agree that only Extreme Gaming should be considered hazardous to human health?
• What is your opinion of the obsessions that are identical to Gaming? Should they also fall into the same category? If not, then why?

We are looking forward to hearing from you.