Global controversy about "disease" video games

Video games capture games but do their exercise overuse a satisfactory condition? Video game makers try to prevent the "play-related disorder" from becoming a recognized disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO), which spent years researching the addictive nature of video games, listed "play-related disorder" on its list of health problems last year, a decision that governments are expected to ratify in May and have potential implications for health care and health insurance policies. For example.

Video game makers in the United States and the World Health Organization said they discussed the issue in Geneva last month.

"We hope that through continued dialogue we will be able to help WHO avoid hasty action and make mistakes that may take years to fix," said Stanley Pierre Louis, president of the Entertainment Software Association, in a statement.

It called for "further dialogue and study" before making a final opinion on any video game classification.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines the disorder as the acquisition of video games over people's lives for a year or more at the expense of other activities and "continuing to play or increase exercise, despite its negative consequences."

She said another meeting was tentatively scheduled this year with the association, but dialogue did not mean cooperation with game makers.

Governments of WHO Member States are expected to begin reporting on video game turbulence as early as 2022, opening the way for WHO to follow up in the form of global health statistics.