The World Health Organisation has approved an amendment that will recognise gaming addiction as an official illness.

The amendment to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11) has been listed as “gaming disorder” and will come into effect as of the 1st of January 2022.

Gaming disorder will be “characterized by 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 continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences”.

The amendment has not gone down well with many from the gaming or health industry, with the Entertainment Software Association claiming that it “recklessly trivializes real mental health issues like depression and social anxiety disorder”.

This comes after many developers have been fighting against governments and organisations looking to ban loot boxes and gambling from games although it may be a while before we see any developers or games acting to properly battle gaming disorder especially as the ICD is not in any way related to the law.

With Belgium banning loot boxes and China & India going after games to battle addiction, it may not be long before we see more government action against gaming.

Do you think that it was a good move to officially recognise gaming addiction? Or do you think that this move may be somewhat over the top from the World Health Organisation? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.