Over this coming week, the World Health Organization are set to address gaming and the possibility of classifying it as an illness. The classification is set to be discussed at the 72nd World Health Assembly, set to take place in Geneva between the 20th and 28th of May this year.

This comes in the wake of a year of concern over games being addictive and the harm thereof. This also comes several months after the World Health Organization set out their guidelines of what a “Gaming Disorder” is, as they have stated it to be. This would come under the revised International Classification of Diseases: Also known as ICD-11.

As stated by the World Health Organization, gaming disorders would be characterized by a player making gaming a precedence over essential life activities. Going further to state the symptoms must be, at least, prevalent twelve months before a proper diagnosis can be made. For example, if someone’s personal, family, social life, education, or occupation suffer, as a result, these would have to be evident for twelve months or more.

One would suspect this is as a result of the growing number of sensationalist articles sighting married couples divorcing because the husband plays Fortnite, not sighting underlying issues, as well. Conversely, it could the worrying result of children being given an iPad to play a free-to-play game, and ends up spending several hundred dollars in that time. Furthermore, the number of concerns surrounding loot boxes and the laws being laid out by politicians may also contribute to the worries of medical professionals.

As stated in the proposal set out in September of 2018, “Studies suggest that gaming disorder affects only a small proportion of people who engage in digital- or video-gaming activities. However, people who partake in gaming should be alert to the amount of time they spend on gaming activities, particularly when it is to the exclusion of other daily activities, as well as to any changes in their physical or psychological health and social functioning that could be attributed to their pattern of gaming behavior.” There should be a genuine concern when one’s personal life is affected by a dependency on gaming.

However, I will say as someone who plays games for several hours a day: There should be some skepticism on some diagnoses. While I have joked about hooking myself up to an IV drip to play for several hours, these are an exaggeration to make the point that reviewing some games becomes a chore. In reality, I don’t, and I hope others also don’t suffer for the sake of playing a game. As the quote above states, “gaming disorder affects only a small proportion of people who engage in… video-gaming activities.”

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