Videogaming Goes the 12-Step Route

TUESDAY JULY 18 2006 8:00 PM
Submitted by PopMonger. Edited By PopMonger.

What hath you wrought, Super Mario Brothers? The latest scourge threatening today’s youth isn’t marijuana or careless driving (according to those PSAs). No, it’s videogame addiction.

Europe’s first rehab facility for compulsive gamers has opened in the Netherlands… because there’s no better place to treat addiction than in Amsterdam.

Addicted gamers display many symptoms, including obsessive thinking and health problems. Others may use stimulants to keep awake during gaming marathons.

Some who play online multiplayer games may feel extreme guilt about leaving fellow gamers if they switch their console off.

Last year a man in South Korea died after spending 50 hours playing an online game.

The Amsterdam clinic offers an eight-week treatment program, complete with staff psychologists and group therapy. About a dozen such clinics already exist in the U.S. and Canada.

Cindy’s Comment: Oh, there’s so much I can but won’t say. I only want to say that it nearly brings me to tears how sad it is that these gaming addicts feel more guilt causing their online cohorts’ characters to die if they log off, than they feel for neglecting their living breathing hurting significant others and children.