John Bracken

The LA Times reports that the AMA will consider making “video game addiction” a psychiatric disorder:

The proposal also would have doctors exhort parents to curb their children’s use of the Internet, television and video games to two hours a day. In addition, it would have the AMA… lobby the Federal Trade Commission to improve the current system for rating video game content.

My first reaction that proving media causation is a high bar that is not always met. (My skepticism may derive from the fact that my last game addiction was a spring break bout with Tetris in the early 90s.)  Further, gaming has become such a common activity that discerning its effects is not easy.

“The causation question is not particularly well-supported,” said Jamil Moledina, executive director of the Game Developers Conference, an annual event for professional game creators.

The proposal before the AMA also points out the inadequacies of current studies, citing “insufficient research to definitively conclude that video game overuse is an addiction.”

Joystiq and Game Politics (which is starting Game Decision 2008 “to track video game-related issues in regards to presidential candidates”) report on Obama’s dated gaming reference at a rally yesterday in Austin. “It’s time for you to turn off the TV and stop playing GameBoy’ … We’ve got work to do,” said Obama. Game Politics adds:

It’s not the first time Obama has invoked the idea that gaming equals slacking. The Illinois senator has no game legislation track record, but as reported by the Washington Post, he did rather pointedly return a $500 campaign donation from then-ESA [Entertainment Software Association] boss Doug Lowenstein.