video game addiction

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Lawsuit: Fortnite Designed to Be as Addictive as Cocaine

Could become class-action suit in Canada

(Newser) - The maker of the wildly popular video game Fortnite is facing a new lawsuit that has nothing to do with dance moves . Addiction to the third-person shooter game "has real consequences on the lives of players, many of whom … do not eat, do not shower, and no longer...

Candy Crush Exec: Spending $2.6K in Day on Game 'Rational'

An executive for game maker King says people who play for hours are 'happy,' not addicted

(Newser) - Are you embarrassed to admit you play Candy Crush Saga for way too long each day? No worries—you don't have an addiction, per a rep from King, the game's maker. The Guardian reports senior executive Alex Dale recently appeared before a UK Commons committee looking into addictive...

'Gaming Disorder' Now an Official Illness

Industry groups want UN agency to reconsider

(Newser) - Video game addiction is now officially a disease. The World Health Organization added "gaming disorder" as a modern disease in its International Classification of Diseases at the 72nd World Health Assembly on Saturday, CNET reports. The UN health agency's fact page on the disorder describes it as "...

Seattle Fights a 'New Foe' on the Addiction Front

City has become a hub to help 'tech addicts,' with psychologists, rehab centers, and 12-step groups

(Newser) - We like to say we're addicted to our phones or an app or some new show on a streaming video service. But for some people, tech gets in the way of daily functioning and self-care. We're talking flunk-your-classes, can't-find-a-job, live-in-a-dark-hole kinds of problems, with depression, anxiety, and...

Man Downloads Fallout 4, Loses Wife and Job

Russian is now suing game's creator, claiming he developed an addiction

(Newser) - A 28-year-old gamer from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk is suing Fallout 4 maker Bethesda Game Studios for an addiction he says cost him his wife, job, and health. After seeing an ad and downloading the game last month, he found himself emerging from a bunker into a post-apocalyptic world,...

Dad Hires Online 'Assassins' to End Son's Gaming

Son's character was killed off every time he logged on

(Newser) - A father in China worried about his unemployed son's obsession with online gaming put a hit out on the 23-year-old's avatars in his favorite games, paying "assassins" to kill his son every time he logged on. The two reportedly reconciled after the son discovered the plot, though...

Cops: Vietnam Girl Is Killed for Online Game Money

Teen boy allegedly stole 7-year-old neighbor's earrings

(Newser) - A Vietnamese teenager who allegedly killed his 7-year-old neighbor to steal her gold earrings to pay for computer games has been arrested. The 15-year-old was taken into custody a day after he allegedly beat the girl's head with rocks and fled with her earrings. The girl died of brain...

How CityVille Sucked In a Hardcore Gamer

Online game's accessibility and simplicity turns busy man into addict

(Newser) - The online city-planning game CityVille is meant for “casual gamers,” and there are plenty of them: 92 million active monthly users, to be exact. But such simple gameplay and basic graphics would turn off any sophisticated player, right? Wrong—as JP Mangalindan, writing in Fortune , found out. A...

Teens Hit With Midnight Video Game Curfew

6-hour 'Midnight Shutdown' aims to get underage gamers some sleep

(Newser) - Here's a novel sort of curfew: Teenagers in South Korea will be prevented from staying up all night to play online video games by a 6-hour blackout period. It's being called the "Midnight Shutdown," but the culture ministry's decree actually gives underage gamers the choice of midnight to...

9 Stories