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Prevalence
No formal studies have been published addressing the prevalence of a possible video game addiction. A Harris Interactive poll released in April of 2007 found that 8.5% of "youth gamers" in the United States could be "classified as pathological or clinically 'addicted' to playing video games."[11] A British survey reported in November of 2006 indicated 12% of polled gamers exhibit addictive behaviors.[12] Video game overuse is believed to be more of a problem in Asia.[4] A governmental survey in South Korea estimated that 2.4% of South Koreans aged 9 to 39 are addicts, with 10.2 percent more "borderline cases."[13]A 2005 survey by the Entertainment Software Association found that "video game overuse" was more common in players of MMORPGs.[14] In an interview in 2005, Dr. Maressa Orzack of McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts estimated that 40% of the 8.5 million players of MMORPG World of Warcraft are addicted, a figure she derived from the survey managed by Nick Yee at the The Daedalus Project. [15]. However, Nick Yee has pointed out that caution should be exercised when interpreting this survey data[16].A 2008 Study by Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that video game addiction in men may be more prevalent than women when the game concept revolves around territorial control. [17]Possible causesTheorists focus on the built-in reward systems of the games to explain their addictive nature.[18][19]

Deaths

There have been three well-documented deaths caused directly by exhaustion from playing games for long periods. In South Korea, Lee Seung Seop died after playing Starcraft for over 50 hours. [27] [28] In Jinzhou, China, Xu Yan died after playing online games for over 15 days during the Lunar New Year holiday [29] and an unnamed 30 year-old died in Guangzhou, China after playing for 3 days straight. [30][31]
Research Studies
Research on Internet addiction is ongoing. A bimonthly, peer-reviewed journal, CyberPsychology & Behavior,... [continues]

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