While it is not included in the DSM-IV, neither is pornography addiction, which is very real, and has been proven to be an addiction by Dr. Don Hilton, a renowned neurosurgeon and author of "He Restoreth My Soul."
There are several studies that show plainly video gaming causes a release of dopamine. Here is a quote from just one:
Parents and teachers often comment that "kids become absolutely wired"
when absorbed in video games. Now, there's a scientific study which
confirms that observation. In a study conducted at the Cyclotron Unit of
Hammersmith Hospital in London, Dr. Paul Grasby and his fellow researchers
determined that playing video games triggers the release of dopamine in the
brain.
The researchers discovered that dopamine production in the brain doubles
during video game play.
The increase of the psychoactive chemical was roughly the same as when a
person is injected with amphetamines or the attention-deficit disorder drug,
Ritalin. This is the first hard evidence that video game playing is
addictive, "the equivalent of a dose of speed."
Having worked with youth for a very long time, I have also done quite a bit of personal research into the area of video gaming addiction. After reading posts at olganonboard.org, including the story of a 30 something professional married man who lost his wife and job over an Everquest gaming addiction, to a woman who ignored her critically injured baby to finish a game, to teenage children responding violently (one Ohio boy shot his mother to death and wounded his father when they took away his Halo 3 game) to things related to gaming, it would seem pretty obvious that there is a problem here.
My husband works in IT, and has first hand knowledge that video companies not only hire great coders, but psychologists as well, with the intention of making games as addictive as possible.
It is alarming how many of my son's youth activities have including gaming nights. He doesn't play them. He made that decision on his own after realizing when he played that he could not identify when he could no longer feel the spirit. He has not played in five years, and has no intention of ever playing again.
Even if it's not an addiction, he says, it's a huge distraction. Elder Ballard warned:
"Our enemy is cunning and resourceful. We fight against Lucifer, the father of all lies, the enemy of all that is good and right and holy. Truly we live in a time of which Paul prophesied, when "men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy...
"These are 'perilous times.' We battle literally for the souls of men. The enemy is unforgiving and relentless. He is taking eternal prisoners at an alarming rate. And he shows no sign of letting up.
"What we need now is the greatest generation of missionaries in the history of the Church. We need worthy, qualified, spiritually energized missionaries who, like Helaman's 2,000 stripling warriors, are 'exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity' and who are 'true at all times in whatsoever thing they [are] entrusted' (Alma 53:20).
It is alarming when our stripling warriors are lost to us fighting a virtual battle against mythical creatures and aliens, rather than the actual war.
