Dan Laton, a Psychology graduate from Victoria University, recently conducted a study on the effects of games on social well being. Gamers tend to be thought of as a group of socially awkward, shy nerds. The purpose of the study was to find out whether or not that stereotype is actually true.

His study had shown that there are no clear links between shyness and gaming, since only one percent of his subjects actually suffered from shyness. The gamers that have been found to have problems socially end up being the players of MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Everquest. These findings have some implications for the American Medical Association (AMA) which will be readdressing whether or not video game addiction as a mental disorder by…

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently concluded its debate as to whether or not videogame addiction a legitimate medical condition.

The AMA had been debating as to whether or not “videogame addiction” should be classified as a psychiatric disorder akin to alcoholism or drug abuse. A report prepared for a vote at their annual policy meeting stated more than 5 million children were possible addicts.

“There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn’t get to have the word addiction attached to it,” said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.