The World Health Organization (WHO) has labelled Excessive Gaming as a disorder. ‘Gaming Disorder’ will be added to the section on addictive disorders in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). It has been defined as a pattern of gaming behaviour in which there is “impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences” by WHO.

Gaming is becoming increasingly popular among children and adolescents. For the disorder to be diagnosed however, the severity of the behaviour and the resulting impairment in areas of life along with a duration of at least 12 months are considered. The revised version of the ICD-11 will be released on January 1st, 2022.