A new clinic for gaming addicts has seen an unexpected surge in demand, as experts warn the UK is not doing enough to tackle gambling-style features in games on mobile phones and consoles.
The National Centre for Gaming Disorders (NCGD), which treated its first patient in 2020, was originally given NHS funding based on the expectation that it would see just 50 people a year.
But the specialist London clinic has been treating 30 people a month since the end of March this year - more than seven times the anticipated demand -taking the total to 855. Patients and their relatives have reported the total breakdown of family relationships, the use of violence and refusal by children to go to school.
About a third of gamers receiving treatment said they had spent money on gambling-style features such as "loot boxes", which offer randomised rewards, including weapons or outfits for characters. Experts say these features, which have proved highly lucrative for video game firms, are normalising gambling behaviours in young people by offering the rush of rewards that can entrench addiction.
Certain games are particularly likely to be cited by addicts, according to analysis of treatment sessions. During 2021 and 2022, almost 12% of patients who played video games compulsively referred to playing Fortnite, with 10% citing Minecraft, 8% mentioning Call of Duty and 4.7% using the gaming platform Roblox.
The clinic offers help to gamers, more than half of whom are children, as well as to affected family members, such as parents. Of the 855 referrals, 408 were gamers, 227 of whom were under 18.
This story is from the July 15, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the July 15, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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