It's not difficult to understand the appeal of video games. First of all, there's the power. Most children and teens do not feel they have much control over their world. They are generally told what to wear and eat, when to go to sleep and wake up, how to spend most of their day (in school, duh), and even who their friends should be. In a video game, the child is in control, whether they're driving a race car, mastering mad guitar licks, or leading a Horde raid on the Alliance.
“When they play, their brains produce endorphins, giving them a high similar to that experienced by gamblers or drug addicts. Gamers’ responses to questions even mirror those of alcoholics and gamblers when asked about use,” said one addiction counselor.
But there is another very real challenge when quitting an activity that occupies all of your free time and involves pretty much everyone in your social network. Kids who are addicted to virtual reality have lost, or may never have had, the ability to comfortably communicate with people face to face. They’ve spent all of their time interacting in a virtual world and are extremely uncomfortable when dealing with real people in real time. In an online world, there is time to edit what you say. There’s also very little risk when the person you are talking with is in a different time zone, let alone a different country.