Now that we know what addiction is, we need to see if video game addiction fits the pattern of a medically recognised addiction. In July 2006, the
world's first video game addiction clinic opened in Amsterdam. The event sparked the curiosity of the global press--it was the first time
video game addiction was acknowledged, and the subsequent coverage pointed to the increasing popularity of video games and the people who
just couldn’t stop playing them. Almost all media reports at the time and subsequent reports dealing with video game addiction pointed to the few
instances of video-game-related deaths as examples of addiction, wishing to demonstrate the debilitating effect of video games. But few reports
actually defined addiction or indicated that not all video game addicts eventually kill themselves, or others, through excessive playing.
The cases most often cited include a South Korean man who collapsed in an Internet cafe after playing Starcraft for 50 hours; a man in China
who died after playing online games for 15 days consecutively; a 13-year-old boy from Vietnam who strangled an elderly lady with a piece of rope
because he wanted money to buy games; and a number of cases in the United States involving angry teenagers murdering family members over
games and consoles. The fact that the latter cases have more to do with displays of deep mental instabilities rather than addiction was not
mentioned in the reports, an omission that no doubt has contributed to the public's widespread confusion about what video game addiction really