Hello, I'm Stokky and I'm a WoWcoholic. I have been "clean" now for over... 10 hours. But before last night, I managed to keep myself away from World of Warcraft for more than a month. And before last Christmas, I even took a break of over two months. Imagine that!... Ok, clearly I have a problem. But it's quite reassuring to know that others out there are even more addicted to games, something which I find rather hard to imagine.

Luckly for them, a new clinic for game addicts is about to open next month. It's the first in-patient clinic for video game addicts in Europe, and it's beeing set up by the Smith and Jones addiction consultancy, in an eight-bed residential unit from Amsterdam. The clinic will accommodate patients for between four to eight weeks, promising to offer the first specialized online gaming treatment program in the world, as of July 2006. Word on their website is that:

"The GAME ZONE treats compulsive gaming with many of the same tools that we use for other obsessive / compulsive behaviors, implementing the 12 Step Program as our treatment model. (...)

We saw that these gamers often displayed many of the same characteristics of addiction as heavy gamblers, and drug addicts. We saw that compulsive gaming behavior was often progressive. For many of these individuals, it began with what seemed to be "normal" gaming activity. This could mean an hour or two every few days, in their free time without negative consequences. However, as time progressed, the gaming began to take over more and more of their time and became gradually but dangerously more obsessive."

Sounds familiar, eh? But wait, they also say that "Gaming can be a serious addiction and can even lead to death..." - O RLY?

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)