British Newspaper Claims Gaming is “as Addictive as Heroin”

Having spent a chunk of my life living in England, I developed an affinity for the The Sun newspaper. No, not because of their page 3 girls, but mainly for some shits and giggles because they have the ability to report the most absurd kind of stuff you’ll ever read.

This one, however, is of particular interest to gaming sites. An “investigation” conducted by The Sun has found that gaming addiction is comparable to heroin addiction. I kid you not.

According to this fantastic piece of research, British people have reached new levels of “mental health risk” and this is comparable to alcohol and drug abuse. Furthermore, the newspaper claims that 5,000 calls were made to one clinic for help. So what does gaming do? It gives you a “kick” and a “chemical buzz”, and it “increases dopamine levels” in the brain. And as if this isn’t enough, Call of Duty has caused at least three suicides in the country.

What do our readers think of this report, especially those in the UK? I would argue that gaming isn’t comparable to heroin. But if you’re talking about chocolate addiction, then I think we have a solid argument. As far as the Call of Duty link is concerned, I think we can blame yearly releases.

Unfortunately, the full article is behind a paywall online. But you can probably grab a physical copy and give the full article a read.

[Source: The Sun via MCV]

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