Addiction or Attraction???

I would like to put forward the idea that many critics confuse addiction to video games with a mere attraction to them, which in turn becomes the starting point of misleading assumption towards the nature of true addiction as well as understanding its cause and effect.

Gaming addiction can be a serious problem when it does occur. However, when a mere infatuation with particular video games becomes frowned upon by certain critics influencing a significant fraction of society this becomes somewhat unsettling.
As a renounced caffeine addict, I would confidently argue that ADDICTION is DEPENDENCE – something you depend on to get you through the day and something you cannot survive without for long periods of time without spazzing out over its absence.

Another part to the meaning of addiction can be viewed as a form of reluctance to have to consume the object of your addiction on a regular basis. This goes to underline that once you are truly addicted to a video game, it becomes a significant object of your attachment which you have little control over the quantity of time you interact with.

Keeping this in mind; once we become reluctant to interact with a certain media form as our mode of a getaway from everyday reality, we may suddenly find ourselves doing it out of habit rather than for pleasure and this is when it can be looked upon as an actual problem:
I do not enjoy the taste of my everyday coffee any more because I have become reliant on its boosting effect rather than its taste. Therefore, as a part of my own addiction I find that whilst quantity increases, the sense of quality decreases making the process more constant but far less enjoyable.

Hence, the concept of playing games for pleasure seems like a fair case of simple attraction for a certain form of entertainment and does not seem to carry any threat of addiction what so ever while it remains this very source of non-reliant but enjoyable amusement.