This was a great article, and it reminded me of a blog I did after uncontrollably waking up at 3AM to listen to one specific song. I've been studying game addiction for the past 3 years, and Margaret is right on target. We need way more sophistication in these debates on "addiction," and "violence." It's silly to see that games like Quake are censored from CBS' coverage of the World Series of Video Games, meanwhile on TV, 24 lets Jack Bauer mow down Chinese, Russian and Unspecified Middle Easterners.

When you think about it, willy nilly comparing games to different stereotypes shows a clear disregard to the health of people who play games. Take obesity - when researchers simply ask whether games make people obese, they're not trying to help gamers. They're trying to confirm societal fears, especially among parents who'd rather not blame themselves for feeding little Billy hot pockets for the past 8 years. They're also, dangerously imho, overlooking the fact that some gamers go with far too little food - they get so wrapped up in raiding to raid the fridge. Unfourtunately, a lot of the "obesity and games," "addiction and games," research is very cheap to do, and we definitely haven't seen the last of it.