The philosopher Aristotle said in his teachings that too much of anything was unhealthy, and that for man to flourish, a degree of balance had to be maintained.

Enter Professor Mark Griffiths, Director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, U.K., who in a recently concluded survey of 7000 gamers, found that 12% of them were suffering from the classic signs of addiction found in smokers, and druggies.

Proff..... Griffiths said that the survey, done with help from German colleagues Sabine Grüsser and Ralf Thalemann, was conducted as means of studying the addictive potential of online games. The study was conducted on a sample population of 7069 online gamers, 94% of whom were males in the 21-year age group.

The participants were then asked to fill out two questionnaires. The questionnaire results showed that 840 people withing the group were showing at least three classic symptoms of addiction as stated by the World Health Organization, which included craving, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, loss of control, neglect of other activities, and other negative consequences.

Professor Griffiths then compared the behavior of this group experiencing at least three addiction symptoms with that of the other gamers, and found that the former group suffered from noticeably longer play time, and were more likely to report symptoms of withdrawal and cravings. As the good doctor says regarding the  results:

Although these gamers show some signs of addiction normally found in other more traditional addictions, our results do not conclusively show that the gamers are genuinely addicted. Many gamers play excessively and display few negative consequences. However, the 24-hour a day never-ending online games may provide a potentially addictive medium for those with a predisposition for excessive game playing.