| Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, waves to the audience during the opening of the 72nd World Health Assembly at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Monday. / AP-Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
Game companies and related organizations here are keeping their eyes on the ongoing World Health Assembly in Switzerland as the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO) is set to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder.
If the Assembly endorses the revised 11th International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), which classifies game addiction as a disease in the same category as substance abuse and gambling addiction, the Korean game industry will likely suffer a loss of 11 trillion won ($9.2 billion) for three years from 2023, according to a report by Seoul National University.
Confusion may continue for the time being as related government offices hold differing opinions regarding the decision ― the Ministry of Health and Welfare has vowed to accept the stance of the WHO and reflect it in policy making, while the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism opposes it.
The 72nd session of the World Health Assembly kicked off in Geneva Monday through May 28.
Discussions on whether to endorse the revised ICD-11 are set to begin Friday, and the announcement of the results will be made on the closing day.
If endorsed, the revised ICD-11 will take effect in 2022 and be used by countries as a reference for their policy making.
Officials in the game industry are claiming if video game addiction is considered a mental disorder, it will lead to stringent regulations and kill the industry, which will also adversely affect the nation's economy.
"The WHO's standards will result in stricter regulations although such a stance is not backed by scientific evidence," a game firm official said, asking not to be named. "This will hamper game firms' efforts to create a healthy ecosystem, and the nation will lose one of its growth engines."
The culture ministry, which oversees the game industry, and the Korea Creative Content Agency have already sent a letter to the WHO at the end of last month to deliver its opinion that they oppose the organization's push to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder.
Citing the results of research carried out by Konkuk University, the ministry argued that game addiction can be caused not only by games themselves but also by diverse psychosocial factors including parenting style and intense academic stress.
"If authorities only push to block games without resolving fundamental matters, it will trigger new conflicts," said Jeong Eui-joon, a professor at Konkuk University.
An opinion poll conducted by Realmeter on May 10 showed that 45.1 percent of respondents agreed with the WHO's possible labeling of video game addiction as a mental health disorder, while 36.1 percent opposed it.
But officials in the game industry claimed the results of the poll could have been biased, citing a possible sampling error.