Video gaming addiction: worse than alcohol?

With two major new consoles about to roll out, and a billion new games in the pipeline, at what point do you step over the line from casual gamer to addict?

An interesting article on Aeropause talks about both the effects of video game addiction, and the need to address it. According to a statement from Nottingham Trent Professor Mark Griffiths , director of the Internet Gaming Research Unit, -- "[video game addiction] is not taken seriously yet - it is the same for internet addiction."

While the Dutch have set up a video game addiction clinic, very little has been done to investigate the problem here in the States. With the rash of gaming related deaths in Korea, and parents suing developers, it seems like it might be time to start finding out if this is a real problem, and to help people deal with it.

While it might be a bit too strong to compare gaming to drinking, evidence points in the direction of if becoming a larger problem. When do you intervene?