Gaming addiction is characterized by a strong desire to play games and difficulty in self-control over that desire. (Image supported by ChatGPT)
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — A group of South Korean media scholars has called for the abandonment of the medical classification of gaming disorder, arguing that framing play as a disease reflects a long history of cultural repression cloaked in health concerns.
In a report commissioned by the Korea Creative Content Agency and the Korea Association of Game Industry, researchers led by Yonsei University professor Yoon Tae-jin contended that the World Health Organization’s 2019 decision to recognize gaming disorder as a diagnosable illness is part of a broader pattern once used to stigmatize television, film, comics, and other popular media.
“Discourses on health have historically functioned as a mechanism of cultural suppression,” the authors wrote. “By positioning health as an absolute, superior value, it enabled authoritarian control over forms of entertainment.”
The report criticized psychiatry and journalism for perpetuating what it described as the “demonization of games,” noting that some media have linked gaming to crime or presented gamers as potential patients. It compared the current rhetoric of “dopamine addiction” to earlier moral panics, from so-called “bad comics” to fears over television and gambling.
South Korea has previously experimented with restrictive policies such as the mandatory shutdown law that limited minors’ access to online games, which was later scrapped after being deemed ineffective. The researchers warned that medicalization risks repeating the same mistakes by shifting responsibility to individuals and ignoring structural or social factors shaping media consumption.
Instead, they urged policymakers, journalists, and the public to reframe games not as health threats but as sources of joy and reflection. “The language of gaming disorder is neither scientific nor neutral,” the report said. “We need a theoretical framework that recognizes the philosophical and well-being dimensions of play.”
The findings come as South Korea’s government weighs whether to include gaming disorder in its national diagnostic code, following the WHO’s lead. The debate continues to pit public health advocates concerned about addiction against scholars and industry voices who argue the classification stigmatizes an entire cultural form.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
