Is gaming addictive or not?

This subject has been in the news on a weekly basis for at least the last 2 years. Every one has to say something about it. Addiction experts and gaming experts, Social workers, psychology professors etc etc. Once in a while there's an article that appears to be written by someone who knows what he/she is writing about. Unfortunately those articles aren't very interesting as well, since they too, involve the experts from all kinds of professions. The thing with most of those experts is this: they are all at least older than 40 and have been doing their profession for at least 20 years.

Sure, there were games in the seventies and eighties. But let's be honest here: although some games were extremely good and could be played for hours and hours, they looked like crap and except for being rewarded with infinate glory and fame by achieving the highest score ever, there was not much to it. What made it fun was that you'd go out, meet your friends in an arcade, spent your guilders on the games and have an evening of fun. Sounds different from the consoles and networked games that kids are playing today isn't it?

My first "console" is something I remember as a black thing that had about 8 switches. Flip a switch and you'd be playing pong in some form. It had 2 "joysticks" that were nothing more than a small box with a little wheel on it (it looked more than a button that you could turn).
I've played on several Atari machines, an MSX, about every Nintendo and Sega system ever. Sony's playstations, Xboxes... Played on PC's from the moment we had one at home (in '91) and I still have my old Commodore 64 that loaded games from audio cassettes.
And yes, I have missed/failed finals at school/uni because I preferred gaming above learning. Playing for more than 8 hours a day... But was it because I was addicted to it? I believe not.

I believe that one can not get addicted to "gaming". There are games that you'd like to play more than "normal". But once it's finished, it's finished. Play it again, with friends... good fun, but there always comes a time you're done with it. Therefore I think that when someone shows signs of "addiction" there is no reason to worry, there is always that moment the game is finished.

Then there is a differnt genre of games. This is the area where I am less sure about the "addiction" factor. These are the "games" that offer a virtual life. Im talking about certain Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games.
A game like EVE-Online offers an environment where you are free to do what ever you want. It offers an environment in where you can do stuff that you would never do in real life. And it doesn't have an end, it doesn't finish.

Isn't that one of the essential elements of a game? An end? Either after a period of time, by reaching a score, finishing the levels or beating your opponent. This is what makes it fun: direct competition or achieving something (and in some case fame and glory).

But a "game" like some MMORPG's that do not have a rewarding system can therefore never be finished. Sure you can achieve certain things but there is so much more to achieve without it ever ending... example: Becoming very powerfull can be a goal, but when achieved the game doesn't end - probably exploiting that power will be the next step.
I don't think this can be called a "game". It's more a simulation of social structures. fictional or not.

Simulations like that are I think addictive in the way that a participant invests all his time into this virtual life instead of his real life. But can that be called an addiction? I don't know.

There is however a big difference between playing a game and participating in a virtual world. I for one think it's more interesting to look at the (external) factors that make people choose to start playing games (a lot) or enter a virtual world.

@ Malta - Going back to the apartment after a very long day...