AMA Calls For "More Research" On Video Games

After speculation that the American Medical Association might classify video game addiction as a mental disorder at their annual meeting this week in Chicago, the organization has simply issued a statement calling for "more research" into the effects of games -- as well as the ESRB ratings system.

To spur additional study, the AMA will submit the full report and recommendations to the American Psychiatric Association and other appropriate medical specialty societies for review and consideration in conjunction with the upcoming revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

So playing Warcraft still might get you sent to the nut barn after all. I'm glad they didn't rush to judgment. But it's the call for a better ratings system that I find a bit bananas (b-a-n-a-n-a-s). Says AMA president Ronald Davis, M.D.:

We would like to see a ratings system that better alerts parents to the content of the video game and recommended age of the player, so they can decide whether or not their child should be playing it.

Wow, great idea. How about, like, a big letter on the front of the box? With a number underneath it that serves as a recommended age? I'm not a doctor, but I think I might be on to something.

AMA Action On Video Games [Dean and Nooch]