The WHO is way behind the curve here.
If society treated video games the same as alcohol and drugs they would already be banned for minors. Eventually they probably will be.
I'm no expert on the matter, but I think you're completely missing the point. The keyword here is "gaming addiction" not "video games". Please, for the love of all the sanity that's still left out there, don't mistake one with another. There is a lot of things that one suffering from behavioral disorders could get addicted to. Unlike substance addictions (which are complicated matter), games (or overindulging in escapist fiction or having dozens of pets) are more of a symptom than an underlying cause.
If you'd try to ban just about everything that one could get hooked onto, it won't help the person a little bit with their impulse control. It would just make their and everyone else's lives dull and boring, probably leading to much more unhealthy situations (just my guess, though).
These can be addicting too, but certain video games can be on an entirely different level, ie. they fulfill many more psychological needs.
What triggered my comment is a ban proposal for an extremely wide group, where a significant fraction doesn't have any particular issue with the subject at hand. Even if I'm unaffected by this particular proposal (I'm way past my teen years) I still find such ideas somewhat offensive. I may be naive or stupid but I don't fancy the very thought of someone being deprived of something fairly harmless to them just because others have issues.
Video games are just as addictive as alcohol, cigarettes, or cocaine and just as destructive in terms of seriously impairing the ability of addicts to function in a socially acceptable way.
If you think books or hobbies are as addictive or destructive as video games that is a matter of opinion, but I think most reasonable people (like mental health professionals) would disagree with you.
Even if any of the things you listed were as addictive or destructive as video games they are all missing one crucial aspect: the ability to optimize and enhance addictive properties over time.
There are billions of dollars being poured into enhancing and refining video games (making them more addictive) every year and the technology to do this (tracking player responses at a minute level and adapting games to maximize profits) can not be applied to any of the other things you listed the same as it can to video games.
Sorry, I had possibly misinterpreted this as you not just comparing but actually suggesting treating video games similarly to alcohol and banning those to minors. My apologies if you didn't mean that.
If you did - I strongly disagree.
> Video games are just as addictive as alcohol, cigarettes
Sorry but this is nonsense. No video game binds with receptors in the brain and cause physical dependence. Please, let's not equate gaming with substance addictions.
> If you think books or hobbies are as addictive or destructive as video games that is a matter of opinion
There are people who lost their friends, jobs or have other problems in their lives because of their hobbies or obsessions. I knew some hardcore anime otakus who had some personal issues - shall we ban Japanese animation and comics?
But you missed the point, again. Let me reiterate: video games are retreat, not a cause. Banning them won't help the person who can't control their urges a single little bit. You would either leave them empty, concealing the issue, or they'll divert to something else.
Adding games to DSM is a good idea, though. If someone has addiction and it manifests into video gaming addiction, it's easy to measure this. I could be wrong but as I get it, that's the whole point, having a concept of unhealthy obsession - not that games are something undesirable on their own.
I believe you perceive video games as something special only because they're easiest thing available out there, making them the common retreat. That, plus existence of some games that specifically concentrate on abuse of the addictions (see my next point).
> tracking player responses at a minute level and adapting games to maximize profits
Sorry, but if I got you right - you're talking about some specific niche (or several niches) of video games, generalizing this to the whole industry. You'd probably want to complain about in-game purchases and microtransactions (or whatever else this stuff is called).
Upd: Sorry for edits - I re-read my comment and did some edits to it to better clarify what I've meant. Finished editing now.