Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2016 Jan;111(1):167-75.
doi: 10.1111/add.13057.

Working towards an international consensus on criteria for assessing internet gaming disorder: a critical commentary on Petry et al. (2014)

Mark D Griffiths  1 , Antonius J van Rooij  2 , Daniel Kardefelt-Winther  3 , Vladan Starcevic  4 , Orsolya Király  5 , Ståle Pallesen  6 , Kai Müller  7 , Michael Dreier  7 , Michelle Carras  8 , Nicole Prause  9 , Daniel L King  10 , Elias Aboujaoude  11 , Daria J Kuss  1 , Halley M Pontes  1 , Olatz Lopez Fernandez  12 , Katalin Nagygyorgy  5 , Sophia Achab  13 , Joël Billieux  12 , Thorsten Quandt  14 , Xavier Carbonell  15 , Christopher J Ferguson  16 , Rani A Hoff  17 , Jeffrey Derevensky  18 , Maria C Haagsma  19 , Paul Delfabbro  10 , Mark Coulson  20 , Zaheer Hussain  21 , Zsolt Demetrovics  5
Affiliations
Comment

Working towards an international consensus on criteria for assessing internet gaming disorder: a critical commentary on Petry et al. (2014)

Mark D Griffiths et al. Addiction. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

This commentary paper critically discusses the recent debate paper by Petry et al. (2014) that argued there was now an international consensus for assessing Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). Our collective opinions vary considerably regarding many different aspects of online gaming. However, we contend that the paper by Petry and colleagues does not provide a true and representative international community of researchers in this area. This paper critically discusses and provides commentary on (i) the representativeness of the international group that wrote the ‘consensus’ paper, and (ii) each of the IGD criteria. The paper also includes a brief discussion on initiatives that could be taken to move the field towards consensus. It is hoped that this paper will foster debate in the IGD field and lead to improved theory, better methodologically designed studies, and more robust empirical evidence as regards problematic gaming and its psychosocial consequences and impact.

Keywords: Gaming addiction; IGD assessment; gaming addiction assessment; internet gaming disorder; problematic gaming; video game addiction.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests

None.

Comment in

Comment on

References

    1. Petry NM, Rehbein F, Gentile DA, Lemmens JS, Rumpf HJ, Mossle T, et al. An international consensus for assessing internet gaming disorder using the new DSM-5 approach. Addiction. 2014;109:1399–406. - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2013. text revision.
    1. Griffiths MD, King DL, Demetrovics Z. DSM-5 internet gaming disorder needs a unified approach to assessment. Neuropsychiatry. 2014;4:1–4.
    1. Griffiths MD, Pontes HM. Internet addiction disorder and internet gaming disorder are not the same. J Addict Res Ther. 2014;5:e124. doi: 10.4172/2155-6105.1000e124. - DOI
    1. Kardefelt-Winther D. A critical account of DSM-5 criteria for internet gaming disorder. Addict Res Theory. 2014;23:93–8. doi: 10.3109/16066359.2014.935350. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources