Oh, I am gonna catch SO much shit for this one.
Guys, many of you are likely in so much denial it's sad, really.
Remember that phrase, "Everything in moderation"? That's a good phrase to live by, last I checked. While it's unfortunate that the BBC chose to use the word "addiction", which has been defined in earlier posts and can't really apply to games for most people, there is another phrase for things that may not make us feel like we can't live without them, but also makes us forget moderation to the point of being compelled to waste 40 hours a week on the monotonous boredom of WoW grinding. That phrase is "habit forming", and I think it does apply to certain games, to the point of damaging the lives of the gamers themselves and/or those around them. Babies have DIED because their parents neglected them for EverQuest, WoW or FarmVille. That's NOT a good thing. I have seen, and helped (at the personal request of one), at least two friends try to quit playing MMOs all their waking hours, only to watch them get sucked back in later. Yes, they are fun. I'm not denying that. But that doesn't excuse it from being a problem that people choose to neglect the rest of their lives for the sake of the game. That really is not normal, and seems to be something especially tied to MMOs, which does suggest something in the design of MMOs that makes people feel so compelled to keep playing they say "Screw real life" for it. Gaming itself? No inherent problems there. Plenty of the same people were playing other games without problems long before these. But finding out about, and limiting, what it is about MMOs in particular that makes people who didn't previously have a gaming habit into basement-dwelling hermits can help us to make great MMOs without resorting to Skinner box methods, and improve gaming for everyone involved. Helping to solve the problems that (certain) games have a hand in, rather than dismissing as stupidity any and all criticism of games, however well-founded, will go a long way towards the acceptance of our hobby in mainstream culture that we seem to be looking for.
