A reporter for one of Toronto's newspapers got the idea that he would look into reports of video game addiction. A logical step in his research was to call up the Addiction Research Foundation, the Provincial Government agency with the responsibility in that area. The SAS receptionist knew me as a person who was willing to shoot off his mouth on any topic in the addiction field, so she put the reporter's call through to me. However, there may well be changes in the brain as a consequence of repeated patterns of behaviour, and in that sense might parallel addiction. Off the top of my head I also thought that there might be other parallels.
Video games result in very rapid reinforcement compared to, say, school work.
Depending on what we think the reinforcement is, it might be seen to come rapidly and frequently. For example, if your friends tell you that shooting down an alien rocket is super cool, you might be able to have that sense of accomplishment many times per minute, and with only a split-second delay after your action. Sense of accomplishment, or mastery, or achievement, can get a real workout with a video game. The reinforcer is available at very low economic cost, thereby reducing one of the most obvious barriers to addiction. Another barrier to addiction is missing, in that the route of administration is not aversive, as smoking is initially, and as needles are in the common mind.