Dr David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family, has stepped in to defend the statistically-flawed study of games addiction done by NIMF's Douglas Gentile. You know, the one claiming that some three million American kids are addicted to games. This comes following the revelation that, rather than using a random sample of kids, the study in fact uses a 'convenience sample' of web surfers looking to get free goodies - a fact that has brought the study under fire from the US Entertainment Software Association.

Walsh seems rather dismissive of the fact that Gentile's stats, which generated a lot of mainstream headlines suggesting nearly one in ten kids are addicted to games, have been shown to be unrepresentative of the general population. "Regardless of whether you agree with the exact statistics in Dr. Gentile’s study, it provides the gaming industry, medical experts, and public policymakers with a new opportunity to have a thoughtful conversation regarding the effects of video games on kids."

Well, thank (theistic/non-theistic entity of your choice) for that! The effect of games on kids hardly ever seems to be on anyone's minds! Never mind those bothersome numbers!

Walsh, who seems to want gaming addiction to be recognised as a medical condition, reverted to that bastion of support and comfort to those with an anti-gaming leaning - anecdotal evidence. "Everyone knows at least one child who has struggled with balancing healthy game playing with academics and family life", Walsh said.

He also stated that one study is not sufficient to ascertain whether games are addictive to some kids. "Again, additional research is required to determine if video games are as ‘addictive’ as gambling and alcohol", he said. Glad he managed to squeeze gambling and alcohol addiction into the same sentence as games. But... no mention of crack? And isn't there a danger of crossover with addiction to fornication, given that the gaming world is "highly sexual"?