Excessive use of video games may have some or all of the symptoms of drug addiction or other proposed psychological addictions. Some players become more concerned with their interactions in the game than in their broader lives. Players may play many hours per day, gain or lose significant weight due to playing, disrupt sleep patterns to play, play at work, avoid phone calls from friends and/or lie about play time. Relationships with family and friends and performance at work or school may suffer. [3] [17]

Globally, there have been deaths caused directly by exhaustion from playing games for excessive periods of time.[57] [58] There have also been deaths of gamers and/or others related to playing of video games.