A form of media that has made an underground revolution is Massive Multi-Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG). For those not familiar with this, it is an online-only game. Some of you probably heard of the Everquest (Evercrack) scandals where people have committed suicide or divorced over these types of games. There is an On The Media discussion about a rising new MMORPG called "Second Thought".
http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2006/09/22/07
If you listened to it, they talk about how immersive and "more beautiful" the game is than real life. People spend a lot of time and money to build upon a virtual world and soon they begin to get siphoned into this game. The virtual world then becomes their "real world".
While not everyone is an addict, it still poses a threat, similar to crystal meth or heroin. I, myself, play World of Warcraft (MMORPG) but I don't consider myself an addict; and if I am, I'm a functioning addict, at best.
This genre of gaming has become the new opiate for video gamers and is the future of all gaming due to its demand and popularity, however, the consequences are more dire.
Some links/sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/28/earlyshow/living/caught/main510302.shtml
- more in depth coverage of an actual MMORPG addict
