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I haven't seen any even semi-conclusive research that would label games as addictive. That they can lead to habitual play is unquestioned, but that's not at all the same thing as addiction. Addiction as a concept is thrown around, in my opinion, far far too lightly.
Incidentally, you guys might find it interesting to know that China passed a law last August or so that forces MUDs in China to implement a system whereby characters get diminishing returns on xp gained after a player (not a particular character, but a player, so as to avoid having them just switch characters) has played X hours within Y timeframe. I BELIEVE it may only apply to minors, but I've read conflicting reports there. The idea is to reduce the impetus to play really long hours all the time. I have no idea if it's accomplished its goal or not.
The government is also, in order to support this, supposedly creating some way to try to link (with reasonable confidence, if not perfect confidence) online gamer identities to real people, so that they can track players rather than characters or accounts.
--matt
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