England’s National Health Service announced plans to open its first internet addiction rehab clinic in London. Called the Centre for Internet Disorders, the clinic will focus on gaming addiction at first before expanding to other areas of internet addiction. The project will be funded by the NHS, grants, and charitable donations.

“Gaming disorder is finally getting the attention it deserves,” said the clinic’s founder, psychiatrist Henrietta Bowden-Jones. “The distress and harm it can cause is extreme and I feel a moral duty on behalf of the NHS to provide the evidence based treatment these young people and their families need.” Bowden-Jones went on to question why it took the U.K. so long to address internet addiction. She pointed to the lack of a central figure championing that cause, adding “ I will identify as that champion.” A number of private institutions offer gaming addiction treatment, but this will be the first public option in England.

The clinic plans to focus on gaming addiction before other internet issues, such as pornography or online shopping, because it predominantly impacts younger people. Bowden-Jones stated that the clinic will strive to keep afflicted children and teens in school. Little is known about the treatments that the clinic will make available, perhaps because so little is known about internet addiction. Let’s hope they don’t follow in China’s footsteps.

The announcement comes on the heals of the World Health Organization’s official classification of gaming as an addictive behavior. The classification occurred six months ago, but the controversy amplified following the release of W.H.O.’s International Classification of Diseases compendium. That release has faced heavy criticism from both producers and consumers of the gaming industry. A statement published by members of the gaming industry called the evidence behind the classification “highly contested and inconclusive.”

W.H.O.’s classification of gaming disorder is as follows: ”a pattern of gaming behavior (‘digital-gaming’ or ‘video-gaming’) characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.” Essentially, it mirrors the definition of nearly any sort of addiction. Both the gaming industry and those pushing for rehab want more research on the subject, but disagree on the methods and results we have thus far. The Centre for Internet Disorders promises to be both treatment clinic and research facility.

It’s easy to write off both sides of the debate as opportunists. Publishers profit off of customers; clinics profit off of clients. Both have a vested interested in this topic based on the bottom line. It’s also likely that both do have the best interest of gamers at heart. The creators want players to enjoy their games safely so that they can continue to purchase products. The health professionals want a healthy habit to remain healthy. The chasm results in two sides disagreeing over wording more than anything else.

But let’s say that gaming addicts, as defined by the W.H.O., exist. I’m not talking about “just one more turn” addicts. I’m talking about “spending $70,000 on a single mobile game” addicts. What percentage of the English public are we actually looking at? Bowden-Jones herself admitted that “we are unlikely to see an epidemic” of gaming addicts seeking help, but what can we expect?

Let’s do some quick math. The W.H.O. estimates that around 5.4% of the global population suffers from drug or alcohol addiction. Around 2.2 billion people played video games in 2017. If we apply the same percentages to the population of England, then we are looking at an epidemic. If only 5.4% of gamers in England qualify as addicts, we’re looking at over 800,000 addicts. That… seems incredibly high, especially considering a whopping 16 Brits sought help for gaming addiction in 2017. That’s also fudging the numbers; if applied to total population, we’re pushing three million gaming addicts. That math does put the addictive nature of gaming on par with that of narcotics, so the number should indeed be quite a bit lower.

Either way, this exercise shows how little we really know about internet addiction; the known measurables don’t work for this condition. It’s clear we know very little about the topic, and likely won’t for years to come. The Centre for Internet Disorders will aim to answer some of our questions. How many remains to be seen.

What do you think, gamers? Are we making mountains out of molehills when it comes to gaming addiction? Do you think the clinic will be able to help true gaming addicts? Sound off in the comments, and follow us on Twitter for more gaming news and updates!