TV, Games and Epilepsy

IncGamers favourite psychologist, Dr Guy Cumberbatch has shed some light on the relationship between epilepsy and videogames.
 
Last week, we reported that a Swedish boy had suffered an epileptic fit after playing World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King for 24 hours. After a hospital visit, a doctor said that the boy had suffered from high concentration, lack of food and sleep.
 
We asked Dr Cumberbatch, director at the Communications Research Group, about the link between videogames and epilepsy, if indeed there is one.
 
"There is such a thing as ‘videogame epilepsy’ which is really a special kind of epilepsy: photosensitive epilepsy triggered by flickering or flashing lights," he said.
 
He explained although flashing sequences in games can  trigger epileptic seizures, the low refresh rate of a television is a more likely culprit, with the higher frequencies (75Hz to 100Hz) being favourable.
 
Dr Cumberbatch also told IncGamers that Ofcom (the Office of Communications), the regulator and competition authority for the communications industry in the UK, has guidelines and rules relating to the degree of flicker on TVs.
 
"Surprisingly, while Ofcom specifies what duration and frequency of flash or flicker is acceptable on broadcast television, the regulator seems to have forgotten to include videogames," he said.
 
"This really is an anomaly because, compared with watching TV, game players tend to get closer to the screen (too close!) which makes photosensitive seizures more likely."
 
"However, we need to remember that as a disease category, epilepsy is a fairly common disorder and most often appears in puberty where it is four times more frequent in boys than in the general population," he continued.
 
"This means that a fair number of young people will have their first seizure while playing a videogame simply because this is a common activity."
 
Dr Cumberbatch also explained that in cases where an epileptic seizure was recorded during gameplay, the most likely cause was fatigue from extended play sessions. He advises regular breaks while gaming.