In December of 1997, the world was stunned when hundreds of Japanese children suffered seizures after watching a popular television show. At least 618 children of various ages experienced convulsions, vomiting, vision problems, and other symptoms after viewing an episode of “Pokemon”, a well-known children's cartoon. Most of the children developed symptoms within 20 minutes of watching the program, and many required hospitalization.
Upon investigation of this incident, a Japanese juvenile epilepsy expert confirmed that episodes of epilepsy can be triggered by colorful, flashing lights or patterns such as those found in video games and television. The official term for this type of epilepsy is photosensitive epilepsy.
It is unknown just how many children and adolescents have suffered seizures while playing video games, watching television, or surfing the Internet; however, there has been an increase in the number of seizures occurring in conjunction with these activities. As a result of the “Pokemon” incident and other reports of video game-related seizures, game manufacturers such as Nintendo are including labels with their game software which warns of seizure risks. As video and computer games become more popular and more sophisticated, video game-induced seizures threaten to become a significant national and worldwide health crisis.
Who is at Risk for Seizures While Playing Video Games?
It has been determined that approximately one in every 130 to 200 people worldwide have varying degrees of epilepsy, while only 3 to 5% of those diagnosed with epilepsy are photosensitive. Photosensitive epilepsy is far more common in children than in adults. That combined with the fact that children and adolescents represent the majority of video game players, this group is at the highest risk for experiencing photosensitive seizures.
The typical age at which photosensitive epilepsy emerges is between 9 and 15 years. Female children and adolescents are more affected by photosensitive epilepsy than boys. This type of photosensitivity is thought to be genetic in origin. By the age of 20, the risk for experiencing photosensitive seizures drops off dramatically.
The type of photosensitive seizure experienced while playing video games seems to vary with each person; however, a tonic-clonic seizure seems to be the most common. A tonic-clonic seizure is characterized by clenching of the teeth and a jerking of the arms and upper body while the legs remain stiff. Other symptoms of photosensitive seizures include lightheadedness, memory loss, confusion, and vision problems.
New Guidelines to Prevent Video Game-Induced Seizures in Children
In September of 2005, The Epilepsy Foundation issued new guidelines to help combat the risk of video game-induced seizures, which include playing video games only in a well-lit environment, taking frequent breaks while playing video games, and decreasing the level of brightness on the video game monitor or television screen. These recommendations are based on guidelines set forth in Japan as a result of the 1997 “Pokemon” incident, as well as recent groundbreaking research on the issue of photosensitivity.
Leading this latest research was British scientist Graham Harding, who conducted a study on the factors which trigger photosensitive seizures in susceptible individuals. Harding's findings concluded that flashing images and certain patterns found in television and video games can provoke seizures in those who already suffer from epilepsy. His report confirmed that children and young adults are particularly vulnerable to seizures which are triggered by visual stimuli such as video games.
The general consensus among experts is that exposure to computer and video games does not cause epilepsy. Rather, children with undiagnosed epilepsy may also be photosensitive, and may experience their first seizure while playing a video game. Furthermore, some children may experience photosensitive seizures in response to a certain video game, but may not have this response to another video game or stimuli.
Children and young adults with photosensitive epilepsy all have different thresholds of the visual stimuli they can tolerate. In addition, elements such as light intensity, flicker, contrast, duration and pattern vary widely between video games. These two factors make it difficult to determine which video games are most likely to trigger seizures.