This is an issue that has been going on for a few years now and has really reached a point where my parents don't know what to do and my family is furthur apart than ever. Let me explain why.

About 2 years ago my younger brother (13 at the time) was diagnosed with cronic fatigue. Since then he has given up all extracurricular activities; he used to play water polo, play piano and also play soccer. Also at this time he got his first xbox360. Before this we had a wii and would play games like zelda, metroid prime etc. As these games have an ending my brother would usually just end up getting sick of them. But with the Xbox something strange happened.

My little brother started playing more and more. At first it was just an hour or 2 of halo 3 a day, some gears of war or fallout 3. But since then its gotten insane. He started playing lots of TF2 at the beginning of this year, playing for 5-7 hours a day, and barely ever going to school. He says hes too exhausted to go to school, but stays up until 11.30 each night playing. He also plays tonnes of minecraft and is looking to get back into world of warcraft. My parents are trying really hard to get him to go to sleep earlier and to go to school, but he simply refuses and says it doesnt make a difference. He has lost many friends and video games are his sole interest in life.

The worst was yet to come however. Recently I saw some strange payments sent to my email adress from steam. After counting them up I was shocked to find that over $500 had been payed to steam for TF2 box unlocks( or so I believe, i stopped playing TF2 when hats were introduced, if someone could clarify what these are I would appreciate it). After taking it up with my mum she was shocked to find that he had stolen her credit card to buy these stupid boxes. She was furious but didn't know how to punish him. She didn't ban him or anything, just took the $500 out of his savings and he went on playing.

But then to her disbelief it happened again, this time for $300. Even I was furious at him; I couldn't believe we would take advantage of my mum even after she had trusted him and been so lienient the last time. But again, there were no consequences outside of the money being taken out of his savings account.

She still buys him games and any money he gets also goes to games, the lastest is the collectors edition of Skyrim, he is currently at level 37 and has not gone to school since he got the game. Is he really that sick, or just hopelessly addicted.

The truth is I have no idea what to do. As his brother, I don't feel I have to authority to try and lay down the law. But this is tearing my family apart. So I have come to you VGChartz community. Have any of you ever suffered from gaming addiction and found a way to get out of it, do you know anyone who has or what a good solution to the problem could be. I literally don't know what to do. I thank you all in advance any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated, he is currently 15 and I am 17.

Cheers guys

Tell your parents to stop being failures and kick his ass.

ive told them they should never let him play again and to force him to go to school. But they just wont listen to me. It's like they are oblivious and think he will just improve over time. Which is obviously not true.

Harsh, and not the way to say it, but somehow right.

Talk to your mother, he may need some major help, take all of that from him, if you have to send him to any sort of clinic to stop him, do it.

It's tough. To really get through to someone and for them to change, they need to accept they have a problem first. He is a kid though so your parents should be a bit more hands on, I guess it's a case of be cruel to be kind, he'll thank them later on. They need to come down on him hard, remove every source of money, remove his xbox, Wii, PC, whatever and get him to the school gates themselves (if they can)

wow this is sad, get him to quit video games because this is shocking, if my dad was the parent he would kick him out of the house

Your Brother needs his ass kicked, all games removed and escorted to school everyday. One thing I was seriously taught was not to steal, just taking cookies without permission would be enough for physical punishment.

Your parents are destroying him, kids will only do what you allow them too. If that was my brother I would kick his ass myself.

I'm a gamer and a psychiatrist.  Yes, I'm not that young...  The problem is all in that sentence.  In every addiction the junkie must face his responsabilities and get consequence about his actions.  Doing like your parents, it's like encouraging bad habits and hoping for the best.  A recipe for disaster!  English is not my first language, sorry for that!

If your parents really are that lenient you really need to take matters on your own hands, especially since he is your younger brother. Isn't it against the law to skip too much school before you turn 16. Anyway force him to go to school everyday. If you have to drag him to it. I doubt you can just make him stop playing altogether but place limits on his gaming. If you noticed he skipped school, take his discs, controller, mouse etc. Get a little physical if you have to. No execuses, if he is too "tired" to do anything make sure he is actually not doing anything. If your mother gets angry with you about what your doing to him be harsh to her. Tell her if she isn't going to help him then you will. You need to try to convince her to stop being so lenient. Tell her she is hurting her child by still buying him games. There really is nothing wrong with playing a lot of games but if you aren't exaggerating in what your saying, the boy really needs help. 

Gaming addiction or isn't cronic fatigue the problem in this case?

He did a lot of activities but had to stop them because of his sickness... if he didn't got that sickness he wouldn't probably be at home right now?

Did he went to an psychiater? At that age he must be going through a horrible time...Have to quit things you enjoy, are you sure that he just not play whole day to forget real life? Forget the saddness? Going to school where their are people who will laugh with him while at the same thinking that school doesn't mean a thing because with his sickness finding a job will extreme hard and that is probably the reason why your parents let him do. I understand their view because who wants to send his child in this condition to a school...but ofcourse it is also wrong. I would send him to an psychiater because I would not be surprised your brother is hurt.

Hope it gets better in the future because someone should tell him that sitting at home playing video games will for sure not cure the cronic fatigue and oh he can't have class at home? (Well following class with a laptop).