'World Of Warcraft' compared to cocaine

Swedish charity the Youth Care Foundation has claimed that World Of Warcraft is the "crack cocaine of the computer world".

The claim follows news that a 15-year-old boy in the Scandinavian country collapsed and went into convulsions due to an epileptic-type seizure.

Doctors treating the boy believe that the fit was induced by a lack of food and sleep as a result of playing the game for a long and concentrated period of time.

Despite him making a full recovery, his father said that he wants to warn other parents about the potential dangers inherent in long gaming sessions.

The foundation's Sven Rollenhagen told The Daily Telegraph: "There is not a single case of game addiction that we have worked with in which World Of Warcraft has not played a part.

"It is the crack cocaine of the computer world. Some people are literally unable to drag themselves away and will play it till they drop."

Blizzard Entertainment recently announced that 11 million people have now subscribed to World Of Warcraft, making it the world's biggest massively multiplayer online role-playing game.