Dr. John Charlton of the University of Bolton and Ian Danforth of Whitman College argue that "People who are addicted to playing computer games show some of the same personality traits as people with Aspergers syndrome."

In a presentation to the British Psychological Society, today in Dublin, the duo presented the results of a survey of 391 computer gamers. 86% of those surveyed were male, and the researchers found that the closer the players got to addiction, "they were increasingly characterised by three personality traits that would normally be associated with Aspergers, a variety of high-functioning autism. These were neuroticism, and lack of extraversion and agreeableness."

According to Dr. Charlton, "The thinking in the field is that there is a scale along which people, even those considered to be 'normal,' can be placed upon. And that people such as engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists are nearer to the non-empathising, systemising, end of the spectrum, with people with Aspergers syndrome even further along again.
Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming."

(see original source)