When it comes to family rules around video games, most parents are at a loss. How much should I let them play? is always a parent's first question, but when their child becomes irritable, rude, or seemingly directionless, the question becomes more urgent: Help! How do I get them to be interested in anything else?!

Known as “Dr. K” to his millions of followers, the former Harvard Medical School instructor and founder of the unique gamer's support resource Healthy Gamer, Dr. Alok Kanojia has firsthand experience with video gaming and addiction: He needed professional help to break his own addiction in college, and his parents had very little guidance for how to help him.