Video games are en vogue. They play an important role in many teenagers’ lives and, for that reason, have also lately received more attention in the context of school education, including English language education. Yet, while English language research continuously points out the great potential of video games for language learning, they have hardly found their way into actual English as a foreign language (EFL) classrooms in Germany. The present study explores one reason behind this absence of video games from EFL teaching practices: With the help of a thematic discourse analysis, it examines the negative reputation video games still obtain in current German EFL textbooks. More precisely, it will be shown that video games are often represented through the discursive lens of gaming disorder. Textbooks display digital games as a matter of addiction and mental illness and, as such, they serve as important gatekeepers in the EFL classroom that potentially keep teachers away from perceiving video games as valuable learning materials. Video games play a vital role in contemporary youth cultures. By now, 76% of German teenagers between the age of 12 and 19 play digital games on a daily or weekly basis (MpFS 2022: 49), which makes gaming both a significant cultural practice in its own right and an influential element of teenage identity formation (Reinhardt 2019). Given this omnipresence and relevance, it is not surprising that, in recent years, video games have also gained more traction in the field of education, including English language education. Thus, while they had been perceived as mere forms of entertainment before, lately an increasing number of studies have started exploring the potential of digital games for language learning - and have - found them highly beneficial for the development of communicative, cultural, or media-related competences in the EFL classroom (see e.g., Love 2017; Jones 2018; McNeil 2020; Becker 2021a). Video games, in other words, are perceived as a most versatile and motivating addition to contemporary English language education. And yet, despite this promising potential pointed out in research, video games still have not yet been broadly implemented in actual EFL classrooms in Germany. In fact, a majority of teachers indicate an utter lack of experience with video games in their own EFL teaching (see Becker 2022) which points to a significant gap between what video games might be in theory and what they are (or not) in practice. While there are many reasons for this current absence of digital games from English language classrooms in Germany 1 , one most fundamental reason might lie in the fact that video games still retain a rather negative public reputation so that they are not perceived by teachers as suitable learning materials. More precisely, ever since the tragic occurrence of school shootings in Columbine (1999), Erfurt (2002) or Parkland (2018), media outlets have continuously advocated the negative impact of video games on young people’s everyday lives and mental health - arguing that they display addictive gameplay elements and/ or offer disputable content (e.g., violence, sexual content, drug abuse), which are both detrimental to teenagers’ healthy cognitive and emotional development (see Jöckel 2018; Breiner & Kolibius 2019). As such, while lately more positive voices increasingly appear in the public sphere (see, e.g., Brown 2015), the notion of video games as “a danger to the integrity of society” (Breiner & Kolibius 2019: 5) still prominently haunts media landscapes and thus becomes a discursive barrier for teachers to seriously consider video games from the perspective of potential and relevance. One area in which this negative public discourse particularly enters the EFL classroom, and in which it might seriously hinder the implementation of video games, is in the context of EFL textbooks. As the present study will show, current textbooks follow public opinion as they often represent video games and gamers through the discursive lens of gaming disorder. They, thus, display digital gaming as inherently linked to a behavioural addiction and mental health issue and as will be argued, underline this problematizing interpretation by especially referring to three clinical features of gaming disorder repeatedly: 1) withdrawal, 2) tolerance, and 3) continuing despite problems (see section 2.1. for more details). So far, this representation of video games as an addictive medium in EFL textbooks has not been researched - let alone the representation of video games in general. Yet, it seems most important to do so since, without this perspective, an important piece for understanding the current gap between the theory and the practice of video game teaching would be missing. This is the case because, 1 See Becker (2022) for a more detailed discussion on common barriers hindering the implementation of video games in current (EFL) classrooms. textbooks are still the most dominant and omnipresent learning material in the EFL classroom (Gehring 2013), so that their negative representation of video games might have a significant impact on shaping many teachers’ (and students’) perception of digital gaming in their day-to-day interactions - and, as such, it might fulfil a powerful ‘gatekeeping’ function for whether to use video games in the EFL classroom overall. Studying the discursive link between video games and addiction in textbooks, therefore, is a necessary step towards adequately and fully portraying the status of video games in the contemporary EFL cosmos, as it complements the above-mentioned studies on the general potential of video games with a critical view on barriers that might still be in the way of practical video game teaching on the level of EFL materials. With this in mind, the present study will analyse selected textbooks by the three major German publishers Klett, Cornelsen and Westermann in more detail. With the help of a thematic discourse analysis, it aims at uncovering discursive mechanisms by which video games are portrayed as addictive. The paper proceeds in the following steps: First, the notion of gaming disorder will be briefly introduced as a discursive background to the subsequent textbook analysis. Here the study’s focus on gaming disorder will also be contextualized in current EFL textbook research. Second, the approach of a thematic discourse analysis will be described as the methodology of the present study. Finally, results of the thematic discourse analysis will be presented via individual examples from selected textbooks. The notion of ‘gaming disorder’ is a rather new addition to psychological research. It was first classified as a clinical condition as late as 2013, when excessive video gaming was officially included as a behavioural addiction in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; see Billieux & Vögele 2018: 209). In this context, gaming disorder 2 is defined as any “problematic or pathological use of video games” (Wittek et al. 2016: 673) in which at least five of the following nine criteria manifest over a 12-month period: 2 Also, at times referred to as ‘internet gaming disorder’. Yet, in the paper the broader notion of gaming disorder will be used to include all kinds of games (not just online games) and also because it is the term adapted by the WHO for their latest eleventh edition of the ICD-11. Since then, gaming disorder has also been recognized as a serious (mental) health risk by the World Health Organisation (WHO), as showcased in the latest revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11; see WHO 2020). Based on the DSM-5 definition and its threshold level of five features, the ICD-11 similarly refers to gaming disorder as a pattern of gaming behavior (“digital-gaming” or “video-gaming”) characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences. (WHO 2020: n. p.) Gaming disorder, thus, ultimately presents a serious impairment on multiple levels of daily functionality. As King et al. (2022: 244) argue, it often interferes with “basic activities (i.e., sleep, eating, personal hygiene); social interaction (i.e., meeting friends face-to-face, visiting significant others); and important responsibilities (i.e., school, work, care of dependents)”. As such, pathological gaming also becomes a threat to individuals’ mental health, considering that a dysfunctional relationship to video games often correlates with loneliness and isolation, depression, low self-esteem, or neurotic tendencies (Macur & Pontes 2021). In terms of prevalence and morbidity rate, the occurrence of gaming disorder among young people is still rather limited, as it “affects only a small proportion of people who engage in digitalor video-gaming activities” (WHO 2020: n.p.). In the German context, for instance, pathological gaming occurs in 0.5% of the population of gamers and 1.7% of the general population of ninth graders (Rehbein & Baier 2013). Similarly, in other countries rates vary between 1% and 5%, with only the United States showing 8.5% of addicted gamers (ibid.; Donati et al. 2021). Thus, while a problem with pathological gaming certainly exists in contemporary youth culture, and should be thoroughly considered in health care, empirical data suggests that “it is by no means an epidemic or a rapidly spreading phenomenon” (Jöckel 2018: 64; trans. D.B.). It is at this point that the empirical perspective differs from a more popular image of gaming disorder, as shaped in the public sphere and the educational context - including the image provided in EFL textbooks. Whereas empirical data refers to only small-scale morbidity rates, media outlets (and EFL textbooks) often insinuate gaming disorder and addictive behaviour to be a major concern with far-reaching consequences. Thus, reports use video games as vehicles for construing a rather pessimistic view on teenagers’ digital media habits (Breiner & Kolibius 2019: 6) and, for that purpose, imply a high prevalence rate of gaming disorder among young people; or in other words: public media discourse construes an epidemic of video game addiction. Ultimately, these opposing viewpoints show that gaming disorder is not merely a clinical condition but also a socially and discursively constructed phenomenon. As van Beveren et al. (2020) point out, what is defined as sickness and health is a constant matter of societal negotiations and the same goes for the process of pathologising gaming, which is discursively established alongside changing perceptions of video games in cultural contexts. In order to adequately understand gaming disorder, therefore, both academic and popular perceptions need to be considered, since, like any other discourse, the discourse on gaming and its implications for (teenagers’) mental health is shaped in the interplay between different cultural agents, institutions and texts (Plikat 2017). One such text type that influences the representation of gaming and gaming disorder in an educational context is the textbook. As indicated in the introduction, textbooks, being defined as “an instruction and learning material in book form that was written for the classroom” (Wiater 2005: 43; trans. D.B.), are still the most dominantly used learning material in the EFL classroom (Gehring 2013). As such, they reveal a tremendous influence on how specific topics are discursively constructed for language learning purposes - and on which topics are not considered at all for learning: “What is not found in the textbook has less of a chance of becoming a topic in the classroom” (Gehring 2013: 360). As will be shown below, this is the case with the topic of video games, as textbooks here mirror and reinforce negative public discourse and thus discredit video games as a legitimate learning material. In this vein, textbooks need to be viewed as direct reflections of current curricular visions of language education (O’Keeffe 2013), so that analysing contemporary textbooks becomes an important component for understanding the position of video games and gaming disorder in today’s language teaching. Yet, so far, there are no studies on the representation of video games in general and gaming disorder in particular in EFL textbooks. Thus, there are numerous theoretical and empirical studies on the learning potential of individual video games (see e.g., Reinders & Wattana 2014; Jones 2018; Reinhardt & Han 2021) as well as more practical guidelines on how to teach with video games (Becker 2021a). The question of how and if digital games and addiction are tackled in existing learning materials, however, has yet to be analysed; or in other words: In the context of digital gaming, EFL research focuses on future potentialities and approaches but less on present circumstances and what is already there on the material level. Instead, up to this point, EFL textbook and material analyses have rather focused on non-gaming topics such as gender identity and diversity (Alter, König & Merse 2021; Schiemann 2022), interand transcultural learning (Anton 2017), global learning and varieties of English (Römhild & Matz 2021), or representations of London (Lehmann 2010). The only textbook discussions that are somewhat thematically related to the field of digital gaming can be found in a few studies examining digital textbook versions (Ryu 2017) or digital elements enhancing analogue textbooks (Meyer 2021). Yet, despite their analysis of digital interactivity, they do not include gaming, thus reinforcing the fact that the representation of video games and gaming disorder in textbooks remains a black box in current EFL research. This research gap, however, is even broader when considering that there are not only no studies on gaming disorder in EFL textbooks but that also the overarching topic of mental health has hardly entered language education research. Next to a few individual studies exploring potential links between mental health education and language teaching (Becker 2021b; Ludwig & Summer 2023), there are no discussions on how the EFL classroom might contribute to learners’ awareness of mental health stressors and issues in their everyday lives - despite the fact that through its focus on language, literature, culture, and media, the EFL classroom offers various angles to address mental health aspects (such as gaming disorder) in contemporary youth cultures. Overall, the study of gaming disorder in an EFL context is defined by a research gap both on the material level and the thematic level. Given this deficit in EFL textbook analyses and mental health research, the present study aims to make a first contribution towards closing the gap by answering the following question: In what ways are video games represented as an addictive medium in contemporary German EFL textbooks? For that purpose, the study explores a corpus of 11 textbook series, consisting of a total amount of 55 individual textbooks: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In order to gain a representative overview over the current German EFL textbook market, the corpus selection is based on the following considerations: First, the corpus includes textbooks by all three major EFL textbook publishers (Klett, Cornelsen, and Westermann) and contains series for all main school types in German secondary education (i.e., Hauptschule, Real/ Gesamtschule, Gymnasium). Furthermore, it considers textbooks for all age levels from Orientierungsstufe (i.e., years 5-6, approx. age 10-12) to Oberstufe (i.e,. year 11-12, approx. age 17-18) and, thus, covers the full age range of EFL learners at secondary schools. In addition, from a chronological perspective, the selected corpus includes both well-established series (e.g., Green Line) as well as more recent additions to the textbook canon since 2012 - and, as such, it also offers a diachronic perspective on the German textbook market in the past decade. Finally, for each selected textbook, the general edition (bundesweite Ausgabe) was analysed to ensure the broadest possible distribution and use of these materials in different German federal states. The corpus was analysed via a thematic discourse analysis according to Höhne (2010). This analytical approach describes a “theory-based, reconstructive and empirical” procedure by which the discursive composition of a topic in any given text can be hermeneutically uncovered (Höhne 2010: 424; trans. D.B.). For that purpose, thematic discourse analysis aims at “the reconstruction of specific semantic and thematic structures” on a textual level (Höhne 2010: 424; trans. D.B.) and, thus, it becomes a tool for understanding larger social discourses through dissecting concrete textual meaning-making practices. As such, it also offers a useful methodological framework for understanding how EFL textbooks textually construct and relate to public discourses of video games as an addictive medium. Adapting Höhne’s process scheme for conducting a thematic discourse analysis (2010: 432), the corpus was analysed in two main steps. In the first step, the selected textbooks were examined via a ‘first impression analysis’, to determine which specific texts, images, or activities (hereafter: materials) from the overall corpus are relevant for the topic of gaming disorder. This step includes two procedures: Before focusing on the specific notion of gaming disorder, the first step aimed to more broadly determine which textbook materials even mention video games at all. For that reason, all textbook materials were categorized into so called ‘core analytical units’ (CAUs) to determine the scale upon which the textbooks at hand are to be measured and examined. Based on prior textbook research (O’Keeffe 2013; Schmit 2014) a CAU was defined as any combination of a text (in the broadest sense) and all tasks that accompany a text respectively. All CAUs were then skimmed and subsequently classified as either ‘game-related’ or ‘non-game-related’. This binary decision was based on a coding manual formulating minimal requirements every game-related unit needed to fulfil, including, for example, containing concrete linguistic signifiers (words such as ‘video game’, ‘computer gamer’, ‘gaming’, or ‘gamer’) or visual signs (e.g., images of textbook characters holding a gaming controller). In the second procedure of the first impression analysis, all ‘game related’ CAUs were skimmed again to further determine which of these units make reference to gaming disorder in some way. Here, the decision was based on the nine DSM-5 criteria for gaming disorder discussed in section 3.1. After this initial filtering of relevant materials, in the second main step, the actual discourse analysis was performed, to make visible how relevant units discursively construct video games and gaming disorder. This step specifically focused on what Höhne calls an “intradiscursive analysis”, which is a process in which the textual shape of discourses and its underlying semantics can be deconstructed. More precisely, this intradiscursive analysis examined the following elements in EFL textbooks:  Predications: semantic features ascribed to video games (in the form of words, phrases and images) which come together to form a unified discourse (i.e., the semantic ‘building blocks’ of a discourse).  Discursive Differentials: semantic features ascribed to video games (in the form of words, phrases and images) which serve to establish the opposite of a discourse and, thus, help to contour the discourse through its negation. In addition, where appropriate and necessary, the intradiscursive analysis was complemented by an ‘interdiscursive analysis’ which explores how a specific discourse is furthermore shaped by surrounding discourses (e.g., shaping video games discourse through more general discourses on digital media). For that purpose, the study specifically focused on occurrence of textual topoi, meaning larger topical and semantic fields (e.g., digital media) in which a specific discourse is embedded in a text. The representation of video games and gaming disorder in German EFL textbooks happens alongside three major discourse themes, which can all be related to the DSM-5 criteria for gaming disorder (see section 3.1). Thus, video games are displayed as addictive by 1) representing gamers as being annoyed when their gaming experience is disturbed (i.e., Withdrawal), 2) linking video games to long playtimes and extreme content (i.e., Tolerance) and 3) often featuring gamer characters who neglect their everyday duties due to gaming (i.e., Continue Despite Problems). The following section describes these three themes by discussing individual examples for each. First, the selected textbooks discursively locate video games in the realm of gaming disorder by representing them as a medium accompanied by withdrawal symptoms. More specifically, textbooks use predications of annoyance and/ or aggression for their gamer characters when other people (e.g., family members) disturb their gaming process. Green Line 1 (Horner et al. 2014: 55), for example, features a short story about David, one of the main characters of the series, who does not like being looked after by his Aunt Frances because he “can never play [his] computer games” when she is around. In fact, for David, missing a gaming opportunity because of his aunt is not merely a matter of dislike, but leads to a strongly negative emotional reaction: From the beginning of the text, before gaming is even mentioned, David is described as downright “angry” with his relative, as he personally denounces her (“She gets on my nerves”) and rejects her very presence in the house (“Oh no - not Aunt Frances! ”; Horner et al. 2014: 55). Supported by a drawing of David with folded arms and a disgruntled face, the text thus instantly frames the readers’ reception process by establishing a semantic lens of anger and inappropriate (even anti-social) behaviour, through which the rest of the text is to be interpreted. In anticipation of why David reacts in that manner, readers then uncover his interrupted gaming to be the reason. At that moment, readers can establish a cause-and-effect relationship between David’s problematic behaviour and his gaming and, thus, are guided to directly associate the withdrawal of gaming with an angry demeanour. This semantic link is further reinforced in the rest of the text, when the narrator reveals that David’s withdrawal antics also endanger the everyday functionality of his family. Both his mother and father need to go to work and depend on Aunt Frances for taking care of David during that time (Horner et al. 2014: 55). Yet, David’s reaction to and rejection of his aunt becomes an obstacle to the fulfillment of their professional duties, so that more negative connotations are added to the notion of gaming: David’s personal anger now also affects the collective level and the withdrawal of gaming is negatively contrasted with broader topoi of parental responsibility and familial care. The theme of annoyance due to gaming withdrawal is also prominently featured in ‘agony aunt’ texts, referring to short e-mail exchanges between teenagers who describe a problem and a counselor responding with advice. Thus, in On Track 3 (Baker et al. 2020: 105), for example, a teenage girl, Rosy, voices her frustration with her parents who do not allow her to play video games until she has finished her homework. Like in the case of David, Rosy’s inability to play video games on her own volition leads to strong reactions: She states that “[m]y parents and I are always arguing” and that her desire to continue gaming even results in lying as she “say[s] that I’m working but really I’m playing video games” (Baker et al. 2020: 105). Withdrawal of gaming, hence, once more is associated with predications of irritability and non-conforming behaviour, a pattern that is further underlined in the counselor’s response. More precisely, the counselor restores the parents’ authority that was violated by Rosy’s withdrawal-induced demeanour as she urges Rosy not to lie and not to be “aggressive” towards her father and mother (Baker et al. 2020: 105). In this context, the counselor particularly stresses the danger of becoming untrustworthy since, due to Rosy’s lying, the parents “will start to ask themselves if they can trust you” (Baker et al. 2020: 105). As such, the response becomes a discursive contrast to Rosy’s message, as the counselor implies broader topoi of a ‘proper’ parent-child-relationship and reinforces the negative predications of gaming by implying that gaming withdrawal can damage Rosy’s very integrity and thus harm her at the core of her personality. Next to notions of withdrawal, EFL textbooks also insinuate gaming disorder by displaying video games as a medium that ties its consumers to increasing playtimes and extreme content. Camden Market 6 (Barker et al. 2018: 99), for example, features a factual text about the dangers of video games, which prominently centers around the criterium of tolerance (without explicitly mentioning it). More precisely, the text offers excerpts from an interview with “Dr Golda Weinstein from New England College” who does not want to “damn computer games” yet continues to do exactly that in most of the text (Barker et al. 2018: 99). Thus, first she argues that “the problem with most games is that there is no end and therefore no limit” as they lure gamers into spending exceedingly more time and energy in their virtual worlds (Barker et al. 2018: 99). She reinforces this image of games as a bottomless pit of player engagement by then reporting on a case of “a young man [who] actually died after playing non-stop for three days” and urges parents “to realize what is happening before it is too late” (Barker et al. 2018: 99). Semantically speaking, in this passage Weinstein relies on rhetorical vagueness and abstraction to build her argument: She first initiates a generalizing perspective on video games (“the problem with most games”; emphasis added) and in advising parents to vaguely notice “what is happening” she does not specify the actual problem at hand (Barker et al. 2018: 99). As a result, the notion of building tolerance toward games is not only represented as a most pervasive phenomenon, which is seemingly inherent to all kinds of video games. Rather, it is also shown as a most ominous and almost uncanny occurrence that infiltrates children’s bedrooms, where, in all its vagueness, it might lead to a most concrete outcome of death - although this actually has only occurred in one case after all. Furthermore, the text also features Weinstein’s opinion on the more content-related side of building tolerance. Video games, she states, do not only lure teenagers into spending more time with the medium but, in doing so, they make young people get used to inappropriate subject matters. Thus, once more using a generalizing perspective, she states that “many games contain violent scenes” (Barker et al. 2018: 99). Weinstein here echoes the public topos of the ‘killer game’ - often associated with the egoshooter genre - which exposes children and teenagers to most graphic violence and, as such, might numb children’s response to and reception of graphic content over time. In addition, Weinstein moves beyond the violence discourse by also vaguely hinting at other inappropriate content: According to her, a lot of children “play games they should not be playing at their age” (Barker et al. 2018: 99), which transforms video games into a risk to their well-being and their natural development. Video games, as such, in themselves become acts of violence, as they violate the protected realm of childhood. By keeping the exact nature of inappropriate content vague, they become a semantic container that can be filled with any kind of ‘unwanted’ topic and behaviour, so that video games are discursively constructed as the antithesis and threat to children’s innocence. The aspect of developing a tolerance towards violence is further advocated in a task in Notting Hill Gate 5 (Biermann et al. 2019: 97). Learners are asked to examine and write about two photographs showing children in war zones - with one picture being most graphic as it depicts a boy covered in blood and dirt. Learners then need to interview a person who is willing to share their own “war memory” (Biermann et al. 2019: 97) before they have to discuss the following statement: “Playing war games on game consoles or computers makes gamers violent” (Biermann et al. 2019: 97). Right from the start, the task semantically links video games to violence which is achieved in both the statement itself and the overall structure of the task. Thus, while the statement again discursively hints at the connotation of ‘killer games’ (see above), the ordering of the individual sub-tasks provides a hermeneutical framework for how learners are supposed to respond to the statement: By initially showing a graphic depiction of violence in form of a photograph and by positioning learners in a face-to-face encounter with a war victim, the task confronts learners with predications of discomfort and unease. The task thus, one might argue, imitates and reproduces the emotional turmoil a violent video game might cause in children and teenagers, since, in the face of horrific war scenarios and experiences, learners are primed to feel concern for the inappropriateness of war games and the effects they might have on young people. In this emotionally charged setting, then, the task suggests a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ reaction to the statement since, by the time learners work with the statement, the task has already prepared the image of video games as perpetrators and gamers as victims of violence - which might leave learners with a sense of unease about their own mental well-being in the face of such content. Finally, the notion of gaming disorder is negotiated in EFL textbooks through textbook characters who prioritise their gaming over their everyday duties, to the point where negative consequences ensue. In Camden Market 3 (Barker et al. 2015: 86), for instance, learners encounter George, a 13-year-old boy who, according to a short descriptive text, “never cleans his room and he doesn’t like to help with the housework” because of his constant gaming. Furthermore, he likes his gaming “more than his homework” and it is at this point that negative consequences become most apparent: George is not only textually associated with laziness in householdrelated matters, but he also jeopardises his personal future by neglecting his school obligations: “If he doesn’t work harder for school, he won’t get a good school report. But George doesn’t care.” (Barker et al. 2015: 86). Here, the text adds more semantic weight to its already established predications of carelessness by shifting its representation of gaming from being a mere nuisance in the private sphere to being a serious impairment to professional development and achievement. This problematic notion is also reinforced in a drawing printed next to the written text, in which George is depicted as deeply absorbed in a racing game while his schoolbooks and pencil case are symbolically placed next to the computer screen - where they are left to be forgotten. Both written text and image, thus, suggest that George’s excessive gaming stands in the way of his education and his prioritization of digital games leads to even more negative consequences when perceived in the broader context of his family life: As another short descriptive text reveals, his father has recently lost his job as an engineer so that now he does not only do all household tasks but also ceaselessly searches for new job opportunities (Barker et al. 2015: 86). As such he is active in the domestic and professional realm, which George both neglects, and becomes the semantic differential to George. In comparison to his father, George and his gaming habits are depicted as worse than before, as they are shown to be a direct affront to the father’s dire situation and his responsible work ethics, which discursively leaves gaming with a scent of ingratitude towards the father’s sacrifice amidst a financial crisis. Other texts bring this notion of gamers utterly neglecting important duties to an extreme. In a fantasy short story called “Time Lord” in Green Line 1 (Horner et al. 2014: 106-107), for example, a group of children needs to save the world from the eponymous antagonist by telling three stories that show examples of human compassion. As the group collectively thinks of a final story to tell (and as time runs out quickly) they consult the Time Fairy for help, who transforms a wall into giant computer screens, so that the children can search the internet for inspiration. Yet, as soon as the screens appear one of the characters, Lucy, immediately seems to forget about their world-saving mission: “‘Cool! Look at these huge screens! ’ she cries. ‘Maybe I can play my favorite computer game first? I mean, now that my parents can’t stop me’” (Horner et al. 2014: 107). While the text uses Lucy’s gaming obsession as a comic relief to the narrative, its semantic interplay between video games and the end of the world still reinforces a stereotypical depiction of video games as an addictive medium. Lucy utterly lacks any control over her gaming as she is, quite literally, ready to prioritize it over anything else in the world - to the point where she considers continuing gaming despite the most extreme problem of total annihilation. All of this seems to be motivated by the fact that Lucy can now enjoy gaming without running into more arguments with her parents, which further underlines the understanding of video games as inherently accompanied by and intertwined with problems, ranging from the most trivial everyday arguments to the most extreme consequences. This negative image is also supported by the text implementing a voice of reason and responsibility, as another character, Sandy, scolds Lucy for her ridiculously irresponsible behaviour: “’No way, Lucy’ Sandy says. ‘We have to save the world first’” (Horner et al. 2014: 107). Sandy serves as a semantic differential to shift readers’ attention back to the serious stakes at play, and through her plea to “all work together! ” (Horner et al. 2014: 107), she adds another layer to the problematic nature of gaming as an anti-social and isolating practice that endangers the functionality of the group. As the analysis of individual examples shows, contemporary EFL textbooks for German secondary schools often display video games from the perspective of a mental health risk. In particular, they represent video games as a matter of addiction, as they continuously place digital gaming in the realm of gaming disorder - and, here, they specifically refer to DSM-5 features of the occurrence of withdrawal symptoms, an increasing tolerance of and ‘numbness’ towards inappropriate content and a neglect of everyday duties. As such, textbooks (consciously or unconsciously) define video games in terms of a clinical condition so that digital gaming is often textually associated with a loss of control and, thus, becomes a danger to teenagers’ development and their mental well-being. With this form of representing video games, EFL textbooks mirror and reinforce some contemporary discourses on digital gaming. As Breiner and Kolibius (2019) state, despite the more optimistic public views on video games in recent years, critical interpretations of games still prevail. Thus, next to the long-lasting ‘killer game discourse’ (see above), video games are also negotiated in terms of “digital dementia” and “the danger of addiction” (Breiner & Kolibius 2019: 4; trans. D.B.). In the latter context, it is often argued that digital games take young individuals’ agency away, as teenagers replace their independent decision making in the ‘real’ world with thoughts, actions, and experiences originating in and limited to virtual environments. Video games, hence, are represented as a medium that uses intriguing gameplay, appealing in-game rewards or thrilling content to keep young people fully engaged and immersed in the digital realm, which ultimately results in a variety of problems in teenagers’ everyday lives. EFL textbooks can be located in this latter discourse and through repeatedly making use of DSM-5 features of gaming disorder they become textual reflections and reinforcements of a more critical societal meaningmaking practice - and as representatives of specific curricular visions (see section 2.3) they thus also mirror a lingering sense of video game pessimism in language education discourse. Given this most negative clinical perception on the level of EFL learning materials, video games might still have some way to go to become fully fledged additions to a language learning classroom. In fact, so far, with their connotation of addiction they appear to be the exact opposite of a medium that can offer learning opportunities, as the medium’s potential benefits are still discursively hidden underneath prevalent assumptions of threat and danger. In light of the question why video games are not used more frequently in actual EFL classrooms (see Introduction), therefore, EFL textbooks make a strong case against the implementation of video games; and this is most problematic: As pointed in section 2.3, textbooks fulfil a gate-keeping function regarding which topics are considered ‘valuable’ for language learning. By displaying a rather one-sided perspective on video games as a mental health issue, textbooks currently close the gates for both teachers and learners on discovering what the medium can potentially contribute to the EFL classroom. Instead, textbooks reinforce a rather moralizing view on video games, as it is often still found in public discourse, and, given their central position in the EFL cosmos, they have a strong impact on how likely a reconsideration of video games as learning materials is. 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