A person who believes gaming is an addiction is blissfully unaware of what real illness is. My cousin died from Heroin. You punish and restrict your children enough you'll drive them to drugs because they've been punished seemingly for existing. Then you'll go, "Oh! I see now! Suddenly my child playing video games doesn't seem so bad compare to them putting needles up their arms, because I was so controlling they needed to dissociate from me!"
I'm really sorry that you have the issues with your parents that you do, but that doesn't change the fact that video or internet gaming, just like casino gaming, CAN be addictive, and that addiction CAN rise to harmful levels. Is it always an addiction? No, of course not. Can it be? Oh, you bet your bippy.
Let's say that you've got a casino in your town. Now, if you go to that casino once a month or so, stay a couple of hours, maybe play $100, then gaming for you is probably a harmless pastime. If you regularly skip work (or worse, quit a job) in order to spend more time at that casino, and lose your rent or grocery money every single month, then that is really not a healthy place for you to be going, because you lose all control the minute you walk over the threshold, AND the drive to get over that threshold as often as possible outweighs every other motivation in your life.
Now, let's say you have a gaming console or gaming PC in your living room. The same kind of standard applies, though since there is no cash on the line, playing somewhat more often is probably reasonable. So, let's say you play 3 hours a week, in your leisure time, and not when you are supposed to be working or sleeping. You sometimes speak to others in the room while you play, and you never skip any meals or develop a locked-up gut from the tension of playing. In that situation, it's a harmless pastime.
New scenario: You have a gaming console (or more likely, PC) in your bedroom. Looked at in daylight, the controller or keyboard has caked-in grime in every construction seam, because your hands sweat when you hold it, and you are always holding it. You play upward of 10 hours out of every 24, and you often blow off work or sleep to play. You are always faced with the choice of gaming or eating, because you feel like taking time to leave the room to eat is gaming time wasted. You sometimes get constipated, because you don't want to get out of your chair for regular bathroom breaks, so you often choose to hold it. You don't shower daily, but showers, snack runs and potty breaks are the only reason that you do come out. If someone IRL tries to make conversation, you launch into intricate descriptions of your games, but leave the conversation if the subject changes. THAT is gaming addiction, and it is crippling, because that kind of addict is just as unlikely as an alcoholic to be able to be a self-supporting member of society -- perhaps even less so.
ANY pastime that becomes all-consuming and adversely affects one's ability to get enough sleep, keep up with schoolwork, or make a living is a pastime gone wrong. Anyone who loves a person falling prey to that will want to intervene in some way to break the compulsion, because being controlled by a compulsion is not emotionally healthy in any way. If you cannot self-regulate the time you spend doing that thing, then you need outside help to do so.