I think that, as a friend, you should do whatever you reasonably can to help him. If I am aware of problems that my friends have, that is what I try to do, and would hope that my friends do that for me as well. Nonetheless, if the person is in denial and severely addicted, you may not be able to help much.
However, remember that you are far from alone and that there are many sources of help available for both you and your friend. This Slashdot site is one of them, but some other good ones that I am aware of are On-Line Gamers Anonymous (OLGA) at http://www.olganon.org/ , Gamer Widow at http://gamerwidow.com/ (note that despite it's name, it also has support for gamers as well), DailyStrength Video Game Addiction (VGA) support group at http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Video-Game-Addiction/support-group , and WoW Detox at http://www.wowdetox.com/ . I am a recovering video game addict myself. For me, I used counseling from a friend as well as the OLGA Website (such as informally following their 12 steps) and, to a lesser extent, the DailyStrength one.
Note that even if you cannot get your friend to directly get help himself, the first 2 sites listed above (i.e., OLGA and Gamer Widow) have sections specifically for family and friends of gamers. I am sure that you can find something already previously posted that would be useful, or can get specific help by repeating your query.
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I think that, as a friend, you should do whatever you reasonably can to help him. If I am aware of problems that my friends have, that is what I try to do, and would hope that my friends do that for me as well. Nonetheless, if the person is in denial and severely addicted, you may not be able to help much.
However, remember that you are far from alone and that there are many sources of help available for both you and your friend. This Slashdot site is one of them, but some other good ones that I am aware of are On-Line Gamers Anonymous (OLGA) at http://www.olganon.org/ , Gamer Widow at http://gamerwidow.com/ (note that despite it's name, it also has support for gamers as well), DailyStrength Video Game Addiction (VGA) support group at http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Video-Game-Addiction/support-group , and WoW Detox at http://www.wowdetox.com/ . I am a recovering video game addict myself. For me, I used counseling from a friend as well as the OLGA Website (such as informally following their 12 steps) and, to a lesser extent, the DailyStrength one.
Note that even if you cannot get your friend to directly get help himself, the first 2 sites listed above (i.e., OLGA and Gamer Widow) have sections specifically for family and friends of gamers. I am sure that you can find something already previously posted that would be useful, or can get specific help by repeating your query.