08 Dec 2010, 14:13 PM
Okay. Has anyone else watched Panarama this week? Just saw it 'cos its about games addiction.
It is, on the whole, utter crap. Some choice lines were (and these are not 100% verbatim 'cos I didn't write them down) "Instead of going out for a drink, or to a nightclub, they come here, to PC Bang [in Korea] to play online games...", and "...you should just put down the controller, take a deap breath, ring a friend and go out and get smashed!"
Um... since when did going out and getting drunk become more socially acceptable than playing a game?
There are also some interesting little bits that are glossed over. Many people who are interviewed say that they are generally bored, but the program doesn't really address this. The reporter even goes as far as to say to one self confessed WOW addict that "...There are millions of things you could be doing..." but doesn't specify, then says "...you could go and get a girlfriend..." Yeah, like the entirety of cultural history fully supports that that is exactly how it's done. You decide to get a girlfriend or boyfriend, go out, get one, and that's that. It seem to remember it being somewhat harder than that, but maybe that's just me.
One Korean mother has accompanied her boy to a rehab camp for games addicts. Her boy has apparently become fixated on games and withdrawn. She then, a little later, comes out with the remarkable statement that she used to hit her son a lot, and now sees that she shouldn't have done that and should have talked to him instead.
Um. Well, maybe you forced your son to withdraw into an available fantasy world because of your daily treatment of him? Maybe the games weren't actually the problem here.
Ah... I've ranted long enough. I'd suggest you watch it, but personally the time spent watching the programme and posting this critique has robbed my of valuable time I could have been playing Continuum Shift.
Gamer - AWAY!
It is, on the whole, utter crap. Some choice lines were (and these are not 100% verbatim 'cos I didn't write them down) "Instead of going out for a drink, or to a nightclub, they come here, to PC Bang [in Korea] to play online games...", and "...you should just put down the controller, take a deap breath, ring a friend and go out and get smashed!"
Um... since when did going out and getting drunk become more socially acceptable than playing a game?
There are also some interesting little bits that are glossed over. Many people who are interviewed say that they are generally bored, but the program doesn't really address this. The reporter even goes as far as to say to one self confessed WOW addict that "...There are millions of things you could be doing..." but doesn't specify, then says "...you could go and get a girlfriend..." Yeah, like the entirety of cultural history fully supports that that is exactly how it's done. You decide to get a girlfriend or boyfriend, go out, get one, and that's that. It seem to remember it being somewhat harder than that, but maybe that's just me.
One Korean mother has accompanied her boy to a rehab camp for games addicts. Her boy has apparently become fixated on games and withdrawn. She then, a little later, comes out with the remarkable statement that she used to hit her son a lot, and now sees that she shouldn't have done that and should have talked to him instead.
Um. Well, maybe you forced your son to withdraw into an available fantasy world because of your daily treatment of him? Maybe the games weren't actually the problem here.
Ah... I've ranted long enough. I'd suggest you watch it, but personally the time spent watching the programme and posting this critique has robbed my of valuable time I could have been playing Continuum Shift.
Gamer - AWAY!