Olympic President Calls Videogames "Screen Tyranny"

[Andy Chalk]

Olympic President Calls Videogames "Screen Tyranny"

International Olympic Committee [http://www.olympic.org/] President Jacques Rogge has decried the "screen tyranny" of digital entertainment, which he says is drawing kids away from sport.

A report in the Times Online [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/london_2012/article3980955.ece]says that despite youth-oriented marketing campaigns and the addition of sports like snowboarding and BMX cycling, the typical Olympic audience is getting older, while the advent of PCs, game consoles and television are resulting in increasingly sedentary teenagers. The average age of an Olympic participant is 24, but the average age of an Olympic watcher is 46.

"Kids are attracted to visual, interactive forms of communication. It's not going to be easy for sport to counter that," he said. "You won't hear me saying sport is not fun - it is. But it requires austerity and discipline. The answer is achievement. You will never achieve in a videogame. It is not really success."

As part of a campaign to draw the attention of young people to athletics, Rogge created the MySpace [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_Olympic_Games]and other social networks in order to reach a wide audience of kids.

The 2008 Olympic Games [http://en.beijing2008.cn/] are being held in Beijing, China. Along with BMX cycling, this year's Summer Games events will include trampoline gymnastics, badminton, softball and beach volleyball.


Permalink

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Just another tool. Ignore him.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

"You won't hear me saying sport is not fun - it is. But it requires austerity and discipline. The answer is achievement. You will never achieve in a videogame. It is not really success."

Obviously Mr. Old Media hasn't seen how dedicated some players can be; speedrunners, glitchers, and bona fide professional players definitely show austerity and discipline in pursuit of their gameplay... and attain astonishing achievements. (Warthog Jump, for instance, is a marvel of performance art in my biased opinion.)

Meanwhile, Mr. Old Media is ignoring how the Olympic Games have become increasingly irrelevant to youth as the Committee has increasingly pursued product placement over integrity and political expediency over impartiality. Youth, in my experience, is less tolerant of hypocricy in others. The Committee should look to its own affairs before criticising the affairs of others.

Plus, ironically, the Olympics do less to encourage participation than video games do; let's face it, TV coverage of the Games is consumed in the main by couch potatos, not atheletes. At least the gamers are doing something instead of just sitting motionless and staring at kids half their age.

-- Steve

 

[Skrapt]

He's just using video games as a scape goat because he knows people would rather play games then watch people run around a track for a few hours.

You don't achieve things in games? Well all you achieve in the Olympics is some quick press overage and a shiny medal, that's not very rewarding either.

 

[irrelevantnugget]

This man is right. Instead of doing thinking sports, we should all start gulping down steroids and be real men, ROAR!

 

[marfoir(IRL)]

Well all you achieve in the Olympics is some quick press overage and a shiny medal

That, and the knowledge that you are better at that than every other person in the world which is worth a lot to the competitors.

 

[Cousin_IT]

I dont watch the olympics because most of it is incredably boring, as are athletic computer games. & If hes suggesting playing games is less healthy than watching other people play sports, the guy has made a very strange deductive leap.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Well all you achieve in the Olympics is some quick press overage and a shiny medal

That, and the knowledge that you are better at that than every other person in the world which is worth a lot to the competitors.

Better than everyone else, at the Olympics... Which means if you're in a drug deal gone bad it's of some use, as you can apply your massive stamina to the task of running. Unfortunatly, most Olypic participants spend their time... running around in circles, so it's not of much use.

 

[Skrapt]

Well all you achieve in the Olympics is some quick press overage and a shiny medal

That, and the knowledge that you are better at that than every other person in the world which is worth a lot to the competitors.

the knowledge that you're better then everyone competing, I highly doubt that anyone whos wins a gold medal is better then everyone else in the world

 

[xMacx]

"You won't hear me saying sport is not fun - it is. But it requires austerity and discipline. The answer is achievement. You will never achieve in a videogame. It is not really success."

Obviously Mr. Old Media hasn't seen how dedicated some players can be; speedrunners, glitchers, and bona fide professional players definitely show austerity and discipline in pursuit of their gameplay... and attain astonishing achievements. (Warthog Jump, for instance, is a marvel of performance art in my biased opinion.)

I know we're all gamers - but comparing someone who excels at Halo with Olympic atheletes is stretching the argument a bit thin.

Games are made to be accessible to anyone with interest; they don't require the level of dedication that Olympic-level sports do. they just don't. and that's okay. Our highest performers don't have to be Olympic level to make it impressive.

I took his statement to suggest that Olympic-level physical activities require a level of dedication from atheletes to develop their bodies before acquiring the sport's skill (i.e., you can't be the greatest diver unless you've also maximized the muscles required for diving).

In contrast, games are about acquiring skill with no requirement of physical ability. Not nearly the same thing.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Pfft....I wasn't aware track events had a huge following to begin with. They need to get back to the boxing matches with chain gloves like the ancient greeks used to do.

I'm an avid UFC fan. If they start to allow Mixed Martial Arts Tournaments not only will I watch, I'll bet money, drink too much, and smoke cigars during the entire showdown. That's like 4 capitalist ventures winning at once.

 

[sammyfreak]

I took his statement to suggest that Olympic-level physical activities require a level of dedication from atheletes to develop their bodies before acquiring the sport's skill (i.e., you can't be the greatest diver unless you've also maximized the muscles required for diving).

In contrast, games are about acquiring skill with no requirement of physical ability. Not nearly the same thing.

Then again, the Olympics give the same medal to the both the person who wins the badminton competition and the person who wins the decathlon.

Badminton is probably the most hardcore sport in the world. Period.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I know we're all gamers - but comparing someone who excels at Halo with Olympic atheletes is stretching the argument a bit thin.

True, but not as thin as you might think. I actually trained a couple of days with someone on the Canadian Olympic rifle team, and looking back at that I'm mildly surprised at the overlaps that do crop up between professional gaming and the mental conditioning in upper-tier sports.

However I was targeting his statement that sports in general held these attributes, which did not limit themselves to Olympic sports. Also, he was complaining about a shrinking audience, not about participation in the events themselves... and I certainly don't see much "austerity and discipline" involved in watching the Olympics.

-- Steve

 

[zool13]

The Olympics have been used as a friendly form of competition since they started in Athens. This is something to be said that different countries can compete in these peaceful games without trying to kill each other, minus a couple of incidents that have occurred. Now, isn't that how multiplayer games are supposed supposed to work, friendly competition between people from around the world? If anything, Mr. Rogge should be promoting the Olympics through video games to attract attention from that group. Use the games that have already been released that have to do with Olympic sports, or put out commercials of the athletes playing any video games that they enjoy. This will give the games more coverage than they realize, and can benefit both the Olympics and the video game industry.

 

[xMacx]

However I was targeting his statement that sports in general held these attributes, which did not limit themselves to Olympic sports. Also, he was complaining about a shrinking audience, not about participation in the events themselves... and I certainly don't see much "austerity and discipline" involved in watching the Olympics.

-- Steve

Fair.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The answer is achievement. You will never achieve in a videogame.

Well, I think Fatal1ty and Thresh might disagree.

But then we don't need steroid tests when we beat a game.

 

[HannesPascal]

Hpm.. The only sports that is ok to watch is football (I mean real football not american)it feels rather pointless to see persons running around. Also sometimes i watch judo but that's to learn tricks I can then use when I train judo.