On the BBC, quite recently, there was a documentary called Panorama. Basically, it covers the possibly addictive nature of games and how they are supposedly ruining people's lives. Now hardly a day goes by on the Escapist without several member's heads exploding from rage at some discrimination against video games by people who have never played them.
Click below for my take on it. (it goes on for a bit. Also, I know there was a thread about the leaked concept of the documentary, it's linked below.)
Click below for my take on it. (it goes on for a bit. Also, I know there was a thread about the leaked concept of the documentary, it's linked below.)
Any British Escapist members will probably know what I'm talking about. I know there was a thread about the leaked concept of this documentary: [link]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105867-BBC-Documentary-to-Investigate-Videogame-Addiction[/link] but now it's actually come to light, it deserves some analysis by Escapist as a whole. Anyone in the UK who missed it can watch it for the next few days on BBC iplayer, anyone else can probably find some bits floating around on youtube, or something. I don't know if it'll be on BBC America.
As described by the thread linked above, it was surprisingly even handed. The documentary described addiction tactics used in games, namely the offering of rewards at frequent intervals, though not too often as to become repetitive.
It is based off of an experiment that rats can learn to press a button for food, but if the button only disperses food on some random presses, but not others, the rat will push the button obsessively. This can be compared to loot drops on games such as World of Warcraft, and Fallout.
One man, who was so addicted to World of Warcraft that he almost completely severed ties with family said, "I wouldn't wish this game on anyone. It's a disease." He was attempting to wean himself off the game, and was revisited later in the show. He had relapsed, and made excuses as to why he had returned to the game. He was playing the game whilst being interviewed, and snubbed the show's interviewer and narrator, because of events in game.
The documentary does admit, however, that the vast majority of people do not get so easily addicted to gaming. In Korea, for example, which has the most advanced Broadband system in the world, and has around 50% of people with broadband playing online games, only 2% of people were "addicted." Granted, that is still a vast amount of people, but it proves it's far from universal.
The documentary touches upon recent events that found their way into media, such as parents neglecting their child because they were protecting a virtual child from harm. Over all, though, it's much fairer to gaming than the other anti-gaming campaigns in recent times.
As described by the thread linked above, it was surprisingly even handed. The documentary described addiction tactics used in games, namely the offering of rewards at frequent intervals, though not too often as to become repetitive.
It is based off of an experiment that rats can learn to press a button for food, but if the button only disperses food on some random presses, but not others, the rat will push the button obsessively. This can be compared to loot drops on games such as World of Warcraft, and Fallout.
One man, who was so addicted to World of Warcraft that he almost completely severed ties with family said, "I wouldn't wish this game on anyone. It's a disease." He was attempting to wean himself off the game, and was revisited later in the show. He had relapsed, and made excuses as to why he had returned to the game. He was playing the game whilst being interviewed, and snubbed the show's interviewer and narrator, because of events in game.
The documentary does admit, however, that the vast majority of people do not get so easily addicted to gaming. In Korea, for example, which has the most advanced Broadband system in the world, and has around 50% of people with broadband playing online games, only 2% of people were "addicted." Granted, that is still a vast amount of people, but it proves it's far from universal.
The documentary touches upon recent events that found their way into media, such as parents neglecting their child because they were protecting a virtual child from harm. Over all, though, it's much fairer to gaming than the other anti-gaming campaigns in recent times.
