Games targeted by BBC probe are ‘a lot different’ to those made by its commercial arm
Games published by BBC Worldwide “are absolutely not addictive”, the licensing division has said ahead of a BBC Panorama investigation into the so-called psychological hooks placed into video games.
BBC Worldwide communications boss Phil Fleming told Develop that the firm’s games are “built to be enjoyable.”
Tonight the BBC will air a Panorama documentary on the so-called addictive properties of video games, focusing much of its time on portraying the detrimental effect games have had on several young people.
Fleming suggested the firm’s own game output is completely safe in the hands of minors.
“The games that we do are family-based, they’re not about traditional firearms, the games are about using your brain.”
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He added: “As I understand it, the games featured tonight are a lot different to what the BBC would put out. The games tonight talk about World Of Warcraft, and Call Of Duty, and all those kinds of games. The BBC’s games are family-oriented, they’re learning games, they’re puzzle games, they’re racing games.”
At no stage does the Panorama show provide evidence that games are intrinsically addictive, though its agenda appears to have been to find such data.
“Until we see the Panorama piece tonight we can’t comment on details of the show,” said Fleming.
BBC Worldwide has published a range of games to extend its TV brands such as Dr Who. UK studios such as Sumo Digital and Tag Games have already benefited from the initiative, having been commissioned work on the titles.
The broadcaster is now lining up a whole string of titles to be released across 2011, said MCV deputy editor Chris Dring, including an app for pre-schoolers based on the Teletubbies brand.
So maybe the Panorama piece should be titled to show it is looking at the "addictive hooks" placed in modern FPS or RPG games. Or maybe this is just a load of bull (which we know already) and now you're trying to cover yourselves
Talk about hypocritical. I've lost a lot of respect for the BBC over this farce.
He's right about BBC games not being addictive. Has anyone played Dr Who on Wii?
There's a reason why the BBC-licensed games aren't addictive: they're all crap. Seriously, go check out the scores for the recent Doctor Who game. Hardly a single one above 3/10.
Video Games = Scapegoat.
I await to see how many parents views are aired about their children playing "addictive games" , which they have brought on behalf of their child, due to the age restrictions.
All games are made to engage - that's the point of games! If a player isn't engaged in the game - there's no point in playing it. The problem with the Panorama item is the pejorative use of the word 'addiction'! Everyone should read Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book 'Flow', including the Panorama researchers.
I thought the Panorama programme was an effort in finding people with existing problems who also played games. Given the numbers of people who enjoy games, there are bound to be troubled or just plain weird outliers of all kinds. That what bell curves are all about with numbers this big.
You could have made an equally compelling case by finding football hooligans who had Subbuteo sets as children. Then claim that all the flicking little men had made them violent at "proper" footy games.
The other theme - not mentioned explicitly, of course - was the huge avoidance of personal responsibility for anyone's own actions or the actions of others supposedly under care. I had little sympathy for parents who didn't actually pay attention to what their children were doing, and this includes the parents of so-called grown-up students at university. Parents often subsidize their offspring, and you would have thought they'd want some return on their investment: something a little bit more than a high-level WOW character. You know, qualifications, a job that supports the little sod, and that sort of thing.
As to the charge that games are meant to be involving: ALL forms of entertainment are meant to be involving. Quick, let's ban books because there's that horrible temptation to read another chapter! Quick, let's ban films, because they might be interesting. Quick, let's ban anything that the older generation finds a bit strange and wasn't about when they were little.
And just to establish my curmudgeonly old bastard persona, I'm in favour of banning very small pieces of Lego. It's bloody agony when you walk on it with bare feet. Bah.
