A little over a year ago, we commented on Dr.Phil taping one of his shows which was focused on violent video games. Now, while I have to acknowledge his originality, (because let’s face it, no one has ever gone out of their way to blame video games on violence before), the thoughtless attacks are unnecessary. Obviously that isn’t stopping him from going after ratings, because he has a new show, set to air in October, concerning video games being addictive (another, completely original though). Not only that, but Dr.Phil is making it a point of arguing that video games are intentionally, and thoughtfully designed to be addictive. How do we Know this? Simple, one of his guests said so in her blog.
“However, angry as this makes me personally, there is a clear difference between games being made to addict players – the action – and games made to addict players – the intent. I spent years digging around behind the smoke and light show that game designers hide behind. I saw them on camera and off. I saw miles of dirty laundry…memos that shouldn’t have left the company, stories that shouldn’t have left the Human Resources office, attitudes that shouldn’t have been shared in the hallways with just anyone listening. It’s clear to me the game addiction phenomenon wrecking lives, finances, relationships and careers was not foreseen and planned by these game designers. They wanted the loyalty of their consumer fans, but they had no idea how far it could go. They’re actually, secretly, very frightened by the emergence of addictive game player behavior, and the anger of the general public over it.”
The guest in question is Wendy Kays, wife to Graham Kays who is the lead designer for SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals. While it would appear, by reading her blog, that Wendy is more or less fair on the issue, acknowledging the fact that the addiction issue is real, while not going out of her way to make a point of video games being “evil”. Despite this, Dr.Phil apparently accuses her of being biased towards video games, even though she has a new book titled “Game Widow”. If you ask me, that doesn’t sound very supportive of the industry.
By the way Dr.Phil, it’s called replay value. It isn’t there to make games addictive, it’s there so that they are more interesting to comeback to, as opposed to other entertainment types. For example, watching a rerun of a TV talk show.