23 Jun 07
Me, On TV
Well, I was on local TV last night.
It was, initially, what you’d probably expect from a local news piece on videogames — a sensationalistic ‘VIDEOGAMES ARE ADDICTIVE AND MIGHT HURT YOUR CHILDREN!” kind of spin (at least from the lead-in by the anchor). But, after the hook, it turned into a collection of short soundbites that actually tried to present a marginally more complex picture, so some credit should go to the reporter and producer for not trying to present a completely skewed piece.
At the very least, I’m happy they included Kurt‘s quote about how those clamoring for videogame addiction diagnoses understand virtually nothing about what games actually are. However, it sure would have been nice if they’d have let me know exactly what the topic of the piece was — instead, it was presented to me as “Hey, can we record you playing games? Do you mind telling us why you like games and how much you play?” kind of thing, which was disingenuous and slightly unethical.
And, oh yeah, I’m the guy playing Guitar Hero. My shirt looks ill-fitted and weird because the lapel mic was stretching it. Plus, my hair looks like ass. And I look fat. But, what’s done is done. I should probably dress less like a slob, even on days in which all I’m expecting to do is sit in my office and write. Ugh, oh well, live and learn?
Here is a link to the news page, along with the piece’s copy. There’s a Flash video player on the right side of the page, and a clip should be accessible to watch from there.
Sweet. Had they filmed me, I would’ve been shouting obscenities at Godfather Blackhand Edition, which is essentially GTA with the Godfather mythology, and sweet wii controls.
In other words, it’s beyond awesome.
Yeah, I just got that from Gamefly the other day. Haven’t had a chance to try it out — some people say it’s a disturbing experience. I’m kinda excited.
i’m finding it really, really addictive. i actually like it better than GTA because I love the godfather movies so much, and all the missions are like the stuff you don’t get to see in the movie. I mean, you get to put the horse’s head in the dude’s bed! How sweet is that?
That said, it IS really disturbing and ultra-violent…
Long time, Sean…
How ironic that they ask they treat the dang psychologist as a subject instead of an expert. Why did they bother getting a video game researcher as a subject?
That is like seeking out Bill Gates for a story on Microsoft and then asking him how much he uses Windows.
Sweet office, BTW.
Neil, that’s because I went back to school and, voila, ended up going down a bunch of rungs in terms of professional status. Since I am now a “student” again, well, that means I’m really only good for playing videogames rather than talking about them, apparently! They didn’t ask me about my background and, frankly, it’s not like anyone really cares anyway.
Oh, and that’s not my office.