Videogame Addiction debate on CHCH: Canadian television knows I exist

Appearing on Attack of the Show via webcam was the coolest moment in this little geek’s life, so imagine the uncontrollable happy dance I did when a local Canadian TV station contacted me to appear as an expert (shows what they know) on a segment about videogame addiction. Let’s just say that there was a long and merry jig performed after I hung up the phone.

CHCH Hamilton or E! has a small debate show called Live at 5:30pm where two hosts Mark and Donna talk about the latest issues with a few experts on the subject. Friday’s show covered the subject of videogame addiction and I was one of three experts asked to appear on the show.

The other two guests were Mark Ouellette, an assistant professor teaching pop culture at McMaster University and Liz Woolley, the founder of Online Gamers Anonymous and mother to a son who committed suicide in front of his computer after a year long struggle with an Everquest addiction.

I really wish the segment had been longer but the show covers a couple of topics at once and they only have half an hour to cover them. It really bothers me that the con side of the conversation got more air time than the two pro sides, especially when I had the academic on my side. I felt like Adam Sessler when he debated Jack Thompson, in that I was cut off before I got a chance to rip the misinformed game-hater a new one. Don’t get me wrong… I feel bad that her son took his own life, but blaming his obviously serious problems on a videogame is a cheap way out of blaming yourself or him for what happened.

Games maybe the stuff of peoples’ addictions sometimes, but they are never the cause. If you know anyone who is so badly addicted to videogames or anything else that they have reverted from their family, friends and general life, please get them help before its too late. Addictions are always a serious sign of something really wrong with a person’s state of mind.

[Writer’s note: Sorry about the watermark. My brother-in-law ripped, edited and uploaded the video for me and the program he had to edit was a trial version. I can’t complain cause my computer couldn’t even process the 10 minute video. I suck.]