Panorama criticised by friend of "addict"

By Johnny Minkley Published 16 December, 2010

Games documentary's claims "exaggerated".

The friend of an alleged videogames addict who featured in Panorama's recent documentary, Addicted To Games?, has hit out at the makers' selective editing and "exaggerated view of games addiction and its causes".

In a lengthy article published on This Is My Joystick, Trent Pyro (real name Tom Hubbard) explains how Panorama came to interview his friend, Joe Staley, whose obsession with Modern Warfare 2 was explicitly linked in the film to his dropping out of university and racking up huge debts.

"As a fledgling media professional... I felt that having them film at my house would be an interesting experience," said Pyro. "They were amicable guys, if a little pushy... Little did I know how the whole thing would turn out."

While accepting he was not "misrepresented" and his comments "were used well within context," Pyro's beef with the makers is that "much of what I had said was tactically cut as it did not support the theme of the piece".

Staley is seen in the film describing how he "couldn't physically pull [himself] away from the console" during "12 hour" Call of Duty sessions. In a voiceover, reporter Raphael Rowe states: "His habit cost him dearly. He's been thrown out of university and left thousands of pounds in debt, partly from buying games."

Pyro is adamant, however, that this does not reflect reality: "Despite the fact that, for a time, I was concerned about his life I really never saw it as that much of a problem," he stated in the post.

"Joe was thrown out of university because he was failing and he couldn't afford to keep going. His disinterest in university was a reason for his increase in gaming, not the other way around. The debt was more a result of Joe's bad budgeting skills than an addiction to gaming."

He added: "I do acknowledge that some people play games way too much and it negatively impacts on their lives.

"My dad spends almost all of his free time reading and listening to the radio. Does that mean he's addicted to reading? I'd say so, but that's not perceived by people as being a bad thing."

In an exclusive interview with Eurogamer, Panorama producer and director Emeka Onono accused the games industry of being "very defensive" over the issue of gaming addiction.

"We do say several times it's a small minority... But it's an issue that does need to be raised and does need to be discussed."

Pyro, however, was left unconvinced by Panorama's approach: "If this issue really is a problem and really needs to be addressed, we need someone who speaks to us in our own terms. Someone who we can respect from our perspective.

"Until that happens, documentaries such as [Addicted To Games?] will succeed in doing only one thing in my opinion; creating undue fear and concern for an issue that is not yet fully understood by anyone."

You can read the full editorial over at This Is My Joystick.

Picture of Johnny.

About Johnny Minkley

Johnny Minkley is a veteran games writer and broadcaster, former editor of Eurogamer TV, VP of gaming charity SpecialEffect, and hopeless social media addict.

Read more articles from Johnny by visiting the Johnny Minkley archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Fillem #1 1 year ago

    I've heard nothing but bad things about this Panorama broadcast. Very good article on RPS on precisely this as well.

  • azazel_fallenangel #2 1 year ago

    "Despite the fact that, for a time, I was concerned about his life I really never saw it as that much of a problem,"

    ...ummm, what? Not much of a problem?
    Haven't seen the broadcast myuself yet, will attempt to drag myself far enough away from my PS3 to do so, probably on the iPlayer app, on the PS3. oops.

  • darleysam #3 1 year ago

    I say again, Gameswipe was buried on BBC4, while this takes a primetime BBC flagship Panorama slot.

    Great job, Auntie.

  • LiamK #4 1 year ago

    Does anyone else think that the games industry would have more respect if, when interviewed, people gave their real names rather than ones like "Pyro"?

    (I know he might be more famous for that name, but you don't see nuclear scientists interviewed with the addition "we spoke to Dr Megaboom, real name Ian Smith, to ask his opinion.)

  • Armoured_Gideon #5 1 year ago

    Combining the live on-air accosting of disabled victims of police brutality and now this, the BBC, which I have always defended to the last, has gone down dramatically in my opinion.

    The 24 hours news and commentary cycle requires constant feeding and editorialising to maintain audience attention, and as a result, even Auntie has stooped to simply sensationalising to cheaply grab audience attention.

    I look forward to the accompanying TV show about how someone who has a pint every lunch time is just the same as a rampant alcoholic, or my auntie who has never missed an episode of Coronation Street or Eastenders in 25 years is a hopeless televisual addict who Needs Help.

    Don't get me started on the shambling, pock faced hordes of drooling cadavers stabbing at their phones every weekend to preserve the artificially cultivated musical dreams of ugly chavs...

    How about this - focus your catastrophising lens on other sectors of society instead of stabbing for the low hanging fruit of the gaming industry, you opprobrious, selective cretins.

  • kinky_mong #6 1 year ago

    Trent Pyro. Emeka Onono. It's silly name corner!

  • reelbigkris #7 1 year ago

    I feel that this was a way of developing a tactic to scare the general public who don't play games to say "oh, wow, this could be dangerous!" The BBC tried this nonsense back in the day with a programme called "my best friend is a computer" (something along that)

    There are plenty of studies and discussions that can argue that these video games can be very dangerous. As the technology increases and we begin to alter the input mechanics there is an opportunity to develop a platform that can seriously endanger our lifestyle. However there are equally as many to say that video games can enhance our lives or offer something that can not be acheieved in any other media. For example video games have recently been confirmed to help adults who have amblyopia and can improve eye sight by around 50%

    understanding from panoramas perspective, 30 minutes is not enough time to discuss the topic and there needs to be a 60 - 90 minute documentary split into 2 - 3 parts that can effectively tell both sides scientificly and as unbiased as possible...

    But the lack of video game content on our television screens today is a rather upsetting look at how television struggles to embrace video games.



    Edited by reelbigkris at 16/12/10 @ 17:27

  • SilverInfinity #8 1 year ago

    This was the worst piece of journalism I have ever seen, they carefully selected all of the crap to talk about in the documentary ... I was so angry when I watched it that I sent a very strongly worded letter to the BBC about using my licence fee to create poorly put together documentaries.

    Parents too often use it as a babysitter ... I remember when I had my NES my parents used to hide the controllers from me and my brothers so we could only play on it at certain times. I know when I have children I will be carefully monitoring what they play and when they play.

    Parents read this ... It's not hard to control the time your children play for, do a bit of research about gaming show an interest and learn about the things the manufacturers put in place to help you. Stop blaming the games.

    Rant over lol

  • dagas #9 1 year ago

    People throw around the term addicted about anything these days. Sure I use the Internet almost all day when I'm at home, but I've never felt abstinence when I'm on vacation where I don't have access to the internet for a couple of weeks.

  • triffski #10 1 year ago

    Well, at least their logo is accurate even if their biased "reporting" isn't.

    Panorama Logo
    Edited by triffski at 16/12/10 @ 17:38

  • ISmoke #11 1 year ago

    @LiamK

    May i steal that name? I actually love it.

  • curtlikesmeat #12 1 year ago

    I didn't see the documentary but the Fox news style title it has gave me a chuckle. Why even bother putting the question mark at the end chaps? ;)

  • Skurmedel #13 1 year ago

    SilverInfinity: I take it you've never watched Bill O'Reilly or Glenn Beck? :D

  • SilverInfinity #14 1 year ago

    @Skurmedel

    lol Nope who are they?

  • metalangel #15 1 year ago

    Someone had to take the babysitter home, then I noticed she was sitting on / her / sweet can. So I grabbed / her / sweet can. Oh, just thinking about / her / can... I wish I had / her / swee-swee-sweet can / right now!

  • Bluetooth #16 1 year ago

    Let that be a lesson to anyone thinking of letting in the media because it'll be fun, or you get paid a few bob. These people are professionals at manipulation (e.g. Daily Mail) or editing, where you can go on for ages where 99% of what you say is positive to something, but rest assured they will only publish the 1% negativity that you said, the moment you let your guard down is the moment you will see these journo's eyes gleam with delight.

  • Climhazzard #17 1 year ago

    Having watched the program last week i found it quite disturbing overall. These people that are getting addicted to games are the type of people that would have got addicted to something else if not games. Ive been gaming since i was 5 and since then there are plenty of occasions that i could have been classed as being addicted. I'd still say i am a little addicted but other things take priority and i think these people just say they're addicted to get labelled as having a problem and to take away from the fact they just can't be arsed to do anything else worthwhile. Panoramas dropping the ball a bit alately.

  • canIdoyabombsforya #18 1 year ago

    let's riot like the students! ;)

  • coomber #19 1 year ago

    Well at least the bloke learnt a valuable lesson in his "fledgling media career": He got turned over.

  • ShiroBen #20 1 year ago

    Or, in fact, "Panorama criticised by anyone with even an ounce of sense".

  • Ryze #21 1 year ago

    I spend too much time reading about videogames. Does that make me a videogame reading addict?!

    It must be a hybrid addiction caused by the evils of videogames, and IT MUST BE STOPPED!!!

    @reelbigkris

    TV fails to embrace videogames, because as more homes play videogames in the evening, they watch less of the TV shows that the stations broadcast, and therefor viewing figures continue to slide.

    There's nothing in it for them. No reason at all to do anything but demonise the entire hobby.

    I've met people who are obsessive about FISHING. We don't really see any documentaries telling us about how the behaviour of fish promotes addiction - with the little beggars tugging on that bait then swimming away, then nibbling, and swimming off. It's terrible - I tell you. Some young men spend ALL WEEKEND fishing. ALL WEEKEND!!! THEY CAMP OUT BY THE LAKE - JUST TO FISH!!! IN A TENT!!! FISHING ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT LONG ON THEIR OWN!!!!

    BAN FISHING, I SAY!!!! IT'S DESTROYING THE SOCIAL FABRIC OF OUR COMMUNITIES!!!
    Edited by Ryze at 16/12/10 @ 20:39

  • MadCaddy13 #22 1 year ago

    Knew this before I read it. I mean how can he have debts because of buying games when all he plays is cod mw2?? What, he buys the same game constantly? Hmm

  • metalangel #23 1 year ago

    @Ryze: I think it's bad because when you're off fishing the missus/family/other loved ones aren't walking past you and seeing you just sitting there.

    That's where all the obsessed fishermen/bikers/target shooters/model railroaders are getting it right. We (gamers) all need to just do LAN parties constantly or something where they can't see us to worry about us.

  • Ryze #24 1 year ago

    ^ We have the most groundbreaking hobby. We influence the mobile phone industry, we improve professional video and 3D technology for the benefit of the TV and film industries.

    We bring families together. We allow team sports to be played regardless of the outdoor conditions, and we're on the verge of being able to turn the whole thing into a huge and massively lucrative spectator sport as well.

    We provide well paid jobs for artists, mathematicians, physicists and computer scientists. Our consoles are the most advanced technology that you'll find in many households, and have been since the 70s.

    We counteract MTV's erosion of young peoples' concentration span. We assist with hand eye co-ordination, and the best gamers are often people who can operate complex machinery - complex - like a military helicopter. We often have better split-second reactions that the rest of the population.

    We generate huge amounts of money and contribute massively to the world economy. But bear in mind that people who play videogames and only watch time-shifted or download only TV legally don't have to pay for a TV licence.

    This would somewhat influence the fat suits in (BBC) TV-land who need to keep their jobs long enough to reach retirement.

  • OriginalSpamcat #25 1 year ago

    Mmm. Lazy journalism takes a swipe at gaming in a biased piece of so-called reporting. Never seen that before.

    Well not since the last episode, anyway.

  • OriginalSpamcat #26 1 year ago

    @Ryze

    The fat suits you refer to are well catered for. Their retirement funds are in the bag, regardless of what happens.

    What you are looking at is the end result of low paid production assistants and unpaid interns producing programmes that cater for easy shocks and thrills on minimum budgets. Remember! The Vice Executive of Internal Communications probably gets paid more than the entire budget for this run of Panorama.

  • darkmorgado #27 1 year ago

    Now watch as this goes totally unacknowledged by the BBC.

  • linksdad #28 1 year ago

    SilverInfinity - try hiding the controllers when your kids have a kinect!!

  • SilverInfinity #29 1 year ago

    @link'sdad

    Lol - Yes I can see my parents strategy wouldn't work here ;)

  • CraigMcG #30 1 year ago

    do the morons that advertise on the comments not understand that everyone on this site just puts them on their ignore list?

  • cheesymangav #31 1 year ago

    @Armoured_Gideon

    Opprobrious. Nice. Learned a new word today, thanking you.