Tyra Banks Show Kills World of Warcraft: Will One Man Give Up His Addiction?

If you have not seen the recent clip from Tyra Banks' hit daytime talk-show where she helps a young woman confront her fiance about his addictive game play, then you might want to check it out so you know what I'm talking about here.

First, I have to say that I love Tyra. I'm not really a TV fan so I don't watch her show religiously or anything but I've always been a big fan of her. I really like the way she keeps things real and tries to be a great role-model for all women out there. That being said, she really let me down on this one.

Let's explain upfront that the focus of this show was not on video games, MMORPGs or World of Warcraft. The focus of the show was helping people confront their loved ones about a problem. This woman had a problem and she went on Tyra's show to confront her fiance and recent father of her newborn baby.

The fact that the show mentioned World of Warcraft leads one to take notice of how incredibly large WoW has now become and shortly after the episode of Tyra's show aired, clips of this segment were all over the internet, featured on sites like You-Tube and link-posted on forums all over cyberspace. It spread like a bad plague, haunting us all because although our minds told us not to look, curiosity won and we watched the stupid clip anyway.

To fill you in for those that missed it, here's the basis of the story. Girl goes on Tyra and says soon-to-be-husband ignores her and their new baby girl to play World of Warcraft all day. Girl says she's asked him to stop and spend time with her and baby and he refuses. Girl says she's threatened to leave him if he doesn't stop his addictive behavior. He stays up all night playing and even sleeps on the couch before waking up to play again before work. Next comes the real clincher when she proclaims that he left her in the hospital in labor to go home and play for a few hours before coming back to deliver their child.

By this point, every non-gamer in the audience is either hating this guy or thinking he's some kind of freak and every gamer is well, probably not watching the Tyra Banks show in the first place.

Now on a personal level, I agree with many of you who say "What's the big deal? I mean, the guy was there when she delivered." To be perfectly honest with you, I played WoW up until the moment I left for the hospital to deliver my last little one. I found it to be a great distraction during those early-on labor pains. When we knew it finally time to get to the hospital, we told our guild goodbye, received many "Congrats" and well-wishes and made our way to welcome our family's new addition.

However, I think we are all missing the point here. My husband and I both played WoW togther, our guild was like our family and we both found it an enjoyable pastime. This was not the case with this couple.

This guy was not wrong for playing WoW. World of Warcraft is not some evil pawn of Satan to destroy families and take daddies away from their baby girls. I think the point here was that his activity was hurtful to his family and although he admitted he wanted to stop, he was having trouble breaking the habit. He knew that he could risk losing his fiance and yet, he could not stop playing.

Game addiction is a very real problem and while not nearly as many people suffer from it as I think the media tries to make it appear, some people do suffer from it and it does destroy families and lives. It's a sad thing really. What I find even sadder is the poor job the media always does of covering stories like these. Tyra was the perfect example of this.

After making everyone hate the poor guy, they bring him out on the show where the sad nerd admits his game-playing is a problem, professes his love for his woman and daughter and agrees to give up the game. So, what comes next? Mr. Psychiatrist guy and the CD shredder.

That's right, I said CD shredder.

They proceed to pull out all four of poor nerd-boy's World of Warcraft installation CDs and dramatically shred them live on the stage. Now I get what Tyra was trying to do here even if it was a bit melodramatic and quite silly. What bothers me is that first off, Tyra obviously knows absolutely nothing about video games and she really should have done her homework.

For one, you don't need the stupid CDs to play the game anyway. What really would have been dramatic would be wheeling out a computer, making him log his account and delete and destroy every single character while stay-at-home moms across the globe cheered at the poor kid's pain and misfortune. I think that would have brought tears to the eye of every WoW fan out there. So that's your first strike, Tyra.

Next, this family obviously has some issues that need to be dealt with and this poor guy has a fear of commitment and responsibility. He admits to being afraid to get attached to his daughter because of the "SIDS fear" to which Tyra laughs at him and says she's not buying it (and Mr. Psychiatrist man agrees). Okay, for those that don't know, SIDS stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and it kills thousands of babies every year. Go look it up if you want to know more. Nerd-boy on Tyra may have had some trouble expressing himself but he had a legitimate fear. He picked a really sorry way to deal with it (by trying to hide in a virtual game) but let's not take away from the point here. He had a real fear and he admitted it on national TV.

The guy barely looked 20 years old, this was his first kid and he was about to get married for the first time. So he was a bit freaked out. It happens. It's quite common actually. Talk shows like Tyra's are supposed to be about dealing with people's problems and helping individuals. Yet, did anyone listen to this poor guy and give him a chance to express himself? No.

Was he given a chance to talk about why he hid in World of Warcraft instead of taking part in his family's life? No. They yelled at him, mocked him, laughed at him and gave him an ultimatum- shred your game on national TV or lose your wife and kid. Strike two, Tyra.

Now the next part of this whole incident that bothers me is the way video games are portrayed by the media. This couple had a problem. He used his video game to escape from realities that he didn't know how to deal with. She was angered by this (rightly so) and hurt and even felt jealous of the game and the people he associated with in the game. This young couple was about to be married. They had a problem. Most couples have problems. Marriages last because of compromise. You sit down and you talk about your problems and you come to a conclusion that both should agree to.

This guy obviously loved his girl and she loved him. But shredding some CDs on a TV stage is not going to fix their problem. This guy needs to learn how to deal with his problems and his fears in a safe and healthy way. This girl needed to learn to be compassionate and understanding of her would-be hubby's fears and help him work through those problems. Now she thinks by being mean and snotty and throwing out ultimatums, she can get what she wants in the relationship. Way to go Tyra! Strike three!

And to all those people who say this guy ignored his woman because she was fat, please spare me your ignorance. First off, whether or not the girl was fat is totally a matter of opinion and not relevant to any of the points I've made here today. But on the fat topic, recent tabloids called Tyra fat for gaining a few pounds since retiring from Super Model status. In fact, I think one tabloid sleeze even referred to her as "Tyra Porkchop". I say "gratz" to Tyra and her frustrated guest for managing to avoid contracting the "Incredible Shrinking Lady Disease" that seems to have affected all of Hollywood and is spreading across the country like a terrible case of the flu or pink eye. But that's another story for another day.

My point here is that I'm angry at Tyra and angry at the media for constantly bombing every opportunity they have to cover the real issue of gaming addiction in a proper way. You just made that huge canyon between gamers and those that oppose games all that much wider. You encourage people to hate, judge and destroy what they don't understand. You make gamers look like a bunch of out-of-touch-with-reality freaks. And you have encouraged women to be petty, demanding and selfish to get their way. Wow... somehow I don't think that episode went how you intended, Tyra.