Celebrity gaming meets reality TV

April 19, 2006 The internet continues to radically change the world of media and cross-media fertilisation continues to develop even more potent mixtures of compelling, targeted entertainment. Games are now a part of mainstream global entertainment, with professional gamers and teams gaining celebrity status and six figure incomes. Similarly, reality television is now an established winner as networks attract massive audiences of vicarious thrill-seekers by getting low- or no-paid nobodies to bare their all in the hope of becoming highly-paid somebodies. Mix it all together and put it on the web as high-resolution video that users can stream to their computer and you have the makings of yet another new high-appeal hybrid genre that raises the profile of all concerned. And so it came to pass that video game publisher Ubisoft, which sponsors an all-women gaming team known as the Frag Dolls, has partnered with MTV’s GameTrailers.com site to produce five weekly online-only episodes about the recruitment of the newest team member. The first episode premieres today. Would we be a trifle cynical to note that all eight candidates, not to mention the incumbent FragDolls in their entirety are unrepresentatively attractive?

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