Father says DR gaming show promotes games to young children

A father has accused DR’s gaming programme Ultra Gaming of encouraging children to play games intended for older audiences, while the broadcaster rejects his criticism, DR reports.

Author and speaker Thomas Rydahl said his seven-year-old son began asking when he could play Counter-Strike or Fortnite after watching the programme. Rydahl said his family had banned YouTube and online games at home.

“I see DR as a safe place to send our children, and suddenly they are exposed to content I had neither hoped for, wanted nor expected them to see,” Rydahl told DR’s P1 Morgen radio programme.

Counter-Strike 2 is rated for people aged 18 and over, while Fortnite is recommended for children aged 12 and older. Ultra Gaming, which focuses on games, gaming culture and online trends, has run for 10 seasons and is available on DRTV and YouTube.

Rydahl said the programme felt like “a kind of advertising platform” for the games it features, and that it did not examine them critically enough. He also criticised its style, saying it resembled content from commercial creators on YouTube and Twitch.

“I understand that they want to make a programme that takes some of what works on YouTube, but I think it is beneath DR’s dignity, especially for a public service broadcaster,” he said.

Ultra Gaming is aimed at children and young people aged 9 to 14, but carries an age rating of seven on DRTV. Rydahl said he had assumed the programme was suitable for his son because of that rating.

Morten Skov Hansen, head of DR Ramasjang and DR Ultra, denied that the programme acts as advertising for games such as Counter-Strike. He said DRTV’s age ratings follow guidance and criteria from the Media Council for Children and Young People, but are not a recommendation that every child of that age should watch a programme.

Skov Hansen acknowledged that the programme’s tone and language resemble content children encounter on YouTube. He said DR uses that familiar style to reach children and encourage them to reflect on topics.

Rydahl said DR had “let parents down” by bringing screens further into children’s lives. DR said it uses the gaming community to introduce other subjects. Ultra Gaming has, for example, been part of the “Every word counts” project, which aims to encourage children to read.

A survey by Epinion for DR, NIMBI – Denmark’s Institute for Game Development – and the Media Council for Children and Young People found that 98 per cent of children aged 6 to 15 had tried digital games. Two-thirds of children aged 9 to 15 play almost every day or more often.