Games cause "early death" says Govt. ad

By Ellie Gibson Published 9 March, 2009

And don't get them started on cakes.

The Department of Health has launched a new advert that suggests playing videogames can lead to an "early death".

The ad is part of the Change4Life campaign, which is backed by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research and Diabetes UK. It shows a young boy holding a PlayStation controller and looking miserable, accompanied by the slogan, "Risk an early death, just do nothing."

The advert has appeared in various magazines and is also running on the 4yourkids website. There you can see a similar ad warning about the perils of Bakewell tarts, said to cause "premature death". Presumably playing a videogame whilst eating cake will kill you instantly.

It all seems a bit dramatic, especially since the Government's own Byron Review noted there's no solid evidence to link obesity to videogames. Still, we certainly won't be playing any games between now and tomorrow night, or we'll never fit into that dress for the BAFTAs.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (130) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    The government, doing a major ad campaign with a complete lack of evidence? How completely usual. I even saw a recent poster that claimed you should obey the new 20 limits on some of my local streets to "Protect the Environment" even though car engines doing those speeds fire out more badness. Which may or may not cause long term damage to the planet depending on which mass of evidence you believe.

  • ZuluHero #2 3 years ago

    Is this because there is some link with obesity by eating crap while you play? Have i missed somthing in this article?

  • robg #3 3 years ago

    noted there's no solid evidence to link obesity to videogames

    If you need a study to tell you the obvious, then fair enough. But for the rest of us: getting some exercise as well as spending time playing games will mean you'll be fine. Do no exercise and have a sedentary leisure activity like gaming and you'll fatten up nicely.

  • LHH #4 3 years ago

    I need to see said advert!

  • barchetta #5 3 years ago

    The kid on the website banner really does look like he is doing nothing though. The glances aside to the film-crew/stage-school rep/pushy parent don't help but he certainly isn't playing a videogame - where is the swearing, ranting, pad-hurling cardio-vascular workout my kids get? :)

  • reelbigkris #6 3 years ago

    so, he is holding a playstation controller?... Perhaps this was also funded by Microsoft to tell people that the Playstation 3 will kill you!!

    They need to research the intended target audience for this ad. perhaps it would have better argued its point by showing some interesting special effects that show the child getting older, fatter, and breathing heavily. if you obsess over games to the degree that it is your life, then sure, its gonna cause some problems.

    Edit: games have not been around long enough to proove that actual gaming itself kills. its began a great deal of popularity during the 16 bit era. unless someone has been monitered playing the 1962 spacewar gamne for the past 40 + years, then there can not be any proof. This is nothing more than a way for the government to get people to look after themselves, the fact that they attempt to use scare tactics with no proof or explanation is quite disturbing.
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 11:52

  • DFawkes #7 3 years ago

    Should've tried to do the same ad with a Wii and Wii Sports. See how inactive you can make him look if he's genuinely playing it with a couple of friends, you biased governemt fucks :p

    Not that you couldn't play Wii Tennis just sitting, but it's not as fun.

  • skillian #8 3 years ago

    Sitting on your fat ass not moving all day does cause an early death - there's nothing wrong with people being reminded of that occasionally.

    It all seems a bit dramatic

    What, the advert or your headline?
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 09:26

  • Ninja_Tino #9 3 years ago

    Sitting and reading a book is also deadly!

  • RobotRocker #10 3 years ago

    @reelbigkris:

    so, he is holding a playstation controller?... Perhaps this was also funded by Microsoft to tell people that the Playstation 3 will kill you!!

    UK Resistance are salivating at the thought right now...

  • TheVoice #11 3 years ago

    Wonder how long it is until they limit the amount of time we're allowed to play games for each day.

  • DFawkes #12 3 years ago

    I know it's petty, but I have to complain about this one. If I did young, it's because I eat rubbish and sleep too much, it's fuck all to do with gaming.

    Yes that,s right, I'm really complaining about it. <a href="http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_complain/complaints_f orm/">They usually fold with as little as 20 complaints, if there's good reason. </a href> I think there is this time.

  • Farfarer #13 3 years ago

    Kid's looking really bored because he isn't playing anything. Poor sod.

  • Moz #14 3 years ago

    The big issue i have with this is that they're saying what you shouldn't do rather then saying what you should do to stay fit and healthy!

    If sitting around all day causes early death then office work courses early death, being a bus/taxi driver causes early death. Modern freaking living causes early death!!! The only realy way of combating this is to reduce maximum working hours so that people have the time to go play sports or go to the gym.

  • magnetite #15 3 years ago

    If this is what they spend the money I pop in their charity boxes on, then I'll stick to animal and blindness charities from now on.

    At least they don't tell me I'm more likely to kick my cat after two hours of online multiplayer.

    I'll probably still go blind though, but I suspect it's not from gaming.

    [edit]
    Ah...it is backed by those charities rather than made by them. Made by the 'guesswork in white coats' department of our lumpen government. Still, my spare change is going into the top of Sooty's head from now on.
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 09:46

  • kroust #16 3 years ago

    Give that kid SF IV, let him play live, i m sure that will wake him up a bit.
    May even get a heart failure actually.

  • Mr-Bozzey #17 3 years ago

    fucking dumb goverment cant wait till we have a revolution and over throw all them toff cunts fucking hate them.

    there the 1's causing the credit crunch with there bonuses and loyaltys and now to leture us on gaming fucking wankers hope they all burn in hell

  • diggun #18 3 years ago

    god damn. The Government might as well launch a campaign linking reading books to an early death.


    Bet they won't though.

  • Pirotic #19 3 years ago

    Eek, I better stop using Wii-Fit and get back to watching TV then.

  • Garulon #20 3 years ago

    Having the little muffin's fat arse driven to school and back because of child molestors/terrarists lurking in the bushes isn't especially helpful I'd have thought.

    Maybe if the gov concentrated on getting people to use cars less this would help?

  • DFawkes #21 3 years ago

    Shit, I wish I'd read that Book point before I complained, it's a good one. can't appear unbiased unless you pick on pretty much anything that you could do sitting about. Reading, watching TV, playing games, eating food (guaranteed to cause you early death if you DON'T ever do it), drawing, painting, playing Dungeons & Dragons (I'm a nerd, sue me), going out for a drink, sleeping, possibly wanking, texting, listening to music but not dancing, attempting to move things with your mind, making clay pots... I could go on. Name it all in your ad and I'll stop whining.

  • ZuluHero #22 3 years ago

    @Ninja_Tino

    excellent point! :)

    You'll notice that the government are staying quiet on that one!

  • stampax #23 3 years ago

    blimey if thats the case - anyone wanna buy a ps3 off me? I dont wanna die early.

  • booner #24 3 years ago

    I am at the Bafta's tomorrow night, wohoo!!! :)

    Booner

  • kestral #25 3 years ago

    Scaremonger.
    Living is deadly
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 10:04

  • Waffleaber #26 3 years ago

    Games and cake eh?

    So Portal must be be worse than smoking then.

  • Moz #27 3 years ago

    Also with the whole credit crunch surely the last thing the government need is people stopping buying video games, DVDs etc!!

  • corposant #28 3 years ago

    If some tubby little lardbucket is going to do nothing other than sit infront of a screen all day playing video games, the little fatty can't expect to live long and prosper.

    That said, if the ads actually claim that games *cause* 'early death' then the Government should be held to task over making such a claim without proof. Do the ads claim that or are EG merely sensationalising the ads?

    I think we should be told!

  • kinky_mong #29 3 years ago

    So if I give up computer games now I can live to an age where I can't control my bladder and live on Werther's Originals. Best stick the 360 on Ebay now!


  • diggun #30 3 years ago

    Yeh damn straight Dfawlkes.


    Also all my leisure activities are sedentary, and include drinking, smoking, reading, gaming. I'm 24, But coz i'm not a total moreon, eat well, and (grudgingly) do a bit of exercise, i manage to maintain a (perhaps a little on the skinny side) healthy weight of 10.5 stone for my 6'2 height.

    Anyway. People enjoy whats bad for them. They always have. What business is it of the governments if we wanna eat, smoke and game ourselves into oblivion??

    The current thinking seems be that everyone wants to live to 245. Which is simply not true for the vast majority of people.

    I'm pretty shocked at some of the BNP style ignorance and attitudes of some users in this thread!
    If you're gonna be an opinionated idiot please at least learn how to spell ;)

  • robson_wii #31 3 years ago

    Everything in moderation. Watch TV, read a book, play a video game, die young.
    If they make the point that sitting for hours playing games is bad then surely they need to include other sedantry activities listed. Even sleeping too much is bad for you.

  • gav_and_the_gavster #32 3 years ago

    Government - Give me an economy I can enjoy life in and I might have the energy to go outside rather than sit on my sofa playing games all day and eating the poorer quality crisps I'm resorted to buying.
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 10:29

  • HuggyAtHome #33 3 years ago

    My days are clearly numbered.

    I work in an office all day on a PC, sitting down - throw a 14 hours shift then commute an hour each way sitting down on a train, maybe read a book so at least the eyballs get a workout, then sit down to eat dinner then after an hour of (sitting down again) with Killzone 2 to get rid of all the work generated stress go to bed. Unless I can exercise in a meeting at work or get a proper job I am screwed. Maybe burn all chairs at work/home?

    At least I can donate my highly developed thumbs to medical science when i'm gone.

  • SlackMaster #34 3 years ago

    Fat kid dies of heart attack while playing videogames. Conclusion, videogames killed him. Genius. What is their agenda here exactly?
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 10:34

  • kangarootoo #35 3 years ago

    I always kind of wonder when I read things about stuff that make people "die young". What exactly does that mean? I mean, almost all of us are living far longer than nature would have us live if we didn't have the massive cushion that a civilised society provides.

    We view good health and its surrounding issues through some kind of haze that suggests to us that if we look after ourselves we can somehow live forever. Truth is, everybody dies in the end. Everybody.

    So as far as I am concerned its not how long you live, but what you do with it. I look after myself. I do quite a bit of walking as part of my daily commute AND I go to the gym, but I also eat bad food sometimes and have the odd cig down the pub. I do all of these things because they improve my enjoyment of life (I am one of those freaks that actually enjoys running to the point of exhaustion).

    There is no point extending your life if its a miserable existence (and we have already establied that extending it forever is not an option).

    IF an unhealthy lifestyle affects your ability to enjoy life then it should be considered a problem. And for many it is a problem, and they should take steps to improve tyheir health purely because they will then feel better and have mnore fun being alive. But if you have a fine old time whilst you are alive even though you aren't that fit, who really cares whether you are that healthy or not. It won't make any difference at all when you are eventually pushing up the daisies.

  • Entity #36 3 years ago

    I tried drugs, booze, being mouthy in my teen angst days in an effort to 'die young'. Now I find out it just takes Bakewell tarts and gaming?

  • dirk_aircool #37 3 years ago

    The government is saying it . that makes it true . just accept it . and do as you are told .

  • jamie_fear #38 3 years ago

    I'm screwed. I spent my weekend gaming and eating cherry bakewell tarts I picked up from Tesco after work on Friday night.

  • Fab4 #39 3 years ago

    It only takes time off the end anyway...and the way things are going, most people will work till they die...none of this retirement malarkey you have nowadays.

    Edit: Living in Holland, I'd kill for a Cherry Bakewell from Tescos.
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 11:01

  • dirk_aircool #40 3 years ago

    you didn't read the government dentistry monologue then ???

  • RexRunti #41 3 years ago

    The whole point of the advert seems to be that playing computer games is doing nothing. Except of course computer games are far more cardio vascular then say watching TV or reading a book. Who here hasn't worked up a sweat during a game of Left 4 Dead, Street Fighter IV or Ninja Gaiden?

  • Dan234 #42 3 years ago

    I think listening to what the government says probably lleads to an early death. Especially this one.

  • Darren #43 3 years ago

    Hehehe... a young boy holding a PlayStation controller and looking miserable you say? Couldn't that be because his parents forgot to buy him the console to go with it or any games to play maybe? Why would a boy be looking miserable anyway if he had the console and games... maybe the game he bought was rubbish? ;)

    Is the advert insinuating that it's because he knows he's going to die, or that being miserable leads to premature death? What does that have to do with obesity exactly? :?

  • Cappy #44 3 years ago

    It shows a young boy holding a PlayStation controller and looking miserable...

    The perfect setup. Come on Farticus, I know you can do it.

  • RedSparrows #45 3 years ago

    wow, the psuedo-revolutionary-cum-dickface ranting in here is amusing.

  • diggun #46 3 years ago

    anyway. Games don't affect anything. Ellie plays games all day and she's fine ;)

  • Darren #47 3 years ago

    @kangarootoo - This dying prematurely thing is rubbish really. For one thing, leading a healthy life-style doesn't in itself mean that you are guaranteed to live longer. I know people who've smoked and drunk in excess all their lives and lived to their 90s. I also know of people who've led healthy life-styles who've died young of cancer, even heart-attacks or whatever.

    Should you spend your life worrying about doing things that might kill you early (stress, which itself might lead to your early demise) or just enjoy the things you do now and ignore all this propaganda about this and that being bad for you? Personally, I'd rather lead a shorter life where I've done all the things I've wanted to do and enjoyed them rather than lead a miserable one because someone suggested it might help me live ten minutes longer!

    Personally I thing that young boy with the controller looks miserable because he'd seen the mock up for the government advert!!! ;)

  • RexRunti #48 3 years ago

    the adverts are here http://www.4yourkids.org .uk/ for those who missed them. (They're pretty funny actually.)

  • muscleblade #49 3 years ago

    I dont get it. Why is gaming unhealthy compared too waching TV for example. Im a top fitness athlete and gaming is my biggest hobby. Dont believe this crap for a second. If you eat right and work out playing games is a healthy way of spending the evening relaxing. Relaxation is a very important part of a healthy life.

  • penhalion #50 3 years ago

    The main gist of the add isn't games, it's simply saying that if you aren't being active physically you risk an early death. How the frak did it become some anti-video game campaign all of a sudden?!?

  • gingerlink #51 3 years ago

    More interestingly, on the advert I saw on the website, if cakes cause premature death, THEN WHY ARE THEY FEEDING THAT LITTLE GIRL ONE?!?!?

  • The_Inquisitor #52 3 years ago

    He must have been playing Resident Evil 5 with high expectations. Poor chap.

  • Albull #53 3 years ago

    OK first to point out that the girl is blatantly eating a fairy cake with white icing and a cherry, not a cherry bakewell. Jeez people get a bit more accurate with your cakes would you?

    Also of course that kid playing the PS3 is going to die young... in-game that is, hello!

    Edit: Hell actually that looks big for a fairy cake... we might even be talking about a frosted muffin here!
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 12:10

  • Skurmedel #54 3 years ago

    I think that kid looks so sad because he has to play Left 4 Dead with green blood. It's just not the same thing any more.
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 12:15

  • 4thVariety #55 3 years ago

    Finally there is government action on this fun epidemic. I hope this is successful and we can soon all retire to be grumpy old men at the age of seven.

    Sincerely
    Angry McGrumpyton

  • ZuluHero #56 3 years ago

    surely with the way the government can't support an aging population (what with the retirement age going up) they should welcome ways to 'thin it out a bit'...

    :p

  • dgamlin #57 3 years ago

    Even the thought of playing "Portal" (in-game-joke) whilst eating "cake" is giving me palpitations.

    AlBulls comments:-
    "OK first to point out that the girl is blatantly eating a fairy cake with white icing and a cherry, not a cherry bakewell. Jeez people get a bit more accurate with your cakes would you? "

    "Hell actually that looks big for a fairy cake... we might even be talking about a frosted muffin here!"

    I salute Albull's cake expertise. Considered playing Portal? There's some cake in it upon completion!
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 12:37

  • skillian #58 3 years ago

    The main gist of the add isn't games, it's simply saying that if you aren't being active physically you risk an early death. How the frak did it become some anti-video game campaign all of a sudden?!?

    Glad I'm not the only one who sees this.

    I imagine most people are just reading the headline and assuming this is some anti-games crusade by the government, which is not the case at all.

    It's just trying to encourage kids to get a bit more exercise. Look around you, and if you see the same fat bastard children waddling around that I do then you might concede that's it's a sensible idea.

  • Jasugun #59 3 years ago

    I think that the ad doesn't point out video games as the only possibilty to gain weight. It just points out inactive children getting overweight, and the imagery of a kid playing videogames is just a convenient way to instantly visualize inactive kids (ok, it could also have been kids reading books, browsing the web or anything, but ultimately that's just an image, not a finger pointed towards video games only, imo).

    EDIT: oups someone said the exact same thing while i was typing my message.
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 12:37

  • Albull #60 3 years ago

    @dgamlin Have you only just played Portal? :-P I agree it is fantastic.

  • Garulon #61 3 years ago

    " It just points out inactive children getting overweight, and the imagery of a kid playing videogames is just a convenient way to instantly visualize inactive kids "

    Kids stuck in a car would be much more useful. I grew up on a shit 70's diet of beans/toast/sausages/fizzy pop and I'm stick-thin. I walk and take public transport.

  • Entity #62 3 years ago

    "I grew up on a shit 70's diet of beans/toast/sausages/fizzy pop and I'm stick-thin."

    Well... my kids are safe from being called "Chunk" at school then.

  • Cloud-Strife #63 3 years ago

    But the kid eating cake looks so happy...


    must eat cake...

  • skillian #64 3 years ago

    Kids stuck in a car would be much more useful.

    Agreed. Walking regularly is the best and easiset way to get some exercise without changing your lifestyle too much.

    Not sure it would work so well as a representative image in a marketing message though.
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 12:56

  • LiamK #65 3 years ago

    "Also all my leisure activities are sedentary, and include drinking, smoking, reading, gaming. I'm 24, But coz i'm not a total moreon, eat well, and (grudgingly) do a bit of exercise, i manage to maintain a (perhaps a little on the skinny side) healthy weight of 10.5 stone for my 6'2 height."

    Just give it another 6 years. I went to the gym at 24 to lose weight. Now I go to avoid putting on weight. In another 5 years, it'll be to make sure that the weight that does go on isn't too flabbly.

    Stupid ageing.

    Also, while I do tentatively agree with "we could all live to 200 if we had really boring lives, but where's the fun in that?" I do also wonder if the people in their twenties sitting there saying "I'm much rather have crazy fun that live forever" might not slightly change their minds once they are in the second half of their lives.


    "have the odd cig down the pub"

    Where on earth are you going to the pub? 2005?

  • Jasugun #66 3 years ago

    @Garulon
    You're right, basics things such as walking daily (instead of taking modern no sweat means of movement) are effective ways to stay in good shape. However, the image of a kid in a car won't speak to people as much as a kid playing video games, sadly, i think that's cultural.

    EDIT: no way, someone said the same thing above this time too!
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 13:05

  • LiamK #67 3 years ago

    @Darren "This dying prematurely thing is rubbish really. For one thing, leading a healthy life-style doesn't in itself mean that you are guaranteed to live longer. I know people who've smoked and drunk in excess all their lives and lived to their 90s. I also know of people who've led healthy life-styles who've died young of cancer, even heart-attacks or whatever. "

    Well, yeah. You could smoke 30 a day, each junk food and do no exercise all your life and life until you are 90. You almost certainly won't though. Anyone can pick out the one or two cases that go against the odds, because that's much more fun that showing all the lazy fat people who have died of strokes young.

    Besides, there are two arguments. There is length of life and quality of life. Living a good lifestyle helps both of them, generally, so it means that you won't be spending your 60s and 70s unable to stand up without support.

    It's how much risk you want to take. Maybe you've decided that you don't want to waste 5 seconds every morning putting your seatbelt on. There's a good chance you will never be affected by this decision, and you could have saved some time that would have otherwise been wasted. You could also be involved in an accident and die horribly. It's up to you. Exercise and eating healthy vs drinking/bad food/"having fun" is a scale, and how much of one side you want to sacrifice to help the other is up to the individual. And if you agree, then stop compaining that you can't get a hospital bed because the NHS is full of overweight alocoholics.

    I had a point somewhere. Probably.

  • LiamK #68 3 years ago

    @Jasugun

    Also, you are forgetting that if a kid (for example) walks to school rather than getting the car then he will almost certainly be killed by the terrorist paedophiles benefit-cheats that the tabloids assure me are just waiting to pounce on him.

  • muscleblade #69 3 years ago

    @KingsXKing

    I guess your a fat and ugly person jealous of people like me. LOL.

    Dont worry though, your not alone.
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 13:20

  • kangarootoo #70 3 years ago

    @RedSparrows

    You are the same guy that said everyone should stop talking in the ResE5 thread. Are you actually able to form a constructive opinion of your own, or is dismissing the comments of others the most you are able to achieve? If that is the picture of yourself that you are happy to paint, well good for you.

    @Darren
    Well, the general stats suggest that living healthily will extend your life on average. There are of course exceptions, but a few anecdotal references wouldn't lead any of us to believe that smoking cigs extends your life.

    I think it is fair to say that there are some things we understand and can control (such as not smoking and getting exercise) and some things we don't really understand as well and can't control so well (such as cancer or even stress), and I agree that there is no sure solution for those wanting to stay alive as long as possible.

    "I'd rather lead a shorter life where I've done all the things I've wanted to do and enjoyed them rather than lead a miserable one because someone suggested it might help me live ten minutes longer!"

    Me too, though I suspect both of us will fear death if we live long enough to see it coming. Slaves to our genetic programming I guess.

  • Lebowski #71 3 years ago

    That's some of the worst "playing videogame" acting since Martin Fowler on EastEnders - which is saying something.

  • diggun #72 3 years ago

    I think my major problem is the guilt tripping this advertising campaign seems to be trying to do.

    People already KNOW about the whole healthy lifestyle thing. If I, as a responsible, tax paying, voting member of society choose to ignore the advice that I have received throughout my education and campaigns like this one, then the government should butt out and let me get the hell on with it!
    @liamk - i take your point, and i'm sure as i get older my priorities may well change, but I'll change them myself thankyou. I ned that right to choose in my life.
    Also, we know that lots of these government guidelines are total bollocks anyway - you know that whole '5-a-day' portions of fruit and veg that's printed on everything as a target to work towards? Well the ACTUAL recommendation the government recieved was that we should be eating EIGHT portions of fruit and veg a day. But they decided that no one would bother, so they just MADE UP this 5-a-day thing.

    bah.


    Anyway, at least its not Cameron and his bunch of arseholes ramming this down our throats. Will probably have to escape back to scotland if that shower get in.

  • LiamK #73 3 years ago

    "People already KNOW about the whole healthy lifestyle thing. If I, as a responsible, tax paying, voting member of society choose to ignore the advice that I have received throughout my education and campaigns like this one, then the government should butt out and let me get the hell on with it!"

    Fair enough. Do you think then that if an overweight person can't fit on a plane seat, they should just put up with it as it was their choice to get that fat? Do you think that smokers should be at the bottom of all transplant lists? (I'm not saying either way. Just throwing it out there).

    "Well the ACTUAL recommendation the government recieved was that we should be eating EIGHT portions of fruit and veg a day. But they decided that no one would bother, so they just MADE UP this 5-a-day thing. "

    But... that's good, isn't it? They realised that they'd never get people to eat as much as they should and so reasoned that it was better to get most people eating 5 a day than a select few eating 8 a day. It seems like a sensible compromise. If you are intelligent enough to realise that you need to eat more, then you still can.

  • Jasugun #74 3 years ago

    @LiamK
    Yeah the kid will get abducted while walking to school or injured to death in a car crash he he goes by car.
    So the kid's gonna die anyway, then what's this fuss about overweight kids? :)

  • JJrabbit #75 3 years ago

    Haven't read all the posts here, but what's the difference between this and reading a book for a few hours? Or doing homework? Surely, it's a case of "don't sit down for ages" rather than blaming games.

  • kangarootoo #76 3 years ago

    @diggun

    "If I, as a responsible, tax paying, voting member of society choose to ignore the advice that I have received throughout my education and campaigns like this one, then the government should butt out and let me get the hell on with it"

    Well, in a wellfare state where you can get free health care whenever you need it, there is an argument that people should be controlled a bit more so they don't waste the limited resources that have to provide for everyone.

    This comes up quite a bit in any discussion that leads people to say "Its a free country". Of course, it is no such thing as a free country in the sense that everytone can do whatever they want. If it was, and you came home to find burglars had stolen your TV and burnt your sofa, you would just have to deal with that by yourself.

    I have a very cynical view of humanity I'm afraid (this isn't targetted at you btw, so please don't take it personally). Whenever people complain about nanny states and lack of personal choice, there is always a little voice in the back of my head saying "most of the populace are too damn uninformed and self serving to do the right thing if they were given complete freedom of choice". I mean, surely the very fact we even have a legal system shows that people can't be trusted if left to their own devices?

  • muscleblade #77 3 years ago

    "Do you think that smokers should be at the bottom of all transplant lists?"

    Actually i do. They should be denied health insurance too. But im talking about those who choose to start smoking now. Back in the day people where told that smoking was healthy. Smoking is extremely dangerous and should only be availaible from a precription for those who cant stop.

  • kangarootoo #78 3 years ago

    "But... that's good, isn't it? They realised that they'd never get people to eat as much as they should and so reasoned that it was better to get most people eating 5 a day than a select few eating 8 a day. It seems like a sensible compromise. If you are intelligent enough to realise that you need to eat more, then you still can"

    Hehe. Very true. But don't you go bring your common sense along, messing with a perfectly good "them and us" situation :)

  • kangarootoo #79 3 years ago

    @muscleblade

    "Actually i do. They should be denied health insurance too. But im talking about those who choose to start smoking now. Back in the day people where told that smoking was healthy. Smoking is extremely dangerous and should only be availaible from a precription for those who cant stop."

    I simply can't agree with this (and I'm just saying that because I smoke the occasional cigarrette - it is a horrible disgusting habit that I always regret when I am sober again). It is a plain fact that taxes from tobacco sales make far more money for the government than the costs to the NHS. Despite the huge damage they do, if tobacco and alcohol were made illegal overnight the bottom would fall out of our NHS cashflow.

    I understand that we want to stop people smoking for their own good, but to try and make it a discussion about money will backfire on any anti-smoking agenda as the numbers simply don't support the stance.

  • Defrost #80 3 years ago

    Sounds like classic:

    correlation != causation

  • LiamK #81 3 years ago

    Looking at the stats, it seams that smoking costs the NHS £1.5 billion, but makes the government £8.9 billion.

    However, this argument might not hold up, partly because when factoring in the costs of smoking to the NHS then the original argument just used "people who have died of smoking", rather than the other complicatons and side costs that it can create. As a for instance, a mother smokes while pregnent and a result their child is born with breathing complications. Is the cost of looking after that child included in the figures?

    On the other hand, smokers also die younger, and by doing so are potentially saving the government money in pensions and health care. It's a tricky argument and you would probably need to see all the figures in full before saying one way or the other.

    In any event, it hard to put a monetary amount on, say, the pain my brother's friend had when her mother died at 49 from lung cancer after smoking about 50 a day for 30 years. An emotional argument, sure, but it's still there.

  • kangarootoo #82 3 years ago

    +2

  • diggun #83 3 years ago

    @liamk


    Fair enough. Do you think then that if an overweight person can't fit on a plane seat, they should just put up with it as it was their choice to get that fat? Do you think that smokers should be at the bottom of all transplant lists? (I'm not saying either way. Just throwing it out there).

    YES.


    I have a very cynical view of humanity I'm afraid (this isn't targetted at you btw, so please don't take it personally). Whenever people complain about nanny states and lack of personal choice, there is always a little voice in the back of my head saying "most of the populace are too damn uninformed and self serving to do the right thing if they were given complete freedom of choice". I mean, surely the very fact we even have a legal system shows that people can't be trusted if left to their own devices?

    Couldn't agree more. If only the population was made up solely of people as awesome as us, then this situation would be resolved.

    For much higherbrow discussion of this issue, I cannot recommend Radio 4's 'Whatever happened to the working class', which you can catch on the iplayer. Seriously interesting stuff.

  • kangarootoo #84 3 years ago

    "Couldn't agree more. If only the population was made up solely of people as awesome as us, then this situation would be resolved."

    Hehe. Hey, I'm not saying I am not firmly in the group that needs a bit of looking after sometimes.

    "I cannot recommend Radio 4's 'Whatever happened to the working class'"

    Is that a typo (did you mean to say "cannot recommend enough";), or are you saying that the program is NOT worth listening to?

  • Jasugun #85 3 years ago

    @defrost
    True!

  • diggun #86 3 years ago


    "I cannot recommend Radio 4's 'Whatever happened to the working class'"

    Is that a typo (did you mean to say "cannot recommend enough";), or are you saying that the program is NOT worth listening to?

    yeh i failed there.

    I cannot recommend it HIGHLY ENOUGH.

  • kangarootoo #87 3 years ago

    You know, if they had just stuck the kid of a Wii fit controller matt we wouldn't be in this mess.

  • kangarootoo #88 3 years ago

    "I cannot recommend it HIGHLY ENOUGH"

    Whoa!! No need to shout ;)

    I have it loaded up, and shall listen to it now.

  • diggun #89 3 years ago

    heh.

    I fail at italics too.

  • kangarootoo #90 3 years ago

    In the opening segment of that programme, some kid pipes up about being a politician, and in both sentences he uses the word "argue". I always find it interesting when people use that word in place of "discuss" or "reason".

    These threads often prove the point as well as anything, we would much rather prove ourselves to be right and someone else to be wrong than genuinely find the truth (even if that means changing our own point of view).

    I'm as bad as anyone else sometimes I know, but I try not to be (hindered as I am in that by an inflated sense of ego and self importance).

  • diggun #91 3 years ago

    yeh totally.

    This is my major problem with forum shizzle; people come out with stuff that they just flat out would never dare raise in a face to face discussion, purely because of the degree of separation provided by the medium. Adam Curtis (if you've not seen his seminal documentaries 'The Trap', 'The power of nightmares' and 'Pandora's Box' and 'The Century of the Self', you should do yourself a favour and check them out) discusses this very issue in an unusually candid manner in this interview for The Register http://ww w.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/20/...

  • fisherpot #92 3 years ago

    Well well well looks like I'm gonna stop my gaming and start jacking up on the skag as that must be good for the body! I go to the gym and I play football and I also spend some time playing games! Can't see any health problems with me unless I fall off the bed and break my neck while playing the 360! Government Tossers (This can't be what I'm spending my taxes on to tell me this tripe) What a f**kin Joke!

  • LiamK #93 3 years ago

    ?

  • kangarootoo #94 3 years ago

    @fisherpot

    Just maybe, you aren't the target audience of the advert. And your taxes are being spend telling people who neither go to the gym nor play football to get their shit in order, so that they don't eat up your healthcare and pension budgets with their ill health... just a thought.

  • kangarootoo #95 3 years ago

    "Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh my head aint as FAT as yours truly and being a famous A-lister kindalookalike im not as ugly either.

    As Harry Hill says FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
    GHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

    Unlike Ricky Hatton i would demolish this mayweather clone listen to yourself your the new Heath Ledger AKA JOKER"


    Nope, didn't understand a word of it. I feel like someone trying to tune in an old TV, and just getting bits and bobs of various stations all mixed together.

  • diggun #96 3 years ago

    The real question here though is the MASSIVE argument between 'freedom to' and 'freedom from'.

    Its a tricky one.

    And like everything, theres no absolute answer. imho the government has hit it about right with smoking; if you wanna smoke, then smoke, but do it outside in special zones so your smoke doesn't affect others.

    Maybe we could do a similar thing with cakes?

  • kangarootoo #97 3 years ago

    Maybe licensed cake shops?

    While we are on the subject of smoking, what is it that changes the definition of a cigarette butt in somebody's mind that makes it somehow different from any other piece of litter that they would probably NOT just drop in the street like an uneducated child?

    For anyone struggling with the question, let me answer it for you. NOTHING!!! (yes, I paraphrased from Bill Hicks). Its still f*cking litter you uncivilised f*cktards!!

    This may be the moment where someone says that its the government's fault for not putting more ashtrays around the place. Such an attitude should earn the speaker a slap upside the head for saying something so profoundly stupid. So there.

  • diggun #98 3 years ago

    My butts are fine; they're rollies, so its paper with a cardboard roach. But yeh, filthy fag butts = teh fail.

    I was thinking more designated cake eating areas.

  • meerkat23 #99 3 years ago

    well he is holding a playstation pad.

  • cyber_nicco #100 3 years ago

    It doesn't suggest "games" lead to an early death. It is suggesting using a Playstation leads to early death.

    Please pay better attention.

  • kangarootoo #101 3 years ago

    @diggun

    You mean they are fine in the sense you can put them in a normal litter bin? Or fine in the sense you don't feel bad dropping them on the floor 'cos they are bio-degradable? I hope its the former.

    I know they will mulch down in a matter of weeks, but its the principal of the thing. Smoking points look like a f*cking dustbin when there are 600 fag butts strewn about the place. And whenever I see someone walking along the street just chucking down a fag end (of any kind) it just makes the hairs stand up on my neck.

    You can be better than that. Buy a trendy little silver pocket ash tray or something.

  • JahB #102 3 years ago

    While we are on the subject of smoking, what is it that changes the definition of a cigarette butt in somebody's mind that makes it somehow different from any other piece of litter that they would probably NOT just drop in the street like an uneducated child?

    For anyone struggling with the question, let me answer it for you. NOTHING!!! (yes, I paraphrased from Bill Hicks). Its still f*cking litter you uncivilised f*cktards!!

    This may be the moment where someone says that its the government's fault for not putting more ashtrays around the place. Such an attitude should earn the speaker a slap upside the head for saying something so profoundly stupid. So there.

    uhm, you might want to get off your high horse. especially if the question you point out makes you look like the uneducated kid you're referring to.

    let me explain: the reason why i do not drop my butts in garbage bins (like my other litter, since i'm not an uneducated child) is simply that it would probably set the bin on fire
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 16:16

  • Malacath #103 3 years ago

    They might as well bring an advert that says reading books brings an early death.
    Because lets face it when you read books the only excersise you get is turning the pages.

    The government should be concetrating on fixing the economy instead of trying to destroy the britsh gaming industry.

  • SEVQA #104 3 years ago

    Is the early death a PlayStation exclusive or is it cross platform?

  • kangarootoo #105 3 years ago

    @JahB

    "the reason why i do not drop my butts in garbage bins (like my other litter, since i'm not an uneducated child) is simply that it would probably set the bin on fire"

    Is that it? Seriously, is that your response? Your entire excuse for dropping cigarette butts on the floor is because if you put them in a bin it would set the bin on fire? Are those the only two options your mind can imagine existing?

    At no time did I suggest you put a lit fag end in a litter bin. You introducing that (admitedly ludicrous) concept to the conversation. And my suggestion to you is that you neither drop your fag end on the floor NOR put it still lit into a litter bin.


    Jesus christ, this is what I am talking about. Take some responsiblity for yourself for crying out loud.

    If am walking along eating a bag of crisps, and when I finish the bag there is no bin around, I hang on to the bag until there is a bin available. Yes I realise the crisp bag is not on fire, please bear with me on this obviously complex example.

    Buy yourself a little metal ashtray tin, and stick it in your pocket along with your lighter and fags. I realise this may take a little extra effort by yourself, but it means you won't have to just chuck your trash down in the street like a 13 yr old.

    Sometimes I swear, the task of getting on my high horse is made easy for me.

  • smelly #106 3 years ago

    Using same logic:

    Watching tv causes early death
    Reading books causes early death
    Working in an office all day causes early death
    Studying causes early death
    Sitting in a classroom all day causes early death
    Sitting in parliment all day causes early death
    Life causes death

    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 16:35

  • DAN.E.B #107 3 years ago

    yeah but i can think of worse ways to go !!!!!

    /goes back to playing left 4 dead.

  • Redeye #108 3 years ago

    This government can suck a fart right from the deepest darkest of my hairy pimpled arse. And so can every other bloody health fascist. I'm off for a smoke and a cake.

    And FYI, my fagbutts get pinged down the nearest drain - I'm a crack shot. ;)

    smelly: Yep, you live, you die. It's what you get up to inbetween that's the important bit.
    Edited by 1 at 09/03/09 @ 17:12

  • sneetch #109 3 years ago

    Hmmm, another excuse for the Daily Mailers to raise their blood pressure.

    I believe Denis Leary put it best when he pointed out the years you lose from these kinds of things (his vice was smoking) are the worst ones, "It's the ones at the end! It's the wheelchair, kidney dialysis, adult diaper fucking years. You can have those years! We don't want 'em, alright?"

    Man, hard to believe that was back in '92. Damn I'm old.

  • kangarootoo #110 3 years ago

    "And FYI, my fagbutts get pinged down the nearest drain - I'm a crack shot. ;)"

    Fair enough. There we go, a middle ground solution. Fag butts that go down the drains get filtered out and dealt with, so I'm fine with that.

    You may have an extra cake as a reward for your initiative :)

  • metalangel #111 3 years ago

    Who wants to live to be ancient, sitting aged 90 in a decrepit body with EVERYTHING aching, as it has for the last 15 odd years? Better to live while you can! Drink beer, eat burgers, smoke the odd cigar, have lots of sex, ride a motorcycle, extra bacon, an entire day playing games. Don't look back on a dull but careful life. But at the same time, stay reasonably healthy so you can enjoy doing all of the above without wheezing.

  • Redeye #112 3 years ago

    Cheers K2 - this does involve going to the shop, although it does combine the elements of cake and exercise, thereby rendering any health concerns moot. ;)

  • kangarootoo #113 3 years ago

    "Don't look back on a dull but careful life. But at the same time, stay reasonably healthy so you can enjoy doing all of the above without wheezing"

    Perfectly put, my sentiments exactly. Some people say "my body is a temple", but for me its more "my body is a seesaw", with going to the gym on one end and booze and takeaway on the other.

  • kangarootoo #114 3 years ago

    @Redeye

    Hehe. Reminds me a skit by Jo Brand, where she talks about her exercise regime.

    "I often walk to the kitchen... to get a cheesecake from the fridge. And sometimes I will sit up in bed to eat a biscuit."

  • metalangel #115 3 years ago

    kangarootoo: when you return to work from McDonald's, ensure you walk back up the stairs to the office to offset that side order of McNuggets. Job done.

  • Fab4 #116 3 years ago

    I've smoked for over 15 years and never dropped a fag butt in the street, not even when drunk. The people who do drop their fag butts are the people who probably drop litter also, just more sneakily. Its got more to do with the way you were raised, than the particular habit you have. My parents would have tanned my hide for dropping litter...then again, they'd probably be arrested for that nowadays.

  • PAinKiLLa777 #117 3 years ago

    omg Ive been hardcore gaming for 30 years atm Im 10 stone 5 foot 9 inches. How long do I have left before the morbid obesity & death kicks in?

  • Redeye #118 3 years ago

    Painkilla: About fifteen minutes. Make the most of them. ;)

  • PAinKiLLa777 #119 3 years ago

    dam you spark death clock u said I had 18 more years left.

  • Vin #120 3 years ago

    It's a frightening proposition that the Government are able to broadcast daft claims like this.

  • TravisTouchdown #121 3 years ago

    Staying in playing games < going outside and doing something physical.

    That cannot be argued. The ad's a crock, but Jesus, games are part of the problem - it's too easy to let kids stay in when they've got something to keep them quiet.

    So whilst it is of course the parents' fault, do not shout about games being stitched up here. They are, by comparison, bad. It's just that the comparison is a nonsense.

  • Zaltan #122 3 years ago

    I think they mean early death in whatever game that kids playing... He doesn't really look like he knows how to play.

  • Bluetooth #123 3 years ago

    I play using a 360 pad, therefore I have come to the conclusion that I am not affected

    Thanks for the good advice Government!

  • seasidebaz #124 3 years ago

    Is the early death a PlayStation exclusive or is it cross platform?
    Nah, it's just the PS version has longer load times, lower resolution, more jagged edges, and requires a mandatory install, that's why it was brought up. On the other hand it doesn't tear as much.

    The Wii version is just a series of minigames.

  • muscleblade #125 3 years ago

    "I understand that we want to stop people smoking for their own good, but to try and make it a discussion about money will backfire on any anti-smoking agenda as the numbers simply don't support the stance"

    This is true and very very sad. Its a sadistic crazy world we live in where money is more important than peoples health.

  • kangarootoo #126 3 years ago

    @Fab4

    +3 (and you can have a cake as well)

    @muscleblade

    I agree, but in a society where a finite supply money is what pays for people to stay fit and well, we have to consider it at all turns. In news headlines regarding health service spending, people are always saying "you can't put a price on life", but of course you can.... you simply need to use other lives as your unit of measurement instead of pounds and pence. Money spent on one life is money that can then no longer be spent on perhaps many other lives. Its cold stuff, but that is life I suppose.

    One more cheery way to look at it though is that heavy smokers and drinkers, whilst perhaps speeding their own way to the grave, are also paying for dialysis machines and cleaner wards via their taxes. I'm quite happy to let them carry on I suppose, knowing that although they themselves will be dipping into the NHS pot, they will probably stay alive long enough to contribute more than they take out.

    The growing obesity problem is a rather different situation however, as being overweight contributes nothing to the pot but costs millions every year (unless we start licensing cake sales, as was suggested earlier).


    I guess games will always get a bit of a kick by the popular press, but I think we are big enough to take it. Its a fact that kids these days get less exercise than I did when I was a nipper (even though I played a lot of games as well). If a slightly dodgy advert gets more parents pushing their kids out of the door (or better yet, going with them and actually spenging time together) then I don't really mind. We get far too defensive about our precious gaming sometimes.

  • dgamlin #127 3 years ago

    @DAN:SOLO said

    "yeah but i can think of worse ways to go !!!!!

    /goes back to playing left 4 dead. "

    .... And even worse: coming back again as a zombie and getting killed (again) by some shotgun toting player of Left 4 Dead....

  • TheVoice #128 3 years ago

    That's not a PlayStation controller, or at least, not an official one.

  • Rusty_M #129 3 years ago

    Eurogamer seem to miss the point here. The ad never suggests that videogame + cake = insta-death. It's mainly a reaction to the fact that kids and families are spending less and less time exersising or playing outdoors. Constantly playing games will lead to a reduction in health and reduce life expectancy. It's possible to have too much of anything. Even lovely lovely games....mmmmm games

  • 8bitMofo #130 3 years ago

    An assassins bullet also leads to an 'early death', Mr. Brown...