The Big, Fat Question Comments by Rob Fahey

I got a playstation when I was 11 and I stoped going to football pratice on saturday mornings and playing kick about at the play park so I turned into a fat wee fucker. It's grand now though.

Games are one of the reasons i often end up getting to late evening without having eaten anything all day.
I blame video games for me being a skinny bastard.

Oh, and all my inadequacies are not my fault. Its the games, honest.

Itīs not what you do itīs what you eat. Stop eating carbs and eat more fat. Like we did a million years ago. Look at a lion in zoo, itīs not fat beacuse it eats what it is meant to eat. It works even without much excersise either. Same with humans.

very balanced and well-informed article. Expect however the backlash of denialists in these comments.

VIDEOGAMES ARE GOLDEN ANGELS THAT CANNOT CAUSE ANY PROBLEMS AND ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE IS A GIANT POOPY HEAD

Eurogamer should rename itself FATTYgamer. Yes.

Free tapeworm with every pre-order.

Where's my cheque?

Games have also made me bald and unpopular with women. I want my money back.

Surely sensible articles like thisd aren't allowed on the internet?

i'm sure there was an internet initiative banning sense.

Video games make people fat

I did however lose weight when WotLK came out, didn't have time for food, had to get the dingz!

Playing games and watching TV can burn a lot of calories if you are using your brain at the same time. If you don't use your brain, because you (a) play simple shit games, (b) watch safe shit television or (c) are too lazy to exercise and too lazy to think, then you're probably gonna get fat no matter what you do.

a great, broad minded article. excellent work. kudos. i wholeheartedly agree.

I agree with BlackKraken, if anything gaming kept me skinny when I was young becuase I was skipping meals to keep playing. I was also getting exercise when not playing though. I think it's easy to blame games, but people and parents need to take responsibility for weight gain and act accordingly. TBH some people are always going to be fat because they don't burn the calories that they consume - simple as. Most people simply eat too much nowadays and so those who put on weight have only themselves to blame - I don't see the point in having scapegoats. Perhaps some kids are fat due to playing games, but if it wasn't games, they'd be sitting around on their asses watching tv imo. It's up to parents to teach their kids how to look after themselves in this regard and it's not surprising that fat kids are often accompanied by fat parents.

Simple put, fat people are responsible for fat people.

I've become a bit of a lard bucket this winter, but I think the pub is more to blame than my xbox. Started cycling to work again this week so hopefully the belly can be eradicated.

was the bit about ' big brother ' supposed to be irony ?

So where does Wii gaming fit in, like Wii Fit? Stop playing that game where you exercise and do some exercise fatties!

No idea how I'm not 30 stone to be fair, I never exercise more than a brisk walk now and then (and avoiding getting the bus if it's a short journey).

fat people should not have kids in the same way as retarded people should not have kids

I think it's obvious playing games too much will make you fat. When I was a kid I played on my Megadrive a lot. However if my friends called and asked if I wanted a kick about in the park I'd be there without a second thought. As much as I loved games, I couldn't think of anything worse than being stuck in playing them on a hot summers day. Maybe kids today just don't socialise as much as they used to - or maybe things are just the same (I did know my share of fat kids).

To be honest I think the problem is kids with poor social skills. If they don't get on well with other kids then they'll feel more comfortable staying in playing games. The friends I had then who always had some excuse not to join us playing football was always the overweight kids - and that was probably because we always called them fatty. Basically encourage your kids to be social in the real world and they'll become more active.

I wonder if generations of gaming our future chidren will evolve extra gaming thumbs, and bigger eyes.

Oh I blame, Pot, Elvis and Cheese for all the worlds ills'.

Video games don't cause obesity. Neither do McDonalds' Happy Meals. It's an excess of both without some kind of corrective exercise to burn off the fat afterwards. If you only eat burgers, pizzas and chocolate, and never expend any energy except the bare minimum required to move those analogue sticks, chances are you're going to balloon up in size like a... well, like a balloon.

It's a pretty well-known fact that sitting on your arse without exercising is never good for you, regardless of what you're doing to entertain yourself at the time. I'm amazed there's a cause for an article at all...

Stop reading internet comments.

Good article which pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter, and many others.

I wasn't aware of the backlash to the campaign beyond forum outcries, although admittedly I didn't take the time to search out the wider views on this topic. The books argument just sounds bizarre to me, almost too bizarre to sound truthful.

One thing about the adverts though: if they are supposed to be targeted at parents not telling their nippers to get out enough, where is that implication in the adverts? There's no parent in them, just a little tot sitting on his arse. I think that's where a lot of the anger has come from. On face value, it just looks like games = slob children. Not bad parenting/too much gaming is the root of the problem.

How dare you use a picture of my son to highlight this thread im sueing your ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fact of the matter is its not hard to be healthy physically and spend an unhealthy amount of time playing video games. An hour walking a day combined with normal eating is fine.

I was 13 stone 7 and now am 10 stone. 10 stone being within optimum weight for my height (by bmi) its easy to lose weight but only with a positive attitude. Which shock tactitcs doesant necessarily engender

Blaming poor social skills is also complete bollocks, and could actually contribute to obesity, tell a shy kid hes got to do sports especially team sports to be thin and he/she might just tell you to bugger off. If the parents make the effort with vegetables and find a form of solitary low impact exercise then he/she might just get thin.

While mostly overweight and obese children are probably that way due to parenting, ie diet and exercise it is also unclear how much is a psychological problem with todays society, many would perhaps just be slightly doughy if they didnt have the psychological impact of the meidas perfect specimins encouraging defetism.

@ distantholler, that is complete balls, yes if you eat more meat and fat, or atkins you will lose weight, but that wont stop your arteries filling with fat, there are many people out there who are overweight but perfectly healthy. In a balanced diet half our intake should come from carbohydrates, and that mostly from complex carbohydrates.

Games, TV, books, the internet, junk food... You can't blame any of these things for making someone obese. The only things you can blame are: the person themselves, or their parents if they're too young to make these kinds of choices.

And I disagree somewhat with this article. My issue with the C4L ad is the sensationalistic approach of showing a kid playing a playstation with the giant word "DEATH" printed above his head.

"the message is, quite clearly, that parents need to do more to control the amount of time their children spend playing games"

I fail to see how the ad "clearly" promotes that message.

@floppylobster - the brain actually uses a relatively constant amount of energy, no matter what it's doing! Chess is as demanding as Eastenders in that respeect, I'm afraid.

@polar - you are right, to an extent, except you have generalised far too much. For some people it genuinely will be the case that without videogames they'd probably exercise more, and that number is likely to be significant. Our environment over the years has become increasingly obesogenic, both in the rise of inactivity and the increase in food intake. If either is slowed, then obesity would also be slowed. It's not simply a case of fat people having to find something else to avoid exercise with - while it may be true for some individuals, it's an extremely unfair view to take towards the obese population who are simply more prone to obesity than others.

Ok, I work in the games industry.

Tell me how through my work I'm going to eliminate bad parenting, and I'll give this bullshit some credence.

No matter how benign your product, IDIOTS can use and misuse it. That includes such passive things as using it as a decoy, which is what the "game as babysitter" argument boils down to.

And isn't it amazing that its apparently legitimate to suggest that games may provoke antiscocial behaviour by presenting bad examples, yet nearly all games feature extremely active and adventurous characters that run, jump, fight, etc... All those healthy outdoor pursuits that computer kids are supposedly missing out on!

Guess it only causes imitation when there's no physical effort involved, like robbing cars, beating up pensioners, and planning and executing school shootings!

Everything you can say about games, you can say about books. But funnily enough noone uses them as a scapegoat.

Feeding your kid alot of fatty food, including cake, instead of healthier food will make your kid fat. No matter weither it plays videogames, reads books or watches television. It is not the fault of videogames or cakes however - it is the fault of parents allowing sitting-in-front-of-the-tv babysitting.
A much more effective ad campaign would have been something on the lines of "how good a parent are you? Are you a role-model for your kid? Do you want to see your kid get older? Do you want your kid to live to see their own kids get older?" and then display fat kids with fat parents.
But no, of course not. The parents are never to blame, are they?

OMG NANNY STATE!!!!!!11!

I have abs like a washboard. Do some crunches, stop eating pastries and MTFU.

To be honest I think the heart of this issue is that as a society we pride ourselves from being above instinct in one breath and in another assume that people with children naturally, instinctively know how to care for them.

A saner argument would be for the education of all parents not the pathologisation of parents with obese children.

Also Crunches, man that must have been boring. And also probably one of the worst ways to try and lose weight.

Video games made me sexy.

I alwasy thought it was eating too much food that made people fat, but there you go...

What a load of crap. Video games can be great as part of a balanced diet.

I honestly have no idea why I'm not fatter than I am, right now. Whenever I egt on the scales, and 11-stone clocks up, I go "Shit!", but, apparently, it's alright, 'cos I'm 6 foot 1''.

I'm definitely not obese. But, I'm not fit, either. Healthy, I'd say. But not fit. I wish we had a toilet nearer the computer, though. Those stairs are a killer...

I think this article should consider a wider point of view. I believe it is correct insomuch that the peeps playing games will have a normal, slow or fast metabolism. If you have a fast metabolism, as I did when I was young, then it didn't really matter if you ate mountains of crap or didn't eat at all... your metabolism kept you skinny no matter what. However, those with normal or slower metabolisms would, obviously, gain weight. It always seemed to me that my weightier gaming peeps would need to eat far more frequently than I needed to even though my metabolism processed food amazingly fast. They didn't, however, turn into South Park-esque "Make Love Not Warcraft" blobs... well... perhaps one came close. Let's be honest with ourselves... most gamers don't have an inclination toward a "jock" profile and probably never will. It is a tough mold to break out of (into?).
What gaming does, all types of gaming that require sitting for hours on end, is exclude physical exercise. You probably just said to yourself, "That's redundant, dumbass. Exercise is physical." Not so. Gaming does exercise our minds, and I suppose to some extent, our manual dexterity. It does however prevent "gross" physical exertion, which, if you don't want to die in your 50's, 60's or, if you're lucky, your early 70's of a massive coronary or embolism on the crapper, is necessary for a healthy lifestyle.
I suppose you could snack "healthy" foods, like apples, oranges, celery, etc., and help to reduce your overall risk of heart-attack or wot-not, but I believe that consistent physical exercise is necessary for a fully healthy lifestyle. Gaming does not promote that much. You should note that many of the games from Japan DO require a certain amount of physical exercise. They are doing this on purpose. Clever bastards. They want to keep you alive longer to buy more of their games... but they also recognize the overall effect that sitting for hours on end in front of a monitor, barely moving except to lift a cheek to gas-out your roommate, has a negative effect on your overall health... and your eyes. Can I talk about that now?
Peace OUT, mein Peeps.
ObfuZcate

The problem with the advertising campaign was far more the fact that they used Sony's product without permission, and then showed it in a negative light.

I sit in and play videogames everyday,it has not done me any harm.

Im only 37 stone and i have to wash myself with a rag on a stick everyday to stop the smell.

Rob, you play videogames for a living, and yet you weren't overweight last time I saw you. So the argument is clearly nonsense. ;)

I always wonder why we have an obesity epidemic now, and not 25 years ago when sugary sweets were everywhere, McDonalds was advertising all over the place, and Sainsburys didn't have little pie charts on everything telling you how much crap it contained.

But yes, video games are part of the problem. And so is the cotton-wool state we've become. I hear most playground games I used to play are banned now for health and safety reasons. No wonder kids turn to video games...

And then there's the bizarre fact that healthier food is more expensive than unhealthy food. Less fats and sugars, so we charge you extra? Way to entice people...

"The only things you can blame are: the person themselves, or their parents if they're too young to make these kinds of choices."

You are assuming that we have free will. Let's question that.

Bob likes to eat. Bob likes to eat unhealthy food.
Bob was taught that family happiness involved eating unhealthy food together. Bob saw his family eat unhealthy food for all sorts of reasons - celebratory, to combat stress, to alleviate unhappiness.
Bob has always eaten unhealthy food - he was given it to eat when young, and then expected to eat it when older.
While he knows that unhealthy food is bad for him, the people around him also like unhealthy food and he isn't too worried, as eating unhealthily is 'normal'.

When Bob was young, he had no choice over the food he got. He was given it.
When Bob was young, he had no choice over the preferences for food he was socialised into having. (Maybe even genes have a part to play in a fat family?).

Explain to me how Bob has any choice whatsoever now in: the environment he is in that promotes unhealthy food, his history of learning that eatung such food is acceptable and helpful, and the preferences he has gained for this food. Please show how Bob can make any 'free choice' whatsoever to be the 'the type of person who does not like unhealthy food'.
When submitting your answer, please be aware that hypothesising any external variables (e.g. a doctor tells him he must eat better as he has developed diabetes; his kids nag him to play footie with 'em) is relying on more determining variables rather than an idea of freely willed 'choice'.
(If all you can say is "but of course we have a choice. Of course Bob could choose to be different," then I will merely state this case again. Bob has obviously not chosen to be who he is, and who he is happens to be a fat bastard who likes to eat. He had no choice when he set in motion to become this, and has no choice now to suddenly go "I want to be thin entirely of my own accord without any determining factors, such as social pressure or health issues". If you think I am wrong, it is up to you to prove your initial assertion that the person is to blame for being fat because they 'chose' it).

You are as sedentary, if not more so, reading a book. However, i've yet to see a campaign targetting the dangers of reading.

I don't think anyone would argue that taking anything to extreme is not bad for your health, but this latest government campaign sought to target one particular lifestyle over all others. I think that's why the game industry is up in arms.

Because crap is cheaper than healthy.

In the words of Frank Zappa (probably too old a reference for the whipper-snappers here): "People who want to ban smoking think that they will live forever."

Hang on that's about smoking, which proves my brain is old....anyway, same point I think: better to die a few years younger having lived your life enjoying the simple pleasures available to you than to live a few years longer miserable as fuck, having punished yourself with lentils, smoothies, Newsnight, serious literature and assorted soya bean products.

Anyway, Rugby's on: I'm off now for lard sandwich and a cheeky fourpack.

...and I am a 'real life' doctor, by the way, which sounds authoritative but proves fuck all.

Games were the soft target, not the obvious one. That would be TV, because it's pretty much universal - whereas games aren't. The problem with targetting TV though is that the adults are much more likely to be guilty of the same sins (which involves even less activity than gaming) whereas kids are more likely to be gaming than their parents. It's much easier to get people on board if you demonise the things they don't do, rather than the things they do.

It's probably understandable that the industry gets a little bit miffed about this since it already gets blamed for any stabbings, shootings and crazed rampages that occur, regardless of any evidence to support it. Now they cause heart attacks too!

If you wonder why it is soooo much easier to become obese now than it was in years/decades past I highly encourage you to listen to Michael Pollan's talks about food and his books about food, such as Omnivore's Dilemma. I believe he did one talk entitled "The Cornification of America", but I'm not sure about the title.
Simple sugars are passed more easily through our bodies, like sugar cane, which was used to be used to sweeten foods and was all natural. American food industry has, in the name of profit and damn your health, embraced cheaper, more artificial means to sweeten pretty much everything you eat. Every-thing. Chief culprit, high-fructose corn syrup.
If you want to be healthier, for "insert choice of deities name here" sake, educate yourself and read what you're eating before you eat it. Google those ingredients and I guarantee you'll start questioning how healthily you're feeding yourself. Start now and live a little longer to game on... and on... and on.

I remember a study that was done a while ago that found gaming is better for you than watching TV as when you watch TV it tends to stop you moving about or fidgeting whereas gaming you move about much more.

I spend nine hours a day in front of a computer screen under the guise of "work". Does the Government want to do anything about the health implications of that?

This really is a load of bollocks.

Gaming should be miles down the list of targets for obesity. Crap quality food should be at the very forefront of this issue. If you eat healthy, it doesn't matter how much exercise you do or do not do.

I really can't wait until I can play a AAA game using full body motion and / or attached fitness equipment.

I don't mean a tacked on peripheral where pedalling does the same as pressing 'X' or 'A', but a game where my actions are used usefully in a 8/10 or better title.

That said, as BlackKraken mentioned, I have spent whole days having eaten NOTHING, as a result of playing video games.

Yes, there's an inactivity issue, but if children have poor snacking habits, then yes, in combination with inactivity they'll get fat.

The corellation between gaming and obesity should also include reading, web access, TV & movies, board games, toys etc.

Gaming is the only one of these pursuits that is likely to have the options for more and more activity as time progresses.

Blame yourself if your fat, lazy, thick and being stupid for not taking any responsibility for your own choices in life - not videogames!!!...Don't see fat obese kids in Japan!