January 24, 2008
Should the video game industry have a role in combating the obesity epidemic?MCV reports that ELSPA, the trade group representing U.K. game publishers, has said it looks forward to working on the issue with the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
As detailed by the Times Online, British officials have unveiled a £372 million anti-obesity initiative. Included among its recommendations are limits on the amount of time which children are permitted to play video games. From the MCV report:
Yesterday’s Department of Health action plan revealed yesterday stated that it will “Set up a working group with the entertainment technology industry to ensure that they continue to develop tools to allow parents to manage the time that their children spend watching TV or playing sedentary games, online and much more widely.”
Thanks: GP European correspondent Mark Kelly
Comments
I hope that the US industry takes some initiative on this issue as well.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
While they're at it, they may want to do some kind of research into the link between school fields being sold off to build housing estates on, and obesity in children, but that's probably too much of a contentious issue.
This is NOT a technical problem, but a personal one. Stop feeding your kids the kinds of food that makes them fat, and quit being so damn paranoid about allowing them outside for play and exercise.
Obesity is the parent's fault. Fighting it is not the game industry's responsibility.
Watch them demand it for WoW.
They are guidelines, much like the ESRB ratings, they serve to inform, not to command.
As many other posters have pointed out before me, gaming is not to blame (or be held responsible) for a lack of physical activity in children, that is squarely in the realm of a parent's responsibility to monitor.
But this ain't hurting anyone so I'm not complaining.
nothing makes kids fat except parents who don't pay attention to their kid's health
(One of which, is that it's implying that it's something you can 'catch')
coincidently, I found this
(taken from the 'Moral Panic' Wikipedia entry)
'Oi! McDonalds'.....No! And Parents? Try to make sure your kids get some exercise, k?'
''Duncan Says:
the whole concept of having to drag the government in in the first place is just tragic. When will the parents start taking charge of their kids instead of waiting for a report stating the bleedin’ obvious that sedentary kids get fat?
While they’re at it, they may want to do some kind of research into the link between school fields being sold off to build housing estates on, and obesity in children, but that’s probably too much of a contentious issue. "