British Game Biz to Work with Government on Obesity Issue

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
Buzz It

Comments

Submitted by koku (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 10:53.
id hack the timer. either way, if games make people fat, why are all of my gamer friends underweight?

Submitted by E. Zachary Knight on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 09:27.
With Microsoft's new parent timer on the 360, this is a good start. I am glad to see that the game industry is taking a positive interest in fighting obesity. We know that we are not the sole cause of obesity, but games are a contributing factor.

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

Submitted by kurisu7885 (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 09:42.
Wii fit is another good start in this direction.

Submitted by Duncan (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 09:57.
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.

Submitted by Adrian Lopez (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 10:00.
Parents keep looking for a way to raise their kids on autopilot. Enough!

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.

Submitted by MonkeyFace (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 10:04.
As long as they dont make it manditory for every game everywhere to have a built in timer that instantly logs everyone off after a certain amount of time(or something to that effect) im fine with it.

Submitted by kurisu7885 (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 10:25.
@MonkeyFace

Watch them demand it for WoW.

Submitted by GoodRobotUs (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 12:16.
Recommendations I don't have a problem with, people don't have to obey them by law or anything, and like all things in life, it helps to teach self-moderation for later in life.

They are guidelines, much like the ESRB ratings, they serve to inform, not to command.

Submitted by BlackIce, Dragunov Marksman (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 12:32.
I have absolutely no problem with this.

Submitted by Artifex (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 13:08.
I'm assuming that the action is voluntary on the part of the ELSPA, but I have a problem with this in that it's a basic admitance of guilt on the part of the British gaming industry.

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.

Submitted by King of Fiji (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 13:50.
I'm going to manage time by threatening to beat the crap out of whatever my kids are addicted to with a bat just how people used to do it back before the invention of technology.

But this ain't hurting anyone so I'm not complaining.

Submitted by TheBird (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 15:23.
parents are the ones not making sure their kids don't grow large enough to have their own gravitational field

nothing makes kids fat except parents who don't pay attention to their kid's health

Submitted by Father Time (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 17:04.
Calling the obesity problem an 'epidemic' is wrong on a lot of levels.
(One of which, is that it's implying that it's something you can 'catch')

Submitted by Kincyr on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 20:48.
@Father Time:

coincidently, I found this
Moral Panics have several distinct features:
...
3. Emotive language and images: Such as monsters, decay and crisis to emphasize the acuteness of the problem. Medical language can also be used out of context such as the word epidemic.


(taken from the 'Moral Panic' Wikipedia entry)
岩「if Phyllis Schlafly wants to undo Women's Rights, she should lead by example and get back in the kitchen」

Submitted by Athest (not verified) on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 22:41.
Iunno how I really feel about this idea. I like that the game companies are trying to make better restrictions and giving the power to the parents, but the whole government involvement rubs me the wrong way. Who knows, maybe this is a good step forward towards cooperation instead of finger pointing. Epidemic... can you really call a choice an epidemic? Is it at a high rate, sure, but for god sakes it's not a disease, its a choice, that I can assure you, and I've had a hell of a problem with weight control myself. You know what you need to combat obesity? Low fat / sugar foods, moderate - regular exercise, and maybe some pills, glucophage has really helped me out.

Submitted by GoodRobotUs (not verified) on Fri, 01/25/2008 - 05:46.
While I agree that the obesity is actually caused by eating, not by being sedentary, considering that the advertising of junk food throughout the Children's TV period is illegal in the UK, I'd certainly say that this is not over-emphasising the role of game-playing, all it's really saying is..

'Oi! McDonalds'.....No! And Parents? Try to make sure your kids get some exercise, k?'

Submitted by NovaBlack (not verified) on Fri, 01/25/2008 - 06:54.
QFTW!!



''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. "

Submitted by GameBiker (not verified) on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 12:27.
Kids are not overweight because they play video games. Kids are overweight because they eat too much and don't get any physical activity. We've been making a bike that plugs into any video game console and lets the rider become a part of the game. The faster she pedals and the better she steers, the more points she gets. It's addictive...just like video games. www.gamebike.com
Forgot your password?
Username :
Password :

Shout box

You're not permitted to post shouts.
Cheater87: R18+ heading for Australian parliament http://www.gamespot.com/news/6350339.html02/14/2012 - 1:14am
Uncharted NES: David Jaffe Rails Against Storytelling Games- http://slashdot.org/palm/10/12/02/13/1943236_1.shtml02/13/2012 - 5:04pm
DorthLous: Australian government holding anti-piracy talk behind closed door: http://delimiter.com.au/2012/02/13/govt-holds-second-secret-anti-piracy-meeting/02/13/2012 - 12:31pm
DorthLous: SONY new CEO says Hardware is important, but the future lies in content and service: http://www.techworld.com.au/article/414925/incoming_sony_ceo_hot_gadgets_aren_t_enough_anymore02/13/2012 - 12:27pm
Andrew Eisen: That article is over five years old, Uncharted. A fun blast from the past though.02/12/2012 - 10:47pm
Uncharted NES: Critics: 'Left Behind' game glorifies violence- http://tinyurl.com/wu64s02/12/2012 - 4:34pm
Zen: I felt Brutal Legends was a funny & beautiful look at the world of rock from Double Fines point of view. The only parts I wasn't hot for were the RTS bits as it felt forced. Otherwise fantastic.02/12/2012 - 1:34pm
DorthLous: Passed 1.5M$. And I'd also say that Brutal Legend is far from being a bad game. I just think it was a few levels under what people expected from the people working on the project.02/11/2012 - 8:25am
Technogeek: Brutal Legend wasn't bad so much as "marketing had no idea how the game actually played", causing it to suffer accordingly.02/10/2012 - 10:38pm
RedMage: It looks the CIA's website has been DDOS'ed. Anon?02/10/2012 - 7:52pm
RedMage: Brutal Legend.02/10/2012 - 7:52pm
ddrfr33k: Has anything Tim Schafer ever made been of crap caliber? I'm struggling to think of one...02/10/2012 - 7:37pm
Guamish: I think it is in good hands. Tim did a game for the GDC award show and that was fun for how short it was.02/10/2012 - 12:22pm
Andrew Eisen: It'll be tragic if the game ultimately sucks.02/10/2012 - 12:17pm
james_fudge: $1.3 million02/10/2012 - 11:32am
Uncharted NES: Germany Says It Won't Sign ACTA [Update: ... Yet]- http://tinyurl.com/7r2twrg02/10/2012 - 11:21am
Andrew Eisen: Damn. Double Fine's Kickstarter fund has already passed a million dollars.02/09/2012 - 8:16pm
Andrew Eisen: Audrey didn't quote the sassy parts. Here's IGN's article: http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218359p1.html And here's my original post: http://tinyurl.com/7y68a3902/09/2012 - 7:50pm
james_fudge: I hope you some said something sassy! Where's the link?02/09/2012 - 7:46pm
Andrew Eisen: Hey, neat. IGN quoted a blog I had writen only two hours earlier. I certainly timed that one pretty well.02/09/2012 - 7:38pm
All shouts

Be Heard - Contact Your Politician