Video games teaching kids that exercise is unecessary.

Admit it, when you clicked the link you expected to hear a rant about video games making our kids fat because they sit there all day using 8 fingers to destroy demons and fight wars right? Well not really, this post is going in an entirely new direction.

Remember doom, the first of the first person shooter genre? Remember how you basically ran unless you either stopped or crouched? Remember Wolfenstin? Remember quake and Unreal tournament, how you could run an infinite amount of time without losing your breath? Well, as FPS games have progressed we were introducted to the limited breath and sprinting, basically you could not run forever and would have to walk if your sprint bar had depleted. Basically, my point here is not that the sprinting was in a game, but the length of sprinting. let me explain.


Back when I was first into the FPS genre we looked at the characters we played as tough machomen who were so fit that there was no question about them running for an ingame mile. Today any sort of "realistic" FPS has a limited sprint. Lets use Americas Army as an example. Americas Army, or AA for short, tries to be as close to realistic as possible. AA is used as a recruiting tool and therefore wants to be as relistic in every facet as possible. Guns, explosions, wounds, everything in AA tries to be as real as possible. The problem? In the real world boot camp, army recruits have to run miles, in AA, running 20 steps and you are panting out of breath.

I will use the transition from COD2 to cod 4-5 as a shining example. In cod2 there was a gradual decrease as your stamina bar went down to the point that you had to stop running after a while. In cod 4-5 running for about 15 steps and you are out of breath.

I dont know if this would be considered a conspiracy or not, but I would consider this conditioning kids to not see the need to exercise. If the invincible hero can run forever, kids aspiring to be that hero might consider running to be fit like their hero. If a kid's hero cant make it 15 steps in a sprint without being out of breath, what effect will that have on the kid? On a related note, I have herd a conversation between two teenage boys that may help give credibility to my point. The conversation went like this:

Boy1 " I should start working out."
Boy2 "why?"
Boy1 "I wanna join the army as soon as I'm 18 butI cant lift a whole lotta weight or run much and I think you need to be able to do a whole lot of that in the army."
Boy2 "Dude look at cod4 man, those guys don't run much and that's realistic."
Boy1 "Good point!"

Sounds pathetic, but I was shocked to hear that and the conversation has stuck in my head. So, what are your thoughts about games entraining kids not to exercise, beyond having them sit down and play the games.

Well in all those games, when your not sprinting, your jogging.....

Not really, imo this is just another case of passing the buck and shifting the blame from those that are really responsible .



I think its BS , I have plenty to say about the parents that entrain their children not to exercise beyond having them sit down and play video games though . . .




Ohm

DOOM was the coolest game for the Nintendo 64. Anyway, i havent heard any kid try to relate peoples Strength and Stamina to them-real life-selves. never. I dont do much exercise myself, except for maybe 2-3hours of basketball. Which for me is alot of running after the ball, i cause i like to try making really far shots.
Games arent stopping kids from exercising. It is their terrible willpower and determination. Maybe they are too lazy to do it. I could start exercising, if i really wanted to. Which i do, actually. Just not right now, lol.
I think they chould make a game that comes with a little treadmill that you have to walk on it to move your character. If you wanna run, you run on that. The faster you run, the faster it runs. I know some people will find a way to cheat it somehow.

Its all a big conspiracy actually. The mass will be easier to control if we are all fat and lazy. No offence to you guys.

Nintendo has the wii which really is like a workout machine. Instead of sitting down with a controller, you use your hands to do all the controls. There are even exersice games for the wii which are REAL workouts. Even the xbox 360 is coming out with NATOL or NATAL or something like that where you are the controller. You use your whole body as the controller. For example if its a fighting game, you actually have to duck and punch towards the screen.

I completely agree! This was part of what I was trying to convey, that kids were not being motivated to be healthier or stronger by the newer role models in video games.





A kid with Parkinson picks up the wiimote?

Good thread.
The only way we learn is by expanding our minds and thinking of cause and effect scenarios outside the box.
I generally think that if the games will convey the message about exercise than we have to agree that they also teach kids to shoot people... this I am not s sure of. I like your thinking though.

poppycock.
video games are video games. kids are kids. before video games kids had tv. before that radio. before that books. before that stories and cave writings.

The ability to separate fantasy from reality has been an age old struggle. Look at the Dungeons and Dragons franchise and how they had to completely revamp their product because of some kids that couldn't separate fantasy from reality. They tried to say that Doom was a contributing factor to colombine. I have used both a real gun and played doom and they are nothing alike. I have the capacity to separate fantasy from reality and understand the difference.

People, or children, choosing not to exercise is not the game's fault.
I've seen plenty of games aimed toward exercising, especially on the Wii. There are also things like DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) for PS2 and Xbox. That game right there is a workout and a half (and they do have workout modes)!

on the Wii, you have WiiFit, which incorporates several types of exercises into the 'game', and you get a neat little pad, to do your exercises on.

www.brighthub.com...
"What is Excergaming?"

So if you're obsessed with gaming, you can honestly get some exercise out of it. Especially if you're like me and don't like going out and walking in 100+ degree heat.

I was about to come in here to tear you a new one..

But i read your post, i agree!

There are many idiots in the world.

With that in mind - those idiots are the ones who shift the blame to something or someone else, when it is they who are at fault.

The world needs a two set system.

Laws
Punishment

These laws though, are only set out to protect ANY type of imprisonment of another human being. Could be economical, emotional, psychological, or physical.

We have many of these laws already in the U.S - but also many unnecessary ones (I do not need to list them).

These are video games. The parents BUY the, kids play them, they each make their own choices. If they lack the vision to be able to determine a good choice from a bad one - that is their fault. 99.99% of the time, the rules are set forth, and the road to success is also set forth. People make bad choices, but by the age of 16-18, one should be mature enough to be able to turn around and find the way. Maybe even less than 16 years is old enough to make correct decisions.

So - to summarize it all up. NO THEY ARE NOT. YOU ARE WRONG. Kids, parents, babies, teach themselves. If you really want to make a difference in this world - it is not eliminating every potential bad thing, it is to help these people teach themselves how to lead a good life.

Conclusion. VIDEO GAMES ARE NOT TEACHING KIDS THAT.