Hungry? Let’s play a little game . . .
A stat from ESA confirmed that forty-four percent of most frequent game players say they play games online, up from 31% in 2002. Now-a-days folks are playing interactive games online because it’s accessible, entertaining and educational?!?! Huh?
Not sure if I like their overly dramatic motto - “Fit or Fat? Live or Die? You Decide,” however, as outlined on their website, FatWorld is a video game about the politics of nutrition. It explores the relationships between obesity, nutrition, and socioeconomics in the contemporary U.S. The game’s goal is not to tell people what to eat or how to exercise, but to demonstrate the direct relationships between nutrition and factors like budgets, the physical world, subsidies, and regulations. This game is visually stimulating, colorful and intriguing. I played it on my lunch break yesterday and learned a lot about the foods that regenerate and energize you, so that you don’t become lethargic after lunch.
The website notes that existing approaches to nutrition advocacy fail to communicate the aggregate effect of everyday health practices. It’s one thing to explain that daily exercise and nutrition are important, but people, young and old, have a very hard time wrapping their heads around outcomes five, 10, 50 years away.
Here are some other interesting ESA gaming stats: