Exhilarate the Only Gaming System
Fifty three years ago, before video games even existed there were little to no childhood obesity. According to an article, “Before the days of video games, kids: went bike riding, went running around the neighborhood playing tag, in general, getting a lot of physical exercise” (How Does Video Games Cause Obesity, p.1). However, many people do not think that video game addiction is problematic; the addiction of video games causes many consequences to children such as childhood obesity, laziness, unhealthy snacking, and even sleep deprivation. If there is a law to ban all video games with controllers and to create Exhilarate a gaming system which consists of only a body suit, then this will solve the problem of video game addiction leading to childhood obesity by 2015.
Video gaming addiction that leads to childhood obesity is a problem because video games do not force the gamer to move their whole complete body. A study called “eGAME” was conducted by the BMC Public Health showed that “74% played 3-7 times per week, with an average duration of 1.9 hours per sessions. Research evidence points towards an imbalance between energy intake (food consumed) and energy expenditure (physical activity) resulting in obesity” (Maddison, p.1). This problem has remained unsolved due to the fact that other video gaming system are not effective because gamers are not forced to move and use their whole potential, they are only restricted to what the game requires the gamer to do. According to the article “Gaming Across Different Consoles,” “Control schemes may affect the play experience” (Limperos, p.1). If control schemes can affect a person’s play experience, then it can also play a part in how active that person can be depending on the control schemes and people are generally more active towards interactive games due to that it is something new, fun, and keeps the player moving at all time.
There are contributing issues that have led to childhood obesity such as addiction—can not walk away from video game resulting in a lack of a social life, snacking, and sleep deprivation. According to Aviv Malkiel Weinstein, Ph.D “Computer or video game addiction is excessive or compulsive use of computer and video games that interferes with daily life. Users may play compulsively, isolating themselves from other forms of social contact, and focus almost entirely on in-game achievements rather than broader life events” (Weinstei, p.1). The compulsive use of video games is bad because the child gets no physical exercise and with that said no fresh air or interaction with other children. Snacking leads to obesity because all the snacks that are made now are mainly processed food that contains a large amount of sugar and trans-fat which is unhealthy. Video games causes sleep deprivation which leads to childhood obesity according to the article, “Physical signs associated with excessive television-game playing and sleep deprivation” written by Yusaku Tazawa from the department of pediatrics, “TV video game playing has been reported to deprive children from participating in other physical and psychological activities” (Tazawa, p.1). Video gaming addiction leading to childhood obesity is a huge problem for those children who heavily use video games as a hobby.
People such as the video game companies, parents of skinny kids, and children who play video games will not deem this problem a valid problem due to the assumption that they believe it is not truly a problem because the problem does not apply to them. The video gaming companies will say that it is not their product that is causing the obesity in children, but instead it is the child’s diet that is the cause of obesity. The Harvard Health Letter stated that “We live in an environment that is brimming with food and drinks that satisfy these cravings—and, in the process, make us overweight, causes illness, and shorten our lives” (Controlling what—and how much—we eat, p.1). Parents of skinny kids will argue that video games do not lead to childhood obesity because their children are not obese. The children who play video games will say that they are exercising due to their fingers constantly moving. According to the American Diabetes Association, “exercise is also known as physical activity and includes anything that gets you moving” (p.1).
Video game companies would disagree with the statement that they are the reason of the cause of childhood obesity. According to a research in the article “Playing Video Games May Lead to Obesity” conducted by the Buffalo University, “Video games leads to obesity because video games promote inactivity, video games involve unhealthy eating, and video games may replace outdoor games” (Admin, p.1). Video games are addicting and it is hard to walk away from which results in endless hours of non-stop play. Those endless hours of video games results in no physical body movements what so ever, instead what they will get out of it are lots of highly process snacks that are loaded with tons of sugar and trans-fat because snacks are convenient to eat opposed to an actual meal while playing video games.
The parents of skinny kids who argue that video games do not lead to childhood obesity are in the wrong because their child or children can still be considered unhealthy. A person does not necessarily need to be obese to be considered unhealthy; he/ she can still be skinny and unhealthy. Being unhealthy means that the individual is not eating enough healthy foods such as organics, fruits, and vegetables, but instead the individual will eat a lot of fast food which are full of sodium, sugar, and trans-fat. Not maintaining a healthy lifestyle with physical exercise is also crucial to the health. One of the participants of a study that was conducted by the University of Washington called the“ Children’s Self-documentation and Understanding of the Concepts ‘Healthy’ and ‘Unhealthy” said that “My gym teacher is healthy, because he eats a lot of nutritious stuff and he exercises a lot too” (Reeve, p.1).
Children who believe that moving their fingers constantly is exercising are erroneous because according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute “Physical activity is any body movement that works your muscles and requires more energy than resting: walking, running, dancing, swimming, yoga, and gardening are a few examples of physical activity” (p.1). Moving of the fingers is not enough to be considered as exercising since moving the fingers alone does not work out the muscles nor does it take up a lot of energy. Exercise increases the heart rate and movement of the fingers does not increase the heart rate as the individual is just sitting there in a resting position moving only the fingers.
The solution to this problem is to implement a law by 2015 that there will only be one gaming system known as Exhilarate and to ban all video games with controllers such as the Wii, X-box, PS3, etc. This means that all productions of these gaming systems that require a controller will be stopped. With the ban in place there will be no more controllers, but instead it will be a body suit which has sensors on it to monitor the body’s heart rate as well as joint and muscle sensitivity. The design of Exhilarate will force the gamer to exercise because since it monitors the heart rate; the higher the heart rate is and the more the gamer move, it will result in more points earned. The gamer playing the game will gain the benefits of staying active and healthy. Exhilarate will cost between $279-$559 each depending on the size of the body suit and each game will range between $89-$139.
Exhilarate is the best solution because other solutions such as the Wii, Kinect, and Move have been attempted, but failed to solve the problem. According to the article “Do a New Video Game Workout” from the U.S. News & World Report, “The Wii and its competitor Move rely on handheld controllers to capture players’ movements as they simulate playing games like tennis, Ping-Pong, or golf” (Burnsed, p.1). The Wii and Move did not solve the problem since they both still relied on some sort of hand held controllers; unlike Exhilarate where there are no controllers required. Burnsed also stated that “The Kinect is just the latest innovation in motion-capturing gaming where it uses the whole body as the controller” (Burnsed, p.1). Although the Kinect does use the whole body, but it does not have sensors to monitor the body’s heart rate or joint and muscle sensitivity.
The parents of skinny kids will challenge the solution by implying that they do not need this fancy equipment to ensure the health of their children. The video gaming companies who oppose the solution will say that since Exhilarate will be the only gaming system out there, there will be numerous amount of jobs loss from the major video gaming companies such as X-box, PlayStation, Nintendo, etc. However a response to these naysayers to convince them that this solution is valid is to merge all video gaming companies into one giant company called Exhilarate. By merging all the companies together to create one giant company, this will let everyone who was working for X-box, PlayStation, Nintendo, and the other video gaming companies keep their jobs. Exhilarate is also a hands on game where the gamer gets to live the gaming experience, instead of sending commands through a controller.
The conditions to this solution are the sizes of the body suit which will impact the cost of production of the body suit that the gaming interface Exhilarate will require. People may not want to wear the body suit because it is requiring too much. Others may think that Exhilarate cost too much and is not affordable. The other thing is that the suit may malfunction and the sensors will not work properly which will have an effect on the gamer’s play experience for the reason that the gamer will not get to play with his or her full potential due to the sensors not working properly. The difficulties with this solution would be the suit malfunctioning since the gamer cannot utilize the full commands of the game such as a broken joy stick on a controller.
The benefits of Exhilarate would be that the body suit monitors the heart rate and the physiological aspects of the body such as joint and muscle sensitivity, so the body of the gamer is not over exhilarated. This means that if the gamer’s arm muscles are overused, then what Exhilarate will do is change the movements required for the game to something easier for the arm such as swimming instead of boxing or batting. Exhilarate will sense if the body of the gamer is overused or not, and if it is Exhilarate will warn the gamer that he or she should take a break and rest; so the body does not get over exhilarated. Exhilarate not only senses the gamer’s joint and muscle sensitivity, it also acts as a heart rate monitor like the ones used at the gym.
In order to implement a law, it will need to go through congressman because they are the target audience who will affect the changes necessary to carry out the plan. Exhilarate is an idea which will later be developed into a bill. In order for Exhilarate to become a law, the bill will need to go to Capitol Hill. Then it will go to the committee and they will pass the bill down to congressman. Congressman will debate and if they agree with the bill, it will go to the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives will debate and if they say yes, the bill will go to the senate. The senate will then decide if the bill should be passed down to the White House or not, and if they say yes the bill will go to the White House which will then go to the president. If the president says yes to the bill, then Exhilarate will become a law.
By 2015, Exhilarate should be out on the market. Exhilarate will cost between $279-$559 each depending on the size of the body suit and each game will range between $89-$139. The barriers standing in the way of the implementation would be that it might take a couple of years to merge all of the video gaming companies into one giant company—Exhilarate and also if the president says no, the process will take longer because the plan will need to be re-thought again in order for it to become a law.
There are issues that are raised by the specific pieces of the implementation plan such as it may take longer than 2015 for Exhilarate to be implemented due to possible advancement in technology. Competition of other software can conflict with the implementation plan. There are those who will argue about aspects of the implementation such as it will take too long. It is true that the implementation may take longer than expected, but it will be enough time for it to be perfect with little to no mistakes. With little to no mistakes means that the implementation does not have to go through the process all over again to get re-thought over which will save a lot of time and money.
Exhilarate is pragmatic, beneficial, and substantively because it allows the entire human body to be functionally in gaming process just like a daily exercise. It controls the heart rate and physiological aspects of the human body, which allows the gamers to not over exhilarate themselves. Exhilarate forces the gamer to exercise and it is affordable. Not only that, Exhilarate is also a real time live experience which allows the gamers to act as the character of their choice in real time. Exhilarate promotes sustainability of healthier children, so the younger generation will live a longer healthier life for tomorrow.
This solution is written due to the frustration of not seeing any children outside playing in the playground or being active. It is necessary for the problem to be solved and in this way because with the existence of Exhilarate, there will be no more children suffering from obesity. In addition to those obese children that grow into obese teenagers, there will be gym classes that are offered at their college and they are required to take it in order to graduate. The outcomes of Exhilarate are a healthier future generation and longer life expectancy which results in healthier future kids. We will learn that the foolish generation of yesterday will not repeat itself and live another healthier tomorrow.
Work Cited:
Admin. "Playing Video Games May Lead to Obesity." Obesity.ygoy.com. Admin, 8 Nov. 2008. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.
Burnsed, Brian. "Do a New Video Game Workout." Do a New Video Game Workout 147.11 (2010): 1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
"Harvard Health Letter." Controlling What—and How Much—we Ea 36.12 (2011): 1-4. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
"How Does Video Games Cause Obesity? Read This and Find Out!" Overcoming Obesity Takes Work. Let Us Help You Succeed on Your Journey. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.
Limperos, Anthony M. "Gaming Across Different Consoles: Exploring the Influence of Control Scheme on Game-Player Enjoyment." Gaming Across Different Consoles: Exploring the Influence of Control Scheme on Game-Player Enjoyment 14.6 (2011): 345-50. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
Maddison, Ralp. "BMC Public Healt." Feasibility, Design and Conduct of a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial to Reduce Overweight and Obesity in Children: The Electronic Games to Aid Motivation to Exercise (eGAME) Stud (2009): 1-9. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
Reeve, Suzann. Children’s Self-documentation and Understanding of the Concepts ‘Healthy’ and ‘Unhealthy 31.14 (2009): 1953-974. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
Tazaw, Yusak. "Physical Signs Associated with Excessive Television-game Playing and Sleep Deprivation." Physical Signs Associated with Excessive Television-game Playing and Sleep Deprivation 43 (2001): 647-50. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
Weinstei, Ph.D, Avi Malkie. "Computer and Video Game Addiction—A Comparison between Game Users and Non-Game User." Computer and Video Game Addiction—A Comparison between Game Users and Non-Game User: 268-77. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
"What Is Exercise? - American Diabetes Association." American Diabetes Association Home Page - American Diabetes Association. 28 Nov. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2011
"What Is Physical Activity? - NHLBI, NIH." NIH Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. 26 Sept. 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2011
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