Steam sinks pretty low IMHO

[GWarner]

I think Steam's latest sale ads are in extremely poor taste. The ads say that various summer time activities are dangerous and can cause pain, injury, or death and that you should play it safe, stay indoors and save big on video games to play. Too many people are already over-weight and out of shape from lack of exercise and crap like this does more harm than good. Steam should be ashamed of them selves.

Here's a sample:

[blueznl]

Dunno, I thought those adds were funny, with just a pinch of cynism thrown in for good measure. YMMV though...

[Rescator]

It's called Black Humor it's more common in Europe.

[Fluid Byte]

Steam should be ashamed of them selves.

Nonsense. They should be proud. This ad is hilarious!

[GWarner]

Nonsense. They should be proud. This ad is hilarious!

So you think promoting lethargic, couch potato behavior is funny? I wonder how funny you'll find it when your own kids are over-weight and out-of-shape because they stayed indoors and played video games instead of going out and being active and getting some good old fashioned exercise.

[Fluid Byte]

So you think promoting lethargic, couch potato behavior is funny?

It's called humor. Please see Wikipedia for details.

I wonder how funny you'll find it when your own kids are over-weight and out-of-shape because they stayed indoors and played video games instead of going out and being active and getting some good old fashioned exercise.

Why is it that the parents of those kids are always exactly as fat, lazy and stupid?
Not because a game company making ads but because the parents failed. Completely.

[codewalker]

Why is it that the parents of those kids are always exactly as fat, lazy and stupid?
Not because a game company making ads but because the parents failed. Completely.

This is only halve the truth said.
Society as a whole also failed. Society doesn't support kids anymore to grow up for a healthy body
and common sense. Society just want to take away from it's habitants for it's own profit and doesn't
give a shit about it. Just look how schools today sell junk food to students in the cantine, how tv
dumbs them down with all those soap series, sex, commercials and violence, when parents come
home the question isn't anymore who is going to cook but who is going to get something from the
chineese or pizzeria, how a 24/7 economy splits a family where one comes home in the morning
and the other starts working in the morning, hardly time anymore to spend time with the kids,
need to say more ? It just takes a lot more energy and concentration to make kids grow up healthy
than it took before in those days when there was no tv, no fast food and no 24/7 economy, where
the family was the central place and could take care of it all. A lot of families simply can not come up
with the energy and time that it takes today. Society today let kids grow up only to become consumers.

[blueznl]

I paid a little more attention to the ads and they are just hilarious! They're clearly not to be taken too serious. Live up people!

[Rook Zimbabwe]

I thought I saw one for headshots/shotguns in the Left 4 Dead game I have been torturing myself with... was too busy running to get a good look!

[GWarner]

I just view as showing a distinct lack of social responsibility. You and I may know it's humor and bot to be taken seriously, but what about kids?

Ask yourself what message you'd rather your kids see, these ads that promote sitting around playing viedo games or a message that promotes a more active and healthy life style?

[Rescator]

You're starting to sound like a fanatic.

And when I was a kid the only video games was those available for Atari 2600 and a bit later C64,
I hardly ever watched TV (we only had the first national channel (NRK1) back then and on a good day we could get SVT1 from Sweden).

I played outside a lot, crawling into old buildings, messing around at construction sites.
Nearly got killed playing at the local iron works plant during weekends as we crawled around shrapnel, on the roof, climb on the roof beams.
Shot at other kids with a air gun, got the police knocking on my door.
Stole/shoplifted from a lot of stores.
Broke into a place several times and got caught as well several times.
I started smoking back then too (13 or so years old).
Got beat up a lot, and beat up a lot of guys too.
Demolished half a condemned building with a stolen BobCat that I also drove for a mile afterward for a "joyride".
Played (balancing) along on the concrete separator between a car parking area and a highly trafficked road, a car owner asshole ran out thinking I was messing with his car (I wasn't) and pushed me into the traffic, result was a nasty concussion that caused me to collapse.
The sight in my right eye is reduced, even if I did get glasses it would only reach max 80%, I still haven't gotten myself any glasses.
The hearing in my right ear seems to be slightly reduced on certain frequencies.

Play outside instead of gaming? I did, a lot it seems...

And I was one of the "nicer" kids in the neighborhood.

I'm pretty damn sure that if I'd started getting really serious with computing earlier than I had (around 16 or so I think),
then I probably wouldn't have gotten into so much trouble as I had.
I guess one could blame my mom, single parent raising a unruly kid, and being way too nice.
But that was also how kids where back then.

I'm pretty sure that if I had grown up in USA instead of Norway I'd probably ended up shooting someone by the age of 12.

Blaming computers and games for kids getting fat and lazy is just silly.
The whole world knows USA has a obesity issue, and Britain is starting to get it too I think?
But the majority of Europe seems rather healthy and the computer and internet coverage here is way better than in USA,
so by that reasoning Europe should be bloated beyond comprehension, yet they are not.
So obviously the issue lies elsewhere.

Now myself I eat as unhealthy as one can get. I love chocolate and candy and other sweet stuff.
Drinking way more Pepsi than normal and being very lazy at taking care of my teeth as ruined them especially combined with surface density issues my teeth has/had.
I do not exercise, I got exhaustion asthma, I got stomach muscle hernia. And I wouldn't be surprised if I had diabetes.

But what I do is that I really only eat when I'm hungry, and if I feel particulary low on energy I eat "unhealthy" stuff like chocolate and ice cream and so on.
I eat at un-regular hours, I sleep at un-regular hours. I eat a lot some days, while other days I barely eat at all.
I stay the hell away from fake sugar, the metallic taste of aspartam and similar is something i hate (I'm a small percentage of the worlds population that can taste it).
If my body doesn't agree with something I ate, then I stay away from it.

Yet, I'm highly functioning. If I'd been an American I'd probably be dead by now.
Which really makes no sense. Either I have a very high metabolism. Or what I eat and the amounts I eat are close to what my body needs.
I have no idea what stuff are in the stores in America, but can it really be that different from Europe?
Norway is in the top when it comes to pizza's eaten every year, Norway is also in the top when it comes to ice cream eaten (the really creamy sugar classic kind, not the watered crap),
I cant say that obesity is that big of an issue in this country.
I do have a concern for food additives though, like fake sugar and all the other Exxx stuff the put in there. I also like my food clean but aren't fond of overly pesticide sprayed food either.

But computers, video games are not the issue. Just like before that TV was not the issue, and before that rock music was not the issue, and before that books was not the issue (I'd hate to see a return of book burnings).
Not listening to your body (or maybe interpreting your body wrong?) is probably the main issue, genetic obesity is probably in the minority as a cause).
Heck back in ancient times (Roman period for example), being "plump" was a status symbol that you where well off.

The human body is amazing and can handle ANYTHING, due to how adaptable it is.
The body will retain what it needs, store what it might need, and discard what it does not need.
Heck, our body contain a certain amount of drugs naturally, even radiation.
But if large enough amounts, anything is harmful, even pure water. (water poisoning)

Each time I hear of the obesity problem I can't help but think that the issue are the people not listening to their bodies.
I know fat people can be perfectly healthy (and still "big"), but for some reason they end up unhealthy.
Heck the amount of skinny people that are unhealthy is also pretty damn high as well.
It's also possible that the human race is starting to get fatter again.

Also, if one is maybe on the too plump side, it does not harm you if you go pretty much hungry for a day,
let your body eat at those fat layers a bit, that's what it's there for anyway, as energy reserves.

And stay the heck away from diet plans or programs. Even Doctors and Nutritional experts don't always know what is or is not good for you.
One year Eggs are bad, then they are good. the next year milk is bad then good then bad again. Another year xx amount of water must be drunk, the next year more, the next less,
and around and around the hamster wheel turns endlessly.

Just eat whatever makes your body feel good. (not to be confused with what tastes good, but if you're smart you can get both though)

So ad campaigns like that only amuse me, could it have been better? Sure. Is it bad? No.
Words and Images never hurt anybody, and advertisement only works if you want what is advertised or you are weak minded.
Are children weak minded? Compared to adults yes, but they are not that weak.

"Think of the children, protect the children" is just bull.
Parents are still afraid of letting their kids play in the sandbox in fear of them eating the sand and getting germs. Great, there goes the immune system's development.
Parent's are still afraid of kids playing, in case they hurt themselves.

How the heck are you otherwise supposed to learn that falling might break something,
or that punching someone with your fist at an odd angle might break your little finger like a twig (happened to me, fingers fine, knuckle kinda flat though),
or that two kids fooling around where one is "fencing" with a pair of scissors and the other is kicking at it might actually embed he scissors into your foot (happened to me, foot is fine),
or that hugging a dog that does not like to get hugged might cause the dog to lash out with it's claw and tear your upper lip in two (happened to me, lip's fine again just a tiny scar)
or that sticking things into the power socket can give you a nice 220 volt jolt unexpectedly (happen to me, damn that really wakes you up).

Kids are kids, parents shouldn't try to treat them like babies. George Carlin was right, screw the children, let them grow up like they are supposed too, by being "kids".

These days it's "illegal" to make kids work. Bull I say let'em work. I helped out pulling up huge fish nets with buoys and lumber logs when I was a kid.
I got to drive the boat, salt water slashing in my face, got payed a few bucks for it, I had fun,
got stung in the face by some jelly fish thing caught in the nets, slayed and gutted fish and threw the innards to the seagulls that was kamikaze diving at us.
I've explored old Nazi bunkers in the rock-walls, with the danger of them collapsing, I've climbed through the remains of a half burned down house (didn't find any dead bodies *laughs*).
I slid down a small cliff in the winter when it was covered in ice, and hit a rock strutting out in the middle, almost shattering my tailbone.
And my little toe must have been fractured more times than I can count and forgot about it.
I've got military training, fun memories but not much use now, and the damn intensive bootcamp project was what caused my exhaustion asthma to break out in the first place, running 3km and near the finish while hyperventilating and you get several lungfuls of exhaust fumes from a SH-3 Sea King about to take off 5 meters away from you can cause anyone to collapse. (happened to me).
Oh what fun it is to camp in -30 Celsius in the dry cold winter while having asthma while dragging along old water logged skis (aka old crappy wooden planks) that you had re-tared yourself with full gear and setting up camp.

In other words I was a Kid, doing Kid stuff, and growing up while having fun, and I learned things in the process.

But is any of that stuff useful for me right now? Nope, other than some fun memories they are useless.
I wish I had stayed in during my kid years, using the computer. Maybe then I could have invented the Web (WWW) first?
Yeah right, you may say, but I might have... you see... When I started using the internet the Web didn't even exist yet, nor really emails, there where FIDO mail, BBS's and Telnet and impressive 2400 Baud modems (300 baud was so passe then *laughs*) instead.

So if Kids wanna fool around on the computer instead of playing outside, let them, and parents should take the opportunity to get them to learn about the damn boxes/PCs they are playing on as well in the process.
Being overweight has nothing to do with it, it's instead to do with training and how you eat.
Listen to your body, it knows you best.

[Fou-Lu]

I'm pretty damn sure that if I'd started getting really serious with computing earlier than I had (around 16 or so I think),
then I probably wouldn't have gotten into so much trouble as I had.

Well, after reading all your post I guess that if you started your bad habits before you'd be dead by now...

But the majority of Europe seems rather healthy and the computer and internet coverage here is way better than in USA,
so by that reasoning Europe should be bloated beyond comprehension, yet they are not.
So obviously the issue lies elsewhere.

Not exactly. Maybe it's just that in Europe people care less for this stuff. Here in Brazil for example, the internet coverage is horrible, but you will still see people getting fat in front of their computers, even with a dial-up connection. The culture of the country is more than just its internet coverage.

I do not exercise, I got exhaustion asthma, I got stomach muscle hernia. And I wouldn't be surprised if I had diabetes.

Shouldn't you look for a doctor? (I'm serious)

Yet, I'm highly functioning. If I'd been an American I'd probably be dead by now.
Which really makes no sense.

No, it does make sense. The consequences of bad eating habits may appear only when you get older.

The human body is amazing and can handle ANYTHING, due to how adaptable it is.
The body will retain what it needs, store what it might need, and discard what it does not need.

You talk like you could be sat the whole day playing games if you felt well doing so. And your body would magically make your heath perfect. Sounds like being totally conformist to me.

Parents are still afraid of letting their kids play in the sandbox in fear of them eating the sand and getting germs. Great, there goes the immune system's development.

Ok, I agree with that. Some children are treated as if they were make of glass...

These days it's "illegal" to make kids work. Bull I say let'em work.

Then sell your kids as slaves Your example has got nothing to do with the real hard work that some kids are exposed too.

Anyway, I don't want my post to be as long as yours. You seem to know exactly what you want for your life, and maybe that makes you think there is no danger in computers, ads and junky food. But that's for you.

While the Steam ad is pretty funny, it makes me wonder if someone out there will think that sedentarism is just a joke.

Now that we started with personal examples, I was the exact opposite of you. I grew playing safetly in front of my house and playing video games. I never broke a single bone. I didn't know what a veggetable tasted like until I was seventeen. Except when you consider "french-fries" a veggetable. I was thin, always sick and had no energy for anything. Then I noticed how stupid I was being, started to exercise, stopped eating meat and fat stuff and guess what? All my problems were solved.

Don't know, maybe my body is dumb and doesn't know for itself what is best for it. But I'm sure I won't let my kids spend their whole day in front of a computer, there is plenty of safe play outdoors.

[Rook Zimbabwe]

Not quite as terrible as you Rescator

But then I got in to computers in 1967... I was 4 1/2 years old!!! My dad took me to work (NASA CapCOM) and in his office was a HUGE typewriter... he dialed the phone near the unit with a punched out credit card (also really cool!!!) and stuck the handset intot two rubber cups on the machine...

It started clattering and typing and I was amazed... MAGIC!!!

That was all it took.

He opened and ran STARTRK.BAS and I got creamed... I asked him why... A friend of his (Bill Anders) showed me how to LIST the code and then edited some variables... told me what he was ding... how to find the commands list... what a variable was...

I beat the game...

later the removed the machine and replaced it with a Honeywell terminal... You had to have a password.

I didn't have a password.

I got pissed and turned the machine on and off many times very fast (Rocker switch) and I was IN!!!

I dumped out hte entire Apollo 11 Lander Operating System by selecting PRINT because I wanted to print the Spock Poster that another astronaut showed me in his office.

They had to recode the system because no one could find the punch cards.

I was bad... I was banned from NASA computers without a chaperone. But not banned from the computers themselves. I suppose the government had a smaller ocrn cob up its but at that point!

I did other things... Broke in to a few houses... never got caught but never took anything!
Stole a few cars (VWs mostly because they were EASY to start without a key!) about 12 before I was 14 years old... drive them around and then abandoned them. Sometimes parked them back where they had been.

Sugared a few gas tanks of people that pissed me off. Peed in the Principals gas tank a few times!

Never shot nyone until I was in the military. Had to. Still more pissed at him for making me do that than I could believe.

Turned out OK mostly.

As long as we are telling life stories. We had 9 channels of TV... If I watched one it was probably the smaller independants stations in summer time and then only Land of the Giants or Trek (I remember watching Star Trek on local channel 2 as a first run. I remember going to an astronauts house to see it in HUGE COLOR ( probably 30 inches!!!) but I do fret about the ability of children today. too many channels and too much "I know all about that crap attitude from seeig it on cable TV...

Those of you that remember my nephew will be glad to know he is getting out of Boot Camp in October. Apparently he does now actually nderstand the word NO

[Rescator]

I do not exercise, I got exhaustion asthma, I got stomach muscle hernia. And I wouldn't be surprised if I had diabetes.

Shouldn't you look for a doctor? (I'm serious)

Nah! I'm fine. I stopped relying on my inhaler years ago. (when I had it I tended to use it for the tiniest out of breath incident)

As to the stomach hernia, it's the 4th time I have it, I've been operated 3 times, result is a huge cross (yeah that kind of cross) scar on my stomach,
if I ever decide to go under the knife again I'll insist on a synthetic "mat" lining to fix it for good.
I had the 3rd surgery while I was still in bootcamp, and crawling through the cold mud in the forest with the stitches getting undone wasn't fun,
one time after redressing the bandage I noticed a small gaping hole straight in. (yuck)
Kinda amusing how many saw me as a weakling in the force...as I didn't see any others going trough bootcamp with exhaustion asthma and a open wound. *laughs*
I still enjoy the experience I had back then, although at that time I hated my life obviously. *laughs*

I was thin, always sick and had no energy for anything. Then I noticed how stupid I was being, started to exercise, stopped eating meat and fat stuff and guess what? All my problems were solved.

Well, being sick, and not having energy (in particular) are messages from your body, and by the sound of it you luckily paid attention to it.
Basically if you enjoy the way you are, keep with it, if you don't like it, then change. Being happy is the key, regardless. (even if it could be seen as unhealthy)

But I'm sure I won't let my kids spend their whole day in front of a computer, there is plenty of safe play outdoors.

Nor should they, nor would I, nor do I, I was speaking in context of the original post, nothing bad with staying inside during the summer, also, while it's summer one place there is winter someplace else in the world
As to monitor staring, luckily though LCD's are more eye friendly than the radiating CRT tubes of yesteryear. (which started scarring the edge of my iris, which has healed itself after I went all LCD though)
A comfortable chair, preferably a reclining chair that lets you lay back and watch a movie or TV episode or listen to music to give you a rest from hovering over your keyboard is great.
It's kinda like the old doctor joke: "Patient: Doctor it hurts when I do this! Doctor: Then stop doing it!"

Would I have changed anything in my life if I had the chance? Sure a few tweaks here and there, but I'm generally happy with myself,
what I've experienced have made me what I am, and I would hate to not be "myself", right? *laughs*

[the.weavster]

Blaming computers and games for kids getting fat and lazy is just silly.
The whole world knows USA has a obesity issue, and Britain is starting to get it too I think?
But the majority of Europe seems rather healthy and the computer and internet coverage here is way better than in USA,
so by that reasoning Europe should be bloated beyond comprehension, yet they are not.
So obviously the issue lies elsewhere.

We are indeed in bad shape:

Britain has the worst adult obesity level in Europe at 23 per cent - almost twice the level in France.
Doctors are also diagnosing more people with diabetes.
Death rates from cancer are falling, but are still above the EU-15 average for female patients.
Death rates from smoking related causes are higher than the average for the whole of the EU, including eastern Europe.
Fears of gambling endemic as NHS say 1.3 million Britons have a serious problem.
Deaths from alcoholic liver disease and cirrhosis are up for both sexes, and for the first time death rates are above the western European average for women. Alcohol-related deaths have more than doubled since 1991.
Infant mortality is among the highest in western Europe.
Life expectancy is below the EU-15 average for women, but higher for men.


But it's the exception that proves the rule and I am of course a perfect physical specimen.


Here's a modern rewrite of a classic British nursery rhyme (from Private Eye):

Jack Sprat ate lots of fat
his wife ate lots of sweeties
Jack Sprat had a coronary
and his wife had diabetes