10-year-old girl told by Nintendo fitness game she is fat...

[Shodai]

Originally Posted by The Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is condemning video games again--and this time it's Nintendo that bears the brunt of its vocal indignation. Although the Wii and DS have been generally insulated from the usual haranguing of traditional video games in such sections of the British press because of their popularity among the elderly, women, and on cruises, family friendly Wii Fit has managed to incur the wrath of the tabloid.

The reason is that an unnamed 10-year-old girl from South East England was told by the game, during its Body Mass Index test, that she was "fat." (Wii Fit actually puts users into a variety of categories, the two heaviest of which are "overweight" and "obese.")

The stepfather of the girl, who didn't want to be named for her sake, said, "She is a perfectly healthy, 4-feet-9-inch-tall 10-year-old who swims, dances, and weighs only six stone. She is solidly built but not fat. She was devastated to be called fat and we had to work hard to convince her she isn't."

The paper then enlisted the opinion of Tam Fry, a spokesperson for the National Obesity Forum, who called for a ban on kids playing the game, presumably meaning she wanted to see it brandishing an 18 age gate sticker. She said, "I am absolutely aghast that children are being told they are fat. A child's BMI can change every month and it is perfectly possible for a child to be stocky, yet still very fit. I would be very concerned if children were using this game and I believe it should carry a warning for parents."

However, Nintendo declined to entertain her suggestion, simply saying, "Wii Fit is still capable of measuring the BMI for people aged between two and 20 but the resulting figures may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups due to varying levels of development."

Better start playing.

[Rance]

"Slim up, kid! You're a disgrace to your family and your friends!"

Seriously, don't these families have anything else to get up-in-arms about? If it's a video-game that sends the kid off the deep-end, then there's got to be something else there that's a problem.

[Shodai]

Originally Posted by Rance

...got to be something else there that's a problem.

Dunno, vanity is crucial to kids nowadays, here at least, the skimpier you look & dress the more accepted you are.

Regardless having your child play a fitness game it assessing that the player is unfit is hardly rocket science.
Yet another example of parents not paying attention to what games they provide their children with, though is Nintendo partly to blame considering the Wii console itself is marketed as a family system? Can the ignorance be excused?

Debate.

[Darkfinn]

Great... just what we need... a video game to tell you that you are a lard ass.

Now maybe we can get one that turns itself off after an hour of play and tells you to go do something else.

[Shodai]

Originally Posted by Darkfinn

Great... just what we need... a video game to tell you that you are a lard ass.

Seeing nobody else is doing the job maybe it is what we need. Overweight children & obesity in general is a ''big'' (Ho-ho) issue.

[snydead]

By the game, I agree and somewhat disagree because I have close to a simular situation...

People from school claimed that i'm anerexic (if spelled correctly) mainly because I'm skinny and they don't see me eat lunch. I once took a fitness test in health class and the test result said that I should eat more. Lastly in the past when I gone to elementry school the teachers were concerned that I was to skinny and had told child services.

I honestly do eat a lot but yet i'm not really gaining any weight.

I guess that you can not judge a person by how they look because they probably have no control over it unless they really do eat a lot or starve themselves.

I think that people should not be worried by the way they look, but they should only worry about health risks. Besides who are they to judge you by the way you look, do and say. It is you that have your own life and you should live it to the fullest because you have one life to live. And lastly the person who's judging others probably have there own issues to deal with. That's what I say to myself to help me not get frusterated over what people tell me.

In conclusion, it's good to be yourself and it's also good to take care of your health, but don't let other people's opinions affect your life style.

[Rance]

My take on it is this:

Wii Fit is a video game. I would assume that the measure that shows how fat you are goes from the bottom (slim) to the top (fat, obese) of a meter, and the higher up that meter you go, the fatter you are.

Thus, wouldn't that -- by all standards of video-game science -- make being fatter a higher score? This girl should be psyched as all hell! She won!

[Shodai]

Originally Posted by Rance

Thus, wouldn't that -- by all standards of video-game science -- make being fatter a higher score? This girl should be psyched as all hell! She won!

WRONG.



Breaking the 'Wii Fit' board = High Score.

[diaperedbabygirl]

>.< wow that game sounds horrible. Calling people fat and stuff..

[Shodai]

Originally Posted by diaperedbabygirl

>.< wow that game sounds horrible. Calling people fat and stuff..

One of the many reasons why the general health of Europe and the U.S. is in the dire state it is?

Looking at the broader picture, people can't face facts anymore without being offended.