The Center for Disease Control, which apparently also looks after national obesity, has released a new public service ad urging gamers to "Give your thumbs a rest. Play for real." The accompanying image is made to look like a screenshot from a game and features severely overweight baseball players lounging around in filthy uniforms and generally being pigs.

The problem is that some gamers are taking offense to the message, no matter how well intentioned. Especially in light of other recent bad reports about gaming, from video games making children violent to "games are the new crack", it feels like yet another attack on gamers and their evil, life-destroying hobby. The problem is that the real issue is slightly subtler than "games make you fat", but it's hard to condense that into an advertisement. Some people are more prone to slide into a sedentary lifestyle given the opportunity, and the more forms of entertainment that facilitate that slide -- video games being one of the most potent -- the greater the potential for obesity. Thus playing games is making them fat, in a sense, but it's not an inherent property of games themselves.

Like I said, not as catchy as "Go outside tubby." But seriously, do get outside on occassion. I mean, spring's almost here, it'll be nice.

Source: Ars Technica