Play Peggle, Lose Weight

Keane Ng

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Sep 11, 2008
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Play Peggle, Lose Weight



Drop that bag of Cheetos and get to Peggling! A study conducted by PopCap UK seems to suggest that casual gaming can be an effective weight loss tool.

Conducted over the course of this January, the study [http://www.mcvuk.com/press-releases/45728/PopCapcouk-study] showed that casual gaming can provide the distraction necessary for avoiding giving into the bad urge to stuff your face with saturated fat filled snack foods. Though only 10 out of 30 of the participants (who the heck is too lazy to play Peggle for a month) completed the survey, those who did showed some huge success rates.

"While trial results were scientifically inconclusive due to a low number of participants completing the month-long programme, there were some interesting findings," dietician Nigel Denby [http://www.mcvuk.com/press-releases/45728/PopCapcouk-study], who ran the study, said. "For those who finished the trial, we saw that on all occasions Bejeweled Twist was used, it prevented eating due to a craving, with participants reporting forgetting about their cravings whilst playing the game."

Denby also found that playing games generated good moods, which is a key element in triggering bad eating habits. Stress, anger and sadness often lead to overeating, so all the happy generated by Extreme Fevers in Peggle may very well keep you from munching on Doritos so you can't hear yourself cry.

Some participants showed exceptional results. "My cravings have noticeably reduced since I started this trial and I lost 7 lbs over 4 weeks," Debbie Hodgson, who never played a computer game before the study, said.

Gaming also helps curb smoking, the study showed, as, in addition to the distraction from playing, having your hands occupied with pointing and clicking means that they can't be used to light up and puff on a cigarette.

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Pseudonym2

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Remember all those studies of rats where the rats had to choose between cocaine, food, and water? Remember hot the rats staved because they chose drugs instead? Does Popcap really want to go down this road?
 

oliveira8

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Good thing I have Peggle extreme still to install on my computer due to some Steam sale...
 

Alex_P

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Mar 27, 2008
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This (pretty healthy-looking) guy I know said WoW keeps him from snacking and smoking as much as he normally would.

-- Alex
 

Skeleon

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Heh, so basically we're to replace one addiction with another. ^^
Though I have to admit, drinking lots of coffee kinda curbs my appetite.
 

nova18

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Feb 2, 2009
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Yeah I smoke a lot less when gaming compared to when Im on a night out or out with mates.
I usually reserve my cigarettes until I reach an important checkpoint or need a break after a tense section.

I usually smoke around 15 a day, when Killzone 2 came out, I smoke 2 cigarettes on the release day. One before I started and one after I completed the game.

So I definetely believe the validity of the effects on cravings.
 

Aardvark Soup

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Jul 22, 2008
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10 people? That's not even close to get any reliable results. Also I don't really see Popcap UK as an independent research facility.
 

bkd69

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Pseudonym2 said:
Remember all those studies of rats where the rats had to choose between cocaine, food, and water? Remember hot the rats staved because they chose drugs instead? Does Popcap really want to go down this road?
Yes, yes they do.

Aardvark Soup said:
10 people? That's not even close to get any reliable results. Also I don't really see Popcap UK as an independent research facility.
I do believe they're about to publish a study showing that Fallout players tend to gain 12 pounds in the course of a month.
 

Samurai Goomba

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Like others said, it's just substituting one craving/addiction for another. I mean, Peggle is pretty much Smack in video game form, from what I've heard about the game. Is it so surprising that people would pick it over food?

I bet their next study will show that people who play Peggle for more than 12 hours a day have worse personal hygiene than people who don't.
 

AkJay

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it's because when you game, your mind is pre-occupied so you don't feel hungry, i normally eat my dinner at around 7, got on COD4 at 6, got off at 11, didn't feel anything close to hunger.
 

Angron

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Aardvark Soup said:
10 people? That's not even close to get any reliable results. Also I don't really see Popcap UK as an independent research facility.
yep, you summed up what I was going to say, and even if all fo the people completed the survey it would have made a grand total of 30, that wasnt even enough for my fake college survey to be valid...
 

capnjack

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This survey is absolutely 100% to be taken as fact because it was conducted by PopCap UK and they have no stake in the success or lack of success of Peggle. Play Peggle, be healthy. Exercise is over-rated. All you need is video games. You don't even really have to move.

Because there's no way that one you get good, you can start smoking, eating chips and playing Peggle at the same time.


Like my dad does with Cubix.
 

wild_quinine

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Mar 18, 2008
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Keane Ng said:
Gaming also helps curb smoking, the study showed, as, in addition to the distraction from playing, having your hands occupied with pointing and clicking means that they can't be used to light up and puff on a cigarette.
I call BS on this. I've seen people huffing a butt between railgun shots, ffs. If there's one thing smokers are pretty much universally good at, it's smoking.
 

Witty Reference

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CapnJack said:
This survey is absolutely 100% to be taken as fact because it was conducted by PopCap UK and they have no stake in the success or lack of success of Peggle. Play Peggle, be healthy. Exercise is over-rated. All you need is video games. You don't even really have to move.

Because there's no way that one you get good, you can start smoking, eating chips and playing Peggle at the same time.


Like my dad does with Cubix.
Pay attention here: Scientific study, to have ANY validity to it, needs to be IMPARTIAL and OBJECTIVE. A 'study' like this is a marketing technique with no basis in fact.
I only post this here because a number of people in this thread have missed the appropriate sarcasm of the man I've quoted. Fair to say, most have picked up on it, but I'd just like to SPELL IT OUT for those who haven't got a basis in science.
Science calls BS, because there is a contaminating factor (PopCap's funding, organising, and for heaven's sake RUNNING the test)
 

capnjack

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Witty Reference said:
CapnJack said:
This survey is absolutely 100% to be taken as fact because it was conducted by PopCap UK and they have no stake in the success or lack of success of Peggle. Play Peggle, be healthy. Exercise is over-rated. All you need is video games. You don't even really have to move.

Because there's no way that one you get good, you can start smoking, eating chips and playing Peggle at the same time.


Like my dad does with Cubix.
Pay attention here: Scientific study, to have ANY validity to it, needs to be IMPARTIAL and OBJECTIVE. A 'study' like this is a marketing technique with no basis in fact.
I only post this here because a number of people in this thread have missed the appropriate sarcasm of the man I've quoted. Fair to say, most have picked up on it, but I'd just like to SPELL IT OUT for those who haven't got a basis in science.
Science calls BS, because there is a contaminating factor (PopCap's funding, organising, and for heaven's sake RUNNING the test)
Amazing how high over your head that flew.