Summer Camp Criticized for Encouraging Gaming

[Andy Chalk]

Summer Camp Criticized for Encouraging Gaming

The True Gaming summer camp in New Brunswick is taking heat from a university professor who says the idea of healthy videogames is "a bit of an oxymoron."

I never went to summer camp when I was a kid but had the need arisen I think the True Gaming summer camp in Fredericton, New Brunswick, would have been my number-one choice. "True Gaming offers one week day camps for 7 - 14 year olds," according to its website, "promoting a healthy balance of videogame play, along with a great combination of creative projects, physical activity and social interaction."

"It develops problem solving and just-in-time thinking," explained founder Andrew Reimer. "They have to make decisions at just that time, and so it's a quick responsiveness in that way."

Furthermore, he added, videogames have become a kind of conversational touchstone for kids in the same manner as popular television shows, movies and music. "I'm not sure exactly how a kid would be able to socially interact nowadays without having any video gaming background," he said. "I feel like they'd have a lot harder a time at like public school, because that is the common factor that kids have nowadays to make friends."

But that doesn't wash with Gabriela Tymowski, a professor of kinesiology at the University of New Brunswick who also ran the first child obesity clinic in the province. "It's a bit of an oxymoron to talk about healthy videogames. Why don't we talk about healthy activity? Physical activity?" she said.

Kids already spend six hours a day in front of screens on weekdays and more than seven hours on weekends, according to a study by Active Healthy Kids Canada, while the New Brunswick Health Council said that more than 28 percent of the province's population is obese. "Children are interested in videogames, they're attracted to them, there's a lot of stimulation there," Tymowski continued. "And so parents are encouraged or want to put their children into an activity that the children will enjoy. But unfortunately, while their fingers may be dexterous and moving, the rest of their body isn't."

It's a valid point, but how far it goes depends a lot on what sort of games are being played. The website doesn't break it down in detail but it does mention the Nintendo Wii and Facebook photo album [http://www.amazon.com/DanceDanceRevolution-Bundle-Playstation-3/dp/B003WY86MK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310670426&sr=8-1], meanwhile, focuses almost exclusively on outdoor activities, suggesting that videogames are just one part of the whole "gaming" experience. And that, to me, sounds like not a bad idea at all.

Source: CBC [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/07/14/nb-video-game-camp-healthy-lifestyles-959.html]


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[Mark D. Stroyer]

Social acceptability milestone GET!

Sounds cool.

 

[LightOfDarkness]

But it just said "Promoting a healthy BALANCE"
Meaning "not play video games 24/7 and do other stuff too" and not "video games are good for your health"

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Hey, Gabriela...have you ever been to the camp?

Just a thought, but why don't you try it before you criticise others who are working hard to look after children?

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Can I meet this professor and tell her she's wrong on more levels than 1-1?

(See what I did there?)

 

[crystalsnow]

Every time a "professor" links video games with obesity, he/she loses all credibility.

Why? Because people have been obese since the beginning of recorded history.

 

[SoopaSte123]

My dad is an elementary gym teacher who HATES most technology and video games, and even he is sensible enough to embrace certain games like Dance Dance Revolution. He got a grant specifically to get equipment for his gym class because he loves how much the kids get into the game and enjoy their exercise.

This camp seems like a great idea to me. Mix games and exercise and socializing in a healthy way.

 

[JakobBloch]

Every time a "professor" links video games with obesity, he/she loses all credibility.

Why? Because people have been obese since the beginning of recorded history.

But there are more now then ever. Explain that.

Just to avoid the potential spamming: I think the problem lies in the ready access to cheap fatty food. We live in excess these days and it shows.

I find it interesting that this professor thinks the only solution happens to be her area of expertise, while decrying an area she has no deep understanding off. I am sure a camp like this could benefit greatly from the advice of a professor of kinesiology if that professor went into the project with an open mind. Just imagine what a such a partnership could do.

 

[crystalsnow]

Snip

But there are more now then ever. Explain that.

Just to avoid the potential spamming: I think the problem lies in the ready access to cheap fatty food. We live in excess these days and it shows.

Why did you even ask me that question if you answered it yourself lol?

 

[Wolfram23]

^Food is extremely abundant and cheap in 1st world nations, whereas in the past you had to be either fairly wealthy or very passionate about food to have too many calories. Also, more office jobs.

But anyway, this sounds like a cool camp. Considering they're promoting a good balance of video games and outdoor activities, it sounds perfect. I mean it's not like you can't be outdoor working up a sweat and having fun, then relax for a few hours in the evening playing some games before going out for a bonfire

 

[Hagi]

True Gaming summer camp: "promoting a healthy balance of videogame play, along with a great combination of creative projects, physical activity and social interaction."

Gabriela Tymowski: "It's a bit of an oxymoron to talk about healthy videogames. Why don't we talk about healthy activity? Physical activity?"

They did. You didn't listen. Now you look like an idiot, congratulations.

 

[King Toasty]

Damn, why can't we have these camps in Canada?

Yeah, I don't see the problem if they balance it with physical acti- oh, DanceDance. Carry on, awesome people!

 

[Jumplion]

"It's a bit of an oxymoron to talk about healthy videogames. Why don't we talk about healthy activity? Physical activity?" she said.

Um, they do talk about that, right here;

"promoting a healthy balance of videogame play, along with a great combination of creative projects, physical activity and social interaction."

She seems to be under the assumption that this camp is nothing but exclusively playing games day in day out. So, yeah, she's being ignorant right now. I think it's great that this camp tries to incorporate a variety of activities as well as video games to help improve activity and social skills.

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

How about a LARP camp? Kids love make believe. You can make a game around various games (nerf guns wars for shooters, for eg.) and combine that with video game time in the afternoon, or when it's raining.

My summer camps always sucked, that could be fun.

 

[briunj04]

Gabriela is just another person that thinks that video games gave birth to Hitler. I've said it once and I'll say it again: Video games are not the source of childhood obesity, bad eating habits and lazy kids or overly lenient parents are the source.

While I can't fully advocate that an all video game camp is necessarily a good idea, I think that it has its benefits.
(Or you could just go to a video game design camp where playing video games is just part of the creative process :3)

 

[Erana]

"Hey Kids, we had four hours of outdoor activities scheduled with mingling/gaming/having lunch here, but they said that video gaming is bad, so you have to eat while playing dodge ball instead."

Video games for mingling is a great thing in my book; I remember whenever there were kids activities for other media, it always turned into, "Shut up, this is the part where they sing!!!" or something like that.
I don't think I'm the only one who inadvertently winds up socializing if you stick a bunch of gamers in a room with a console for an hour.

Board games are fun and all, too, but good luck trying to get a wide audience of kids excited about that...

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't know, this camp sounds good to me, esp. the part about balancing video games, creativity, physical activity, and social interaction. I just wish a camp like this had been available when I was young enough to attend summer camps.

 

[Canid117]

Good our plan to destroy the youth of the world is proceeding on schedule.

 

[Farther than stars]

The camp's Facebook photo album, meanwhile, focuses almost exclusively on outdoor activities, suggesting that videogames are just one part of the whole "gaming" experience. And that, to me, sounds like not a bad idea at all.

This was my first thought. All the activities provided at summer camps already are games. I remember that any ones I went on as a kid had an schedule of activities outdoors, but quite a lot of the time was sitting around indoors playing board games with one another. You know, hold a monopoly marathon or a chess tournament with the other kids, great fun and physically speaking not all too different from playing video games.
In fact, video games as they are now broadly understood find their roots in traditional board games (especially RPGs) and people don't ever seem to see anything wrong with those. Sure, one could argue that the omission of a screen is less harmful to the eyes (for example), but then the flipside is that video games allow us to explore new depths of creativity and play that traditional board games simply don't cater for.