Persuasive Takes Aim With Fatworld

It seems appropriate that “Serious Games” advocate Ian Bogost should take a stab at the corporate food and beverage world, given its recent attempts (ie. McDonalds) to overshadow its own part in the growth (no pun intended) of childhood obesity by pointing fingers at ‘couch potato’ entertainment forms like video games.

Bogost’s Persuasive Games has released a game examining the importance of nutrition, exercise and general good health, all under the happy, squishy name of Fatworld. Bogost describes the game in a January post on Water Cooler Games by saying that:

The game’s goal is not to tell people what to eat or how to exercise, but to demonstrate the complex, interwoven relationships between nutrition and factors like budgets, the physical world, subsidies, and regulations. In Fatworld, you create a world, design a character, and live out an accelerated life in that world. By choosing your character’s dietary and exercise habits, you can experiment with the constraints of nutrition and economics as they affect your character’s general health.

Basically, think of it as The Sims Meet Richard SImmons, all packaged in educational, thought-provoking look at our current cultural love of fast food. Bogost is quick to say that he isn’t blaming McD’s entirely, but that it’s a complex issue with many factors that need to better examined.

Via | WaterCoolerGames.com