Weightwatchers as a RPG!
Aug. 21st, 2008 06:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kallistiiFrom BoingBoing.net...
"Clive Thompson looks at the latest iteration of the Weight Watchers online tool and concludes that the program has turned into an RPG:
Think about it. As with an RPG, you roll a virtual character, manage your inventory and resources, and try to achieve a goal. Weight Watchers' points function precisely like hit points; each bite of food does damage until you've used up your daily amount, so you sleep and start all over again. Play well and you level up -- by losing weight! And the more you play it, the more you discover interesting combinations of the rules that aren't apparent at first. Hey, if I eat a fruit-granola breakfast and an egg-and-romaine lunch, I'll have enough points to survive a greasy hamburger dinner for a treat!
Even the Weight Watchers web tool is amazingly gamelike. It has the poke-around-and-see-what-happens elegance you see in really good RPG game screens. Accidentally snack on a candy bar and ruin your meal plan for the day? No worries: Just go into the database and see what spells -- whoops, I mean foods -- you can still use with your remaining points.
And those 35 extra points you get every week? They're like a special buff or potion -- a last-ditch save when you're on the ropes. "
BoingBoing.net Link: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/21/weight-watchers-is-a.html
Pointer to the Wired Article: http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/commentary/games/2008/08/gamesfrontiers_0811
"Clive Thompson looks at the latest iteration of the Weight Watchers online tool and concludes that the program has turned into an RPG:
Think about it. As with an RPG, you roll a virtual character, manage your inventory and resources, and try to achieve a goal. Weight Watchers' points function precisely like hit points; each bite of food does damage until you've used up your daily amount, so you sleep and start all over again. Play well and you level up -- by losing weight! And the more you play it, the more you discover interesting combinations of the rules that aren't apparent at first. Hey, if I eat a fruit-granola breakfast and an egg-and-romaine lunch, I'll have enough points to survive a greasy hamburger dinner for a treat!
Even the Weight Watchers web tool is amazingly gamelike. It has the poke-around-and-see-what-happens elegance you see in really good RPG game screens. Accidentally snack on a candy bar and ruin your meal plan for the day? No worries: Just go into the database and see what spells -- whoops, I mean foods -- you can still use with your remaining points.
And those 35 extra points you get every week? They're like a special buff or potion -- a last-ditch save when you're on the ropes. "
BoingBoing.net Link: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/21/weight-watchers-is-a.html
Pointer to the Wired Article: http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/commentary/games/2008/08/gamesfrontiers_0811
