Gaming the system: WeightWatchers as an RPG

[mdlbear]

Games Without Frontiers: Fun Way to Lose Weight: Turn Dieting Into an RPG

A friend of mine recently slimmed down on Weight Watchers. She joined two months ago, and in just a couple of weeks, she'd shed 10 pounds. She'd been trying for a year to lose weight, but nothing worked -- until now.

Why did Weight Watchers work so well? For a really fascinating reason: because it isn't a normal diet. It's something more. Something fun.

It's 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.

(From this post by bercilakslady on healthy_fen.)

So, would that be a first-person eater?

Comments

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's a Canadian thing, but I grew up being a big fan of Wayne & Shuster comedy. They used to do a skit that was a parody of The Picture of Dorian Gray, where the picture got fatter while its owner ate with no ill effect. Your post makes me think: The Avatar of Dorian Gray.

[mdlbear]

*giggle*

May or may not be Canadian; I've never heard of W&S, but comedy isn't a genre I generally enjoy.