Gaming myself to health.

Posted by Cornish Forrestfield on August 7, 2012 11:04 am 18

To spare you the effort of coming to the conclusion that I am in no particular sense an adequate writer. I'll confess; an adequate writer, I am not. Expect it to be disjointed and incoherent. However, I felt that my story was worth sharing.

via techdeville.com

It begun on a late summers day four years ago, I signed on for an one year gym membership. The endless stream of comments regarding my weight had finally started to hit the bottom, they had be sinking for a while, but I cared too little to notice. I suffered from the under lit twin of overweight, underweight. With neither muscle nor fat gracing my body and a weight of fifty-five kilograms at a length of one eighty-six, I was all but healthy.

The worst part of being underweight at that time was being told how 'lucky' I was for not gaining weight. Such a thoughtless comment. I wasn't any more or less 'lucky' than anyone else and I certainly didn't feel 'lucky'.

But I took the course of trying to change my health. Build muscle in the gym, even though I am not the gym type. Nor could I stand the gym type. I spend a year going to the gym twice a week and working out till I was sore, but muscle wasn't build that easily. I gave up, I cancelled my membership. The only thing that the gym was adding to my body was depression, in that year I felt my mood decline to the point that suicide was about the most interesting topic on my mind.

Time for a change, my grand health plan didn't work out as I had hoped. So I tried to find a different sport, running. I think I kept with that for a month or three. While I loved the natural surrounding, it is simply a rather long walk to get to those natural surroundings were I live. I got bored and annoyed. Running was just way too dull.

Running did one thing right. It put me with my nose at the progress bar. I saw myself improve day by day. What-ever I tried next should do that as well. And with that I ended up with swimming. That went well for a while. But eventually I suffered from the same issue as running had. Boredom. And that was also the problem with Cycling, Walking, Climbing and various other sports. I was all just so freaking dull.

via www.motifake.com

Gaming had spoiled me, I wasn't accustomed to how boring real life could be. I mean, sure I've played a few terrible grinds, but sports was like the worst jRPG grind on steroids. And worse yet, where such a grind would generally net me in-game currency, I was only losing currency in-real life. On something, I simply didn't enjoy in the long term. Before the turning point I ended up being lighter than when I started, about a thousand pounds lighter.

At first I wasn't sure what to think of it, the concept looked like a revolution in gaming. Unlike the competition, who was just emulating a successful formula. The closer it got to being released, the more uncertain I became. The price tag didn't help either, but after trying Dance Central in the middle of the store I was sure. Kinect might very well be my only saving grace.

Home I went with Kinect under my arm and I played the whole night. My muscles ended up being so sore that I could barely walk the next day and overslept for the first time in about five years. For the first time in a long while I had a blast doing a 'sport'. Now nearly two years later I still play, keeping my condition in good shape.

Kinect steered me clear from an unhealthy life. Kinect might take a lot of heat for being a less optimal controller and for being a motion controller in general, but I think it opens a door for a lot of people in a lot of ways. From learning basic dance moves, to getting in decent shape and to having a bit of fun.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a Dance Central 3 trailer to watch!

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