Quit smoking with Nintendo (maybe)
p2pnet news | Games:- Why does Big Tobacco continue to thrive and prosper even though it’s been proved, indisputably, smoking causes cancer and a host of other fatal and chronically debilitating conditions?
Because people who deliberately inhale the smoke from burning leaves are little better off than alcoholics, who swallow their chemical of choice, or heroin addicts, who inject theirs.
If you’re young, it seems to be so cool.
But it’s an addiction.
Full stop. Period.
Some people find it relatively easy to quit, but for most it’s a hard, hard struggle.
Allen Carr promises his Easyway helps any person to fight addictions painlessly but the truth is: there’s no easy way to fight an addiction. And it’s never painless.
Carr is in business and like any other business person, he’s out there to make money. To do that, he needs to successfully promote his product, and it’s difficult to imagine something more irresistible than a guaranteed way to stop smoking.
Now he’s hooked up with Nintendo DS to make a game out of quitting.
“Brought to an exciting interactive platform, Nintendo DS, Allen Carr’s Easyway method will take on a whole new dimension,” it promises. “Players will be actively participating in the game’s content as they input the details of their smoking habits and even select their own Allen Carr’s Easyway coach to take them through the process of quitting.”
Not only but also, “Ubisoft’s creative team has worked hard to deliver a game that successfully communicates Allen Carr’s Easyway method via play,” says Ubisoft’s Christian Salomon. “The player experiences a truly interactive engagement with the game through which he or she learns that it can actually be enjoyable to quit smoking.”
Enjoyable to quit smoking? Somehow, we doubt it. Maybe some day, but not at the moment.
“Fifteen mini-games help to dispel the illusions about nicotine addiction” and players can follow their progress via a “Path to Freedom” meter.
Nicotine addiction is no illusion. It’s real. Ask any of the people who’ve died from it. And there are almost as many ways to quit smoking as there are brands of cigarettes. Some work for some people who, consequently, swear by them, and some don’t.
But bottom line, using a computer to play a game can in and of itself be highly addictive and if Carr and Nintendo can use that to help some people knock smoking on the head, and make a pile money while they’re at it, better them than Philip Morris.
The game is slated for release in November.
.
.Stumble It!
Easyway – Ubisoft and Allen Carr’s Easyway Team Up to Help Smokers Quit, May 28, 2008
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May 29th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Smoke a pipe instead. Studies have shown that pipe smokers are less likely than non-smokers to develop cancer.
May 29th, 2008 at 10:28 am
MY MOTHER quit smoking some years back by playing Shanghai on the Sega Master System.
It’s an easier addiction to get rid of than smoking.
May 29th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Their sports pack is designed to involve users in a greater way. The concept is not new, and has been around since the C64 or earlier. It’s also possible however, to achieve a reasonable amount of aerobic exercise and muscle toning through it. Someone who uses it regularly with that intention or not, would find a similar change of attitude and purpose to what real sports accomplish.
For example, most all who take up running to improve their health and fitness, also give up smoking, and even drinking, and invariably alter their diet as well for the better. This is because aerobic sport itself is a positive addiction, and they want to nurture it and avoid anything which would impede their progress. These games also make it fun and appealing to an extent. So I feel they are already may be helping smokers to give it up, and since aerobic exercise also reduces stress, there is not the “need” for artificial drugs to do that.
May 29th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
…it’s addicting, but other than a productivity loss (which you can make up if you try hard enough), video games are a lot less dangerous then drugs.
May 29th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I quit smoking by going cold turkey. Actually, the physical symptoms only last 3-4 days, then you have to fight the hardest part, which is the routine of smoking. Your brain inherently rejects change, and changing of habits and routines are the most difficult to break. It can take 6 months to a year before you really rid the thoughts from your mind.
These nicotine patch companies are selling a myth, because the physical symptoms are easy to bear, but patches don’t help the mental routines; they themselves know it and still they propagate the myth that patches actually help you.
May 30th, 2008 at 4:38 am
^^ Me too, after years of trying this, that and the other, I used the same technique I used when I stopped drinking and using drugs – minute by minute.
I’d say to myself, ‘I can get through this as I’m experiencing it right now.’ And I did. And every time I craved for a smoke, I’d say it again. And again. And again until three days (always my target) were up. As the reader above says, those three days are the hardest. Get through them and you have it made —- if you want it badly enough.
Cheers!
June 17th, 2008 at 7:26 am
If you are a “progressed” addicted, it will be difficult to stop smoking. For those who only smoke when getting bored, it may work. Certainly smoking has a large share of psychology involved, but from a certain point on people also need the nicotine
May 3rd, 2009 at 11:07 am
I would recommend people now switch to the concept of electronic smoking. I use it and am very happy to quit real smoking.