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Editorial

Greatest Hits 2009: Are All Gamers Fat?

While the Dungeon’s Master team enjoys some well-deserved vacation time, we’re breaking out the greatest hits and shining a spotlight on a few of our favourite articles from 2009. We’ve searched for hidden gems that our newer readers might have missed and our long-time readers will enjoy reading again. Enjoy a second look at these greatest hits from Dungeon’s Master.

Sterling may not post often at Dungeon’s Master, but when he does he certainly knows how to generate discussion and debate. In this article he looked at the type and quantity of snacks our gaming group consumed during a night of D&D. Although this particular night was atypical for our group (although not by much) it’s sadly the norm for many other groups out there. There’s a reason that the fat gamer stereotype exists.

Once a week our group gets together to play D&D, and while we play we eat some of the most unhealthy snacks available. Sure they taste great, but as six intelligent guys with over 30 years of university and college education between us you’d think we’d realize just how bad this decision really is. If we were teenagers with raging metabolisms we might be able to get away with this kind of weekly binging, but we’re all in our mid 30s and have careers that mostly involve sitting and typing for 8 or more hours a day.

Sterling is a pharmacist in real life and has extensive knowledge of the working of the human body. By using our group as a case-study it certainly opened our eyes and with any luck it hit home with a lot of our readers. We still eat junk when we play, but since running this article we have (tried to) cut back. Most of us have switched to diet soda and on occasion we actually have healthy snacks. I don’t think Sterling expected anyone to change radically after reading this article, but if it generated discussion and got gamers taking stock of their snacking situation then I think it did its job.

So as we stuff ourselves with Christmas turkey this holiday season, keep this article in mind as a cautionary tale. The occasional indulgence may not be so bad as long as it’s not your typical behaviour. If you eat a lot of junk during your weekly game, make sure that your diet the rest of the week is a little bit healthier.

Categories
Editorial

Are All Gamers Fat?

There I was, playing D&D and stuffing my face with chips and soda pop. I stopped mid-bite and realized that my gaming night food consumption might be the reason my fortitude defense fails me one day down the road. I wondered if every gaming group consumed as many calories (or more) than my group. Sure there are the clichés about beer and pretzel games, or the oft heard “Where is the Mountain Dew?” references, but is this what other gamers eat? Beer, pretzels and Mountain Dew?