Gaming as part of a healthy lifestyle
Tuesday 22 July 2008Last weekend I decided the time had come to upgrade to an Xbox 360. I promptly allowed a retailer to let loose on my credit card, with the addition of various accessories and games costing around the same as the console itself. One accessory I did hold out on however was the wireless networking adapter. Why pay £60 for this when I can get a wireless access point for half the cost that will not only allow me to connect the console, but also extend my wireless coverage further? (The answer is that the access point can be incredibly difficult to set up - more on this when I eventually get it working.)
Anyway, several hours later my hands were paying the price for some extremely repetitive movements. It seems much more likely that I will experience RSI as a result of console gaming than using computers at work all day, and yet there was no obvious advice in the console packaging on how to avoid this.
At epiGenesys we consider lifestyle issues to be a key component of our agile approach to software development - healthy and happy developers can’t be a bad thing for a project (and our developers are happy when gaming!). These lifestyle issues cover various topics, but one in particular is the avoidance of RSI. As a result we have notices in the office discussing posture and hand exercises, based on references from Mike’s Agile Site, and everyone is encouraged to act on the advice.
Perhaps console manufacturers should be required to provide similar straightforward advice on the avoidance of RSI along with their goods?
