All smokers seem to want to quit, at least in some part of their minds, and it seems as though every form of media possible has picked up on this fact. From DVDs to books and audio books, the variety of options for people that want to stop smoking is fairly staggering.
But one area that hasn’t been fully mined by stop smoking advocates has been the video game. Until recently, however–Allen Carr, inventor of one of the most famous stop smoking methods, released a video game for the Nintendo DS and iPhone which offers smokers the chance to quit while playing a series of video games. As a recent ex-smoker, this piqued my interest. I downloaded the game to see whether stop smoking video games could truly work.
- Gameplay –
The game begins by prompting the player to enter in some information about himself, what you like to eat, how many cigarettes you smoke, etc. It also asks you to select a “coach,” although all of the coaches are the same, the image that the player is shown just changes. The coach reads you bits of Allen Carr’s book, and introduces you to the idea that you’re a nicotine addict. Once you’ve accepted this fact, you’re moved on to the “removing illusions” section of the game.
This section deals with the reasons for smoking, and logically disproves each one with the help of a cute minigame. By “cute”, I mean incredibly irritating, as many of the games have frustrating gameplay and need to be repeated multiple times until they’re passed. Though they’re annoying, they get the point across–in most cases, your assailant is a big, animated cigarette, and the games are always constructed with a relevant moral in mind.
I was most frustrated when, after skimming some instructions at the end of the “illusions” part of the game, I accidentally indicated that I still believed nicotine gave me something–causing all of the games to start over. The actual design of this video game leaves a lot to be desired.
With that being said, I certainly didn’t want to smoke. Then again, I don’t smoke, so I realized that I needed a friend to truly test the game’s effects.
I loaned the game out to a friend of mine and visited him the next day. “Here,” he said, “this was the most annoying game I’ve ever played in my life.”
“Do you still want a cigarette or vape uk?” I asked.
“No,” he said, “I just want you to get that video game out of my house.”
The game has really something bad on it. I would agree with my friend that it is the worst video game that I have ever played. Part of it talks about smoking.
I didn’t think it was really that bad, but it seems to accomplish its purpose, in any case–maybe the frustration’s part of Allen Carr’s game, or maybe it’s a poor video game with a well-written book to back it up. In any case, the inexpensive Allen Carr’s Easy Way video game is a good idea for smokers who just can’t seem to quit, and it proves that stop smoking video games may act on a certain level that’s valuable to stop smoking advocates. Give it a try. Just don’t expect it to sit next to Call of Duty or Halo on your game shelf.
Have you quit smoking with a stop smoking video game? Post in our comments section below.