West Virginia adds DDR to physical education curriculum

[Synaesthesia]

Let's say I want to go kill someone. I could use my S&W 500, or I could use a fruit knife. I'm sure eventually I could kill them using the little knife, but my first option is going to get the job done faster. So then why would you want to combat obesity by using a weaker tool than physically demanding sports such as soccer or basketball? Let me explain this to you: I can go play DDR for an hour straight. I can play a nice amalgamation of 8s and 9s, with some 10s interspersed in there as well. After this, I will be X tired. I can also go outside and play a pickup game of of soccer out in my quad. After this hour, I will be X^3 tired. Playing soccer is more physically demanding than playing DDR. Running track is more physically demanding than playing DDR. Hell, walking across campus to get to the meteorology lab is more physically demanding than DDR. I'm sure all those Mountaineers would love to play DDR instead of running suicides, because it's easier.
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[Jypsy]

excellent points.

another point i must reiterate:

YOU DONT LOSE WEIGHT ON THAT GAME INSTANTLY!
tennis, Basketball, soccer, football, doesnt matter how good you are, you sweat and burn calories even the first time you play.

you dont lose weight on DDR until you are in the 8/9step category, which is not going to happen if you play one game a week/day, it takes MUCH practice, so having kids mess around on beginner for 4 minutes won't help at all.
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[otakullama]

Hmm, while I think implementing DDR into schools would be awesome and would help kids lose weight and be a nice advertisement for DDR, however I don't think Konami or WV will spend the money required to make it effective.

There are lot of kids and each one is going to need more than 2 minutes of playing DDR each day for any health benefit to happen and one xbox with madcatz pads aren't going to cut it. On the other hand, if schools are going to make a DDR class seperate from PE, very few people who aren't interested in DDR already are going to sign up. Why go to a class where you have to make an effort to work and then be mocked by your peers when you have PE, where you can get by with nothing and nobody says anything about it?

On a side note, whenever I did actually make an effort in PE and stay active for the entire class, I never ached quite as bad from it as when I started seriously playing DDR. I guess its different for different people though.

Edit: back when I first started playing DDR, I started with Matsuri Japan on light and that still got me pretty tired after awhile. I've never been a big guy either, just really unathletic.
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[Coolkid27]

I personaly think DDR as an exercise routine in schools is a bad idea. They would really need a unit for each student, otherwise there will be long lines of students just standing around. Also, you'd have to teach everyone who doesn't know, how to play, when a class of aerobics or sports activity would be more beneficial in the long run. Everyone plays DDR at different levels and in different ways; to have a universal exercise routine for students would be nearly impossible. Why not convert gyms to full arcades featuring Dance Freaks, Para Para Paradise, DDR, ITG, spider stomp (just kidding) hah..... I realy don't think students need DDR to get motiviated to exercise, the whole thing is a cop-out on designing a work-out program that is motivating for students.

just opinion.-----

[Larrikin]

Its not like their replacing PE with DDR. Im sure its just something extra thatll be used during exercise time
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[MAJO]

It would help kids start exercising and being more active while having fun instead of being lazy and bored with other exercises.
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[SmellyBubbles]

I think the idea is pretty cool but, like some other people have already said, you don't lose weight with just one session of DDR gameplaying. But hey, if they had a machine at my school that's where I'd be every morning/afternoon. Why not just go one more state to VA?

[Synaesthesia]

Because if they did that, I wouldn't be able to make as many jokes about WVU. And as far as kids being lazy doing "other exercises," I don't know what kind of gym teachers you guys have/had, but in my experience if you didn't perform to the best of your ability, you got to run laps equivalent to about 1.5 miles. If coach thought you were slacking off on that too, well, then you would prepare to get owned.
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[Larrikin]

[Synaesthesia]

*looks at your location* Yeah, that sounds about par for the course.
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[DaveLinger]

[Synaesthesia]

You mean all 1 of the worthwhile ones, i.e. Konamix?
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[t3chn0r]

It seems they are using this metal pads... are they better than the Cobalt Flux?

[Synaesthesia]

Looks like some T-N000 iteration, so no. Some of those specifics are totally bogus anyway (e.g., they can't have a pad with "0% noise level")
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[jpoppyz]

heres one thing i notice about ddr when people start out. Ok, basically everyone who starts out learns that if you "hop" along to the beat it makes it much easier to do those songs, making it MUCH more physically active. I remember getting tired and breaking a sweat when i started playing using this "hopping" play style, but don't remember breaking a sweat while walking.

Therefore, i think most people will get decent excersize from DDR.

I think it's a good idea, and it would definitely be cool to have DDR appeal to a bigger audience because people will give it the chance it deserves.

And heres another thing: my PE course has a Ping-Pong unit. Do you really thing Ping-Pong is more physically active than DDR.
And if my school can afford 8 ping pong tables(about $250 a piece, and a bunch of balls and paddles), i think they could afford a couple(or maybe a few) of these $750 DDR units.

Why yes, i go to the richest public school in grand rapids!

And maybe we could have DDR teams and compete competitively!!

now THATS what i'm talking about!!
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[REK]

This isn't going to help. It'll probably cause more problems than anything. The pads will break too. I give em one day of middle/high schoolers, even if they were all nice and played correctly (no stomping, or intentional destroying of the pad, because not all teenagers love DDR, to everyones surprise) on light before something in the pad screws up. Pretty dumb idea, as much as I love DDR. Money could have gone to something important like (and not to sound cruel)... mine safety.

Anyway, PE doesn't really require much physical activity unless the kid really wants to, and the fat kids usually don't. The one thing that sucks for us high schoolers at my school is that they just cut how much food you get for school lunch in half. I always buy at school, and it just sucks now.

[DDRIS133t]

yeah i even saw on the news that they might buy machines for a few schools in the chicagoland area and start a high school league.

[Tsuri]

I think this will just create problems in schools... most people just laugh at people playing DDR because "it looks funny" so I assume the same thing will happen in a school environment... except for the said "fat kids" will come to school to be made fun of for something besides being over weight... If anything the only way to stop the fat is for their parents to take charge and start supplying them with only healthy foods I mean you can goto just about any resturaunt and order healthy... good tasteing foods... it's not hard at all...

[jpoppyz]

today at school i actually had a talk with my friends about this, and we thought about it. It could really go either way; it could turn out good or turn out bad. If they get metal pads(which i'm assuming they will if konami is selling the bundles with no TV at $740 and saying that they will be making only a $30 profit), i think it could work, but looking at ping pong tables at my school, and i see how people managed to break 5 tables last year because no one cares because there all a bunch of stuck-up rich kids who don't care for other peoples property. I actually talked to one of my gym teachers about this, and they said they heard about it and were thinking about looking into it. They said the same thing; they think the price might be an issue due to people not caring about the equipment. They also said if they did, they would get 1 or 2 units and have a group of 4-8 kids go and play during warm-up(basically where we run). I think that would be a good idea, and as long as they have someone watching, destruction shouldnt be too much of a problem. And if they store them away when no one is using them, i think it could work. I only hope this happens, i would LOVE to have ddr in my school day. There are some times when i just get home, drop my backpack, and run to my ps2 and play a couple rounds of DDR. Because I don't think I can be deprived of DDR for over 3 days. During the day, there are just times when i'm like "man ddr would make this better!" it's quite funny. I hope that this DDR in PE thing happens, because i do think it could help. And having an uncle whos vice-superintendant should help.....

i should also add that i eat incredibly unhealthy and the docter says i have to gain weight...showing DDR DOES make a difference for me being once overweight and now underweight without changing my diet.

And I don't care if people laugh at me for playing DDR, once they say see me A-AA 8-9 footers they cant say sh!t.
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