I have a new obsession.

Recently I mentioned my love for the “Assassin’s Creed” series and all of its outlandish, if not unbelievable conspiracies. Also as an ambitious gamer, I have been working through the series unlocking all of the achievements on 360 (and if you want to help me grind them out, my GT is Remy A Ginsberg).

The thing which I always go back to with that series, however, has little to do with plot or historical fiction, though both are stellar. My love and new fascination come from the overall gameplay style which relies heavily on parkour.

For those of you who may not have heard of this phenomenon, parkour is a highly aerobic, often competitive integration of running, climbing and honing of acrobatic reflexes to scale everything from a loading dock to a skyscraper.

Beginning with the series’ first installment, set during the Third Crusade in the summer of 1191, every protagonist in the series relies on this instinctive mode of getting about, and often the choice of how to scale a structure ends up determining survival and success with equal priority as more traditional game mechanics, such as stealth and weapon choice.

“Le Parkour” was born in 1902, when Georges Hébert observed physical and mental fitness as a determining factor in the ability of a community to survive a volcanic eruption. Needless to say, not an everyday occurrence, but this epiphany would help shape the fitness standard for France’s military through two World Wars. Combined with the parcour obstacle course as developed by Swiss architect inspired by Hébert’s ideas, the basic foundation for the practice was born.

The modern practice of parkour would be developed more than half a century later by French athlete and stuntman David Belle, circa 1990. Which begs the question: For a series which only finagles with historical accuracy to supplement story continuity, is adding 20th century innovation in physical fitness a serious crime of anachronicity?

For my vote, no. To introduce the idea that reaching the precipice of any human creation is only an obstacle of willpower not only inspires recreation, but also infuses incentive to exercise into a video game, a rare feat.

While games have served as the go-to scapegoat for every act of “juvenile delinquency” from school shootings to Satanism, to re-enact gameplay from “Assassin’s Creed” (minus the whole assassination part) actually inspires one to develop one’s physique and push the limit of the human body. As opposed to reasons for banning these games from consumption by the youth, they should be integrated into physical education programs across the country.

It’s no secret that we as a nation are more obese as a country and continent (the U.S. and Mexico are the top two, while Canada trails at 11) than any other place on Earth. The secret to reducing these rates and getting healthier is not strictly in diet reform and breaking reliance on advertising. People won’t want to change their lifestyle unless they are incentivized to do so, and what better way than saying, “Hey, you want to be like Mario? Get healthy, fool!”

So, my obsession is not only with parkour as the pinnacle of human physical dexterity, but as perhaps the path to salvation for the overfed masses. Yeah, I said it. We need a reason to get active, and sadly the Leni Riefenstahl technique will probably not work for obvious reasons. When in doubt, go to video games for salvation.

— Jake Lane is a senior in creative writing. He can be reached at [email protected].