The show helped steer her family in a healthier direction, she said, and they all have lost significant amounts of weight.

CNN: 'Big' concerns surround new reality show

As a result, the developers have limited control over a game's direction, and it is never really won or lost.

ECONOMIST: Computer games

In defending what might seem a lost or losing cause, I have adopted the usual conservative posture of sadness at the pace and direction of current events.

NPR: Book Argues for Retaking the 'Conservative Soul'

Budget constraints are pushing Congress in the opposite direction: trade-adjustment assistance, a long-standing scheme to help those deemed to have lost their jobs to globalisation, expired recently.

ECONOMIST: America's jobless men: Decline of the working man | The