Seriously, if I were a feminist I would complain more about the constant portrayal of women as big boobed bimbos... Actually having a fat girl in a videogame is surprisingly realistic for the industry standards :)

Kurtz,

It's true, it's a no-win situation. Lara Croft or Fat Princess = everyone up in arms.

I think women should just be portrayed as blank mannequins in games from now on, just to be on the safe side.

Jim Sterling, only you could write an article that I've already read on two other gaming blogs and have it still be a joy to sit through.

Thanks for holding up the position of RATIONAL fat people everywhere.

Butthurt?

This is hilarious, thanks for making me smile at the end of a busy work day :)

Sassafrass.

STFU.
It's not a big deal, someone with low self-esteem got mad 'cause a joke hit too close to home.
Honestly, we take this seriously we'll have to start taking emo kids seriously.

I can't wait for this game. I have a sense of humor therefore I think I will enjoy the game. Too bad for the people who don't.

-BAWWW It'd be cute if it was a Karamari-style(sic) game
-BAWWWW It'd be cute if you had to rescue a cow instead tee-hee!

Nah, they'd still be BAWWWing

-BAWWW First they put girls with UNREALISTICALLY SKINNY bodies and now they put girls with UNREALLISTICALLY FAT bodies //_;

Unreal? Do they ever go out?

I, also a fatty, fail to be insulted by this game, and actually, cannot wait for it. I believe the funniest part of this whole business is that it seems as if none of these reactionaries bothered to read any of Sony's press releases in regards to Fat Princess. The one that I read immediately post E3 had referred to her as your "beloved" princess. Indeed, despite her recently acquired extra mass, the goal of the game is to put forth the extra effort to save her. Now, offense would be necessary if the knights stormed into the castle and said "Oh, screw it, she's fat now," and then credits rolled. This, however, seems far from the case.

"Sexism and fat-bashing go hand-in hand."
What. The. Fuck.

Also, here's your 'unrealistically fat' woman

Inb4 "How sexist, fattist, racist!". It was in google´s first pages. Sarry.

I have no sympathy for the over nourished

I thought I posted another image.... but meh, whatever

Sounds like somebody needs to get laid...

If I'm to guess what the feminists really complain about, it would be this:

It's not the existance of a fat girl in this one game itself that's offensive. It's the fact that she's one of very few fat girls in games, none of which are capable characters with anything positive to contribute. They're all helpless, ugly baggage that at best can be laughed at.

This makes any objections about male fatties moot. There are some obese male characters that are capable and positive, so one that isn't isn't representative of obese males the way the fat princess is of fat women. Fat people in general get a lot of crap, but fat women get more than fat men.

This also means you can't simply look at the game for what it is and nothing else. It exists in a context, in a real world. That's how prejudice works - any one incident by itself is easy to dismiss, but the problem is a pattern, a system - not a row of isolated incidents.

With that said, I think this has been blown out of proportion by both sides. The feminists make too much of it, imho, but commenters here have lived up to prejudices about gamers as well. Some of you come across as shrill internet idiots who are afraid someone will take away your toys, which makes you so upset you can't talk or think straight.

I'll probably get some hate for that, but it'll say more about those who can't take it than it does about me.

@ Hertza

This is the internet, not tea-time. If someone makes a ridiculous statement, that person will be ridiculed. Harshly. Deal with it.

@Sassafras

I get what you mean.

For better or worse, gameblogs (Well, the internet, really) tends toward the insensitive/irreverant whenever there is any sort of minority population, less than positive opinion on a game, at any level of social standing or industry regard.

Aside from "HA [fill in the blank]-y is crying about [fill in the blank]-ies in video games.", you won't find too much social awareness discourse here, at Kotaku, or even at gamepolitics.

So, what usually makes for the beginning of a decent civil bull session about perceptions and portrayals usually degenerates to a handful of jerks and one or two rational folk jumping over to the comment originator's blog and splattering their comments with hateful statements and the ocassional rational argument.

But what is a little unfortunate still, is that the original commenter wasn't looking for this sort of discourse in the first place. To paraphrase a comment in the Shakesville blog "What, are we supposed to write a dissertation on everything that we think about everything when we point out an observation?"

I can understand comments like "This is Destructoid. Have a good laugh. Funny, haha.", because there's a time and a place for everything. But, Sassafras, I get what you're saying. Its sometimes a little dissappointing that the same site/community that express thoughtful and heart felt
monthly musing about their first time gaming or their most personally connected video game characters also explodes into this flaming haterage when a negative comment about games is uttered.

but I say again. w/e, its Wednesday.

Sassafrass:

The problem is, I am perfectly capable of rational debate, as are many of us on Destructoid, but the problem is that we never get presented with rational arguments. Read some of the ridiculous hyperbolic bullshit that spewed from this so-called "feminists" (defacto man-hating is NOT feminism, btw) blog and tell me that I am supposed to sensibly engage that.

I refuse to validate such "argument" by engaging them on a sensitive level. When she learns to use heteronormative in the correct manner, and when these faux-feminists stop spouting laughable horseshit, maybe there can be some sensitivity.

I demand that a masculinist society be set up in which we bitch about anything that has men in it. Ill start with Batman. It implies that all men are mad from bats. Lego batman implies we're all made from lego bats. This bigotry must end now.

On a different note that web page has to have most uses of the word bigotry ever.

DON'T YOU DARE CHANGE THE GAME SONY! (Caps are intentional)

The premise of the game is freaking hilarious to me and I would pre-order the damned thing if I could. Plus this comes from a former fluffy person and I can honestly say I'd find it hilarious back then as well.

@ Hertz
Of course there are people who are willing to have rational discussions about such topics as racism, sexism, and the like, in videogames today. I would be one of them. However, don't you think this is an awful way to go about that?




And you compared those defending the game on THIS SITE to children...

Ok, I didn't read anyone else's comments so maybe I'm not the first to say this but... this game should be rewarded for offering a new type of challenge in its gameplay. There's never been a fat princess before (that I've known about/paid attention to) and so obviously there could be new kinds of puzzles involved with saving her.

if developers get bitched at by fat girls every time they try something new then we'd be stuck to boring sequels.

@Hertza

Your point would hold more water if
a)This woman wasn't so dismissive of other peoples' opinions, regardless of how well they are put across.
b)She just likes to find things to get all mad at. According to her Kung Fu Panda is exploititive and discriminitive toward fat people.

Just look at some of the utter shite she has posted. SHe's one of these people that just likes to find glaring injustices where they don't exist and spout bullcrap about it.

bah, I'll bite.

So I think, if someone were to worry about the concern of perpetuating misogynist ideas, this is what I could point out in Fat Princess.

- Your main female character is, literally, an object. You fill her with stuff, you carry her, and she, I assume, has no autonomy. Objectifying of a female character
- Throws in the stereotypical "fat chick" character. Presenting forth a concept that this fat woman cannot do for herself, and is in essence dead weight in the game situation. As one of few larger female characters in games, it portrays some negative feelings about people that are fat (regardless of how they got that way)
- When you compare this to portrayal of fat men (see Bo Rai Cho in Mortal Kombat, E-Honda), there is at least a sense that these characters are active or useful. Considering the act of fufilling the game goal, Fat Princess is useless

Sure ok, there should always be a freedom of characterissation. no ofcourse they shouldn't change anything, maybe it would be different if it was Fat Prince but that's not the point . .. blah blah blah, etc.

But assuming some credence to the idea that imagery and portrayals in media have some effect on societal perceptions and ideas, these ideas are all either hurtful, or at the very least, tired cliches worth a groaning "This again?!" response from the portrayed group or people interested in the media portrayal of the portrayed group.

Not everything has to be this big social change item to build toward a better feminine perception in society. But, if you find an interest in affecting societal change, its worth taking a critical look at media portrayals to shape feelings and attitudes toward whatever social change you hold in high high priority.

Me personally? From a gameplay standpoint, I think its a clever take on the helpless Princess archetype, and a very wicked cool take on "capture the flag" gameplay (as one of the women's blogs points out, too, by the way). Oh sure, capture our flag, but we're not going to make it easy for you. Form a social standpoint, certainly, this could ahve been changed to something less potentially inflammatory, like a sack or a treasure chest. But putting out a level of humanization to the "flag" object can actually further endear the players to their goal. Its not just a flag, its a woman. And adding another woman to the character bag of tricks for game designers isn't exactly all bad! I think the cartoony nature of it requests a certain amount of levity for the situation, but certainly doesn't invalidate the resulting opinions and discourse on both obesity and women in games.

Also, cupcakes.

Thank you Sassafrass and HertzaHaeon for making this more interesting. Some people will struggle with obesity no matter how well they eat. It's just genes. I can see how those people would be disappointed that this game kinda perpetuates the idea that obesity is strictly a matter of diet. But that's the extent of the validity of her argument, as far as I can tell.