A Weighty Debate: feminists up in arms.

bluedawg · 07-30-2008, 12:20 AM

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Feminists cry foul over Fat Princess
Jul 24, 2008

She's plump, powerful and ready to cause more controversy than "SuperSize Me."

She's Fat Princess, the star of Sony's upcoming video game of the same name. Debuting at last week's E3 expo, the colorful Fat Princess is a capture-the-flag game with a twist: you can thwart capture attempts by locking the once-thin princess in a dungeon and stuffing her full of cake, thereby increasing her girth and making her harder for your enemies to haul back to home base.

According to popular gaming blog Joystiq, two feminist gaming sites have already voiced their displeasure with the weighty issue.

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Feminist Gamer's "Mighty Ponygirl" rings in diplomatically, suggesting a new way to play the game altogether.

"Instead of running out into the forest to find cake to fatten up the princess with, why not go out and find gold (which is a lot heavier than cake) to stuff into a treasure chest. The more gold in the chest, the heavier it would be, and the harder it would be to carry," she said, before adding, "Oh, but that's not as "cute" as cake and fat chicks. Right."

Over at Shakesville, however, writer Melissa McEwan cuts to the chase, telling Sony she's "positively thrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative ---holes."

Sony has yet to issue an official response, although Joystiq did receive a particularly informative update from James Green, Fat Princess' lead art director, who clued gamers in on the origins of the game:

"Does it make it better or worse that the concept artist (who designed the look, characters, everything) is a girl?"

Hmmm...hope the game's detractors don't mind eating a bit of crow.

Criosphynx · 07-30-2008, 12:51 AM

just goes to show that people will make fun of anything, and get offended by anything.

Dakota Spirit · 07-30-2008, 12:54 AM

It doesn't really offend me (as a women) but I do believe it to be pretty dumb. Talk about a waste of hard earned cash

bluedawg · 07-30-2008, 01:01 AM

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Originally Posted by Criosphynx

just goes to show that people will make fun of anything, and get offended by anything.

I agree, and some people look for things to bew offended by.

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Originally Posted by Dakota Spirit

It doesn't really offend me (as a women) but I do believe it to be pretty dumb. Talk about a waste of hard earned cash

About 10-15 years ago a local hardware store was threatened with a law suit over a pair of dykes.

Rumor has it a customer walked into the store and asked what isle the dykes were on. An employee of the store who was living an alternative lifestyle took offense and unable to change the name of the tool took the owner of the store to court.

emily445455 · 07-30-2008, 09:47 AM

Oh that's sad.

Poor fat kids...now they will have more jokes thrown at them...

sw_df27 · 07-30-2008, 12:37 PM

yeah that is sad for the kids that get made fun of but now this is just my Opinion I don't see why any child should be obese unless a child has a medical reason for being obese it can be prevented

emily445455 · 07-30-2008, 08:22 PM

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Originally Posted by sw_df27

yeah that is sad for the kids that get made fun of but now this is just my Opinion I don't see why any child should be obese unless a child has a medical reason for being obese it can be prevented

Yes, I agree...but, in some cases, it's not the child's fault they are overweight. Young children don't decide what they eat (normally), and being an overweight young child just sets the ground work for being an overweight kid, teen, and adult.

A lot also develope eatting problems due to their weight and other kids making fun of them. Sometimes this can lead to losing weight, but it's unhealthy, but in some cases, like mine, they just eat more...emotional eatting.

Kids can be so mean.

bluedawg · 07-30-2008, 11:48 PM

I have a feeling the lady that wrote the script for this game did it to help boost the self esteem of overweight or obese kids, not to make fun of them or women in general.

emily445455 · 07-31-2008, 09:10 AM

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by locking the once-thin princess in a dungeon and stuffing her full of cake, thereby increasing her girth and making her harder for your enemies to haul back to home base.

Doesn't sound that way to me...not at all. Fat kids already have a bad rep with cake for some reason..."Like a fat kid love cake" was a popular line I got in school. IMO, the whole point of this part of the game is to make fun of fat people. I wish people would just lay off a bit...then maybe fat kids/fat adults could be a little happier...

blackrose · 07-31-2008, 01:30 PM

I personally am not offended by it at all, but why anyone would make a game that involved stuffing a princess full of food so she can't be carried....uh.....I'll stick to my Final Fantasy games, thank you very much.

bluedawg · 07-31-2008, 11:50 PM

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Originally Posted by emily445455

I wish people would just lay off a bit...then maybe fat kids/fat adults could be a little happier...

I believe thats what the programmer was trying to do, to help build self esteem by showing a positive benifit of being over weight. Like Blackrose said

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I'll stick to my Final Fantasy games, thank you very much.

Your average gamer is not being targetted for this game.

emily445455 · 08-01-2008, 09:46 AM

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Originally Posted by bluedawg

I believe thats what the programmer was trying to do, to help build self esteem by showing a positive benifit of being over weight. Like Blackrose said .

There are no positive benefits of being over weight in my country.

fyzbo · 08-01-2008, 11:19 AM

Kids are going to be made fun of no matter what, it's part of being young. Whether it's the kid with glasses, the tuba player, the poor kid with lousy clothes, the red head, or a fat kid... it's going to happen. At least a fat kid can try to eat healthy and exercise, what is a red head or poor kid going to do?

I remember back in school people picked on one kid because he couldn't afford lunch and he often had to go without. It sucks, but video games are not going to change it or affect it.

bluedawg · 08-02-2008, 01:36 AM

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Originally Posted by emily445455

There are no positive benefits of being over weight in my country.

Which is why the programmer wasnt targetting your average gamer but trying to raise the self esteem of the overweight gamers in our country.

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Originally Posted by fyzbo

Kids are going to be made fun of no matter what, it's part of being young. Whether it's the kid with glasses, the tuba player, the poor kid with lousy clothes, the red head, or a fat kid... it's going to happen. At least a fat kid can try to eat healthy and exercise, what is a red head or poor kid going to do?

I remember back in school people picked on one kid because he couldn't afford lunch and he often had to go without. It sucks, but video games are not going to change it or affect it.

I was the skinny kid with glasses, my brother was the popular music geek that played the tuba. I got picked on not only because I was the skinny kid with glasses but because I didnt go with the flow, I wasnt quite punk I wasnt quite anything. My brother went with the flow, he played sports, he was a musician, he was preppy, he conformed. He fit in, I did not. My brother wanted to buy his lunch, I didnt care as long as I ate, heck I ripped off the vending machines. I also had a brother that got his friends to try, emphisis on try, to beat me up.

Im glad yall didnt see this game as a sexist Feminist issue, allthought I think you are going against what the programmer was trying to do.

emily445455 · 08-02-2008, 02:35 AM

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Originally Posted by bluedawg

Which is why the programmer wasnt targetting your average gamer but trying to raise the self esteem of the overweight gamers in our country.

I don't see how it is doing that.