'Fat Princess' ?!

[Lyrima]

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/07/24/sony039s-fat-princess-causing-controversy

I'm stunned.

thoughts, anyone?

[Namae Nai]

Stunned why, exactly? It's a desperate ploy for attention and publicity. They could have made the mechanics heavier and heavier treasure chests or something else, but by picking something that people will be offended by they get you, offended or not, to advertise for them. They're guilty of being more mischevious than average with how they sell games, that's all. Oh, and of being insensitive louts but that almost goes without saying.

It's like those staged cell phone microwave popcorn YouTube videos. They were created and sent out in different languages, and carried the subtle message that having a cell phone close to you exposed you to dangerous microwave radiation. Thereby making you more likely to want to buy their product which conveniently enough is bluetooth headsets.

[Lyrima]

but by picking something that people will be offended by they get you, offended or not, to advertise for them.

How many gamers will drop Sony instantly for this idiocy?

I'm tempted.

[Jezerai]

How come this is more insulting that female models running around built like a brick house?  I don't find it any more, or less, offensive than what we deal with from every game developer right now.

[Jasyn]

Call me dense, but I'm failing to understand why there's so much knee-jerk overreaction to this in the responses following the article.  Am I simply missing out on what everyone else is deeming offensive?  I think people can find the negatives (and the positives) to most anything, given the motivation, and make of it what they will.

• Is it offensive because the central character is overweight?
• Is it offensive because she is overweight against her will?
• Is it offensive because due to her state of being overweight, her eventual rescue faces physical challenges?
• Is it offensive because in rescuing her, she will be freed from the unhealthy lifestyle forced upon her?
• Is it offensive because someone dare put into entertainment media something that acknowledges that there exists more than just perfectly proportioned individuals as we are so accustomed to having forced upon us day in and day out?
• Is it offensive because the princess isn't an independent-minded feminist capable of rescuing herself?

In a sense, I find the concept kinda-sorta-slightly cute.  But is it insensitive and in poor taste? I certainly think so.  It features something that makes light of a heavy issue (albeit in a lighthearted way--and yes, I really DID phrase it exactly as it seems).  Honestly, though, I see no malicious intent (at least no more malicious than marketing already is).  What I think is worse is that which I tend to shy away from in my games/entertainment:  glorification of violence, sex, and gore (not necessarily in that order).  OMG!  But those are all of the good parts!!!  Yeah, I know... but it's just normally not my cup of tea.

I can think of a television show or two that I actually enjoy containing humor that should really rile up those who are easily offended, but I think I've developed a decent sense of humor and a thick skin.  Something like this isn't going to rattle me much.

The article also describes the game as being "surprisingly bloody", so it doesn't sound like something I'm going to want to play anyway.  As for your first-person-shooter and grand-theft-auto demographic?  They'd probably find something to enjoy in this game and never bat an eyelash... and no one's dealing drugs or getting carjacked in the process.  Well, okay... maybe not everyone in that demographic will find something to enjoy in Fat Princess, but anything is possible.

[Namae Nai]

If you're really upset, I recommend Team Fortress 2 as an alternative for any team based player versus player combat you may want to enjoy. Engineer's rock!

I'm going to opt to just ignore the game altogether.

[Lyrima]

You pose good questions, Jasyn.

I'm gonna think out loud here for a moment.

What bugs me about this vs. what we deal with in the 'barbie' world of other RPGs is that there are very real health consequences to being overweight.  There are also serious social biases against those who are overweight.  Yah, being built top heavy for a woman (or a man) in our other games certainly isn't realiistic or healthy, should it ever be considered 'real'  I know that.  There is, usually, the option to make the avatar's bodies suit our desires.  This princess just gets fat...I assume she's an npc.  Ultimately, I see it as a means of bullying and teasing.

I've always been thin.  I don't pretend to know or understand the life experience of those unfortunate enough to battle weight issues...to the point of obesity.  I have heard from many how unbelievable cruel others can be to fat folks...a type of cruelty that might not be found for those women who have huge hoohas.  ((To be sure, unwanted attention is just that, unwanted...))

I think the choice to use a 'fat princess' might even be an attempt to fly in the face of the helpless princesses of fairytales, who, as well, require saving from others. 

I don't like it.  It's a gut reaction for me.  It feels wrong, not funny. 

I've never even heard of Grand Theft Auto nor have I looked at the game.  From what I can discern here, it is filled with violence and other horribleness I'd rather not experience.

[Namae Nai]

Well, from what I understand, you play "Fat Princess" as a sort of outdoorsy elf. You and your friends form a team and build defenses and gather resources to create fortifications to stop the opposing team from reaching their objective: Stealing your princess. At the same time, you're trying to successfully steal their princess.

What the game is titled after is a strategem of last resort: In order to make it so that they can't easily steal your princess, you use magic cake that grows in hidden areas to fatten your princess up to the point that it would require several enemies just to lift her. This buys you time and slows them down enough that you can nab their unguarded princess while they're busy dragging your fat princess to their home base.

So it really has nothing to do with weight gain and attractiveness (as I see it). They certainly don't need a princess as opposed to any other variable weight MacGuffin, but they've decided that the 'fat princess' is their iconic element. It does have elements of Distressed Damsel/Disposable Woman, in that the princess can't seem to bother saving herself and exists only to be catered to, or captured by others. Which I think is partly the source of the immediate negative image I have of this game.

But in a way it is the fat princess image that's offensive. I think it's because she's there in place of a simple object, the objectification is what bothers me. Fat Princess represents an entire game and she is just a 'thing' made to resemble an ugly caricature of an overweight woman. It's not all that offensive to me, honestly.. I think I'm just feeling that it's a rather tasteless idea to parody something, but expose no truth about it.

[Corsair]

Would anyone be upset if the game has the same mechanic, and was titled, "Fat Prince"?








I'm sure that a better skin could have been designed to manage the game mechanic of making the, "flag", harder to capture. No doubt about it.

That said, there is a new carton...on Nicktoons...tergetted at kids of course.  It's about a kid with a special ability...forot...the loudest, most brutally oderiferous farting imaginable. It looks incredibly stupid, and in poor taste. Worse yet, the animation quality is abysmal. That's my take...but what would the network say? Something along the lines of, "Too many kids think they cannot pass a little gas without being ridiculed, we're trying to put farting out there. We want all kids to know farting is okay, to remove the farting taboo.

Maybe they woudl be right. But I think the show looks like crap, regardless of what they might eb able to claim, theoretically.

My perspective and theirs are clearly not the same. Not on this show, and probably not on the game either.

A company named Reebok...the shoe guys...once named a women's fitness shoe..."The Incubus". I s**t you not. The name went through legal and was cleared. It was pasted on thousands of shoe boxes, delivered to retail. The name was bandied about in various meetings with dozens of different men and women in attendance. Apparently not one of which had ever had enough exposure to fantasy literature, or mythology, or what have you, to have a little bell ring in their heads. Apparently some marketing types who DID have a clue, made a business decision to market the name..."Cool", they thought, "we'll name teh shoe acter a male demon who seduces women, and devours thier souls in a feat of sexual manipulation. Get it? It's a shoe that is IRRESISTABLE to women...they cannot but be enthralled and buy it".....they probably thought they were geniuses at the time, and the name might even have been to them ironically humorous. Bit some organizations focused on women's issues were not amused...the resulting giant PR fiasco cost a number of people theit jobs, and they RECALLED the shoes. All of them. The heads of these marketing people....and I don't know how many were men or women....were demanded as blood sacrafice by these organizations...as a show of respect and recognition of how horrible an offense to all women had been committed.

I think the ones that should really haev been fired are the legal guys...who apparently never did a dictionary search on what Incubus means.

Different perspectives.

I worked with a VERY liberal, progressive, activist sort of woman at a start of company once...a company dedicated to "sustainable" principals as applied to making shoes. A company dedicated to social responsibility. She felt she was at the pinnacle of social evolution, and was a strong feminist. Yet she never ceased to cover topics in detail in the office that just might...had she stopped to think of others perspectives...had giver her cause to re-examine her self impression. Such as going on and on for 20+ minutes about how studies had proven that all men's..worldide, testicles were shinking. How men in general were ceasing to exist and modern technology would soon enough render men unnescessary. As if we are witnessing Darwinism at work, and she was just there to deliver the facts. And in another 20 minites she would be ranting about how men make the work place insufferable for women, and are such assholes...ruining the opportunity of women everywhere. "Maybe we do that because our nuts are withering away"...I always wanted to ask but never did.

Different persectives.

So yeah, I have gotten way off track here trying to make a point that, as I am a poor writer, I may have llost track of. Basically I think this game may have made an unwise decision as to how to depict an otherwise okay mechanic of play. Fair criticism in my book. But am I gonna boycot an entire company because of it? Probably not me. But I might skip the game itself.

Oh and as always, please pardon my festival of typos.   

[Lilica]

After reading the premise behind the game (which showed me that I wouldn't really be all that interested in it), I could do only one thing.

Laugh.

I am undeniably larger than the 'chubby' stage (although not obese).  I use the word 'fat' to describe myself, although people usually estimate me at about 100 pounds less than I actually am (momma's Northman bone structure).

I am handicapped, in actuality if not legally (my father, who IS legally handicapped, is in better shape than I am in that regard) - both my father and I use the term 'gimp' to describe our conditions.  I have several annoying conditions (none of them fatal), two of which I will take to my grave.

I take MAOI's (mood inhibitors) for clinical depression and anger problems.  I joke that I don't even have a bipolar's 'manic' episodes to balance out the crashes I experience.  I prefer terms like 'loony' or 'nutcase' (although admittedly, those denote much more serious problems), rather than the 'correct' terms, which seem insulting to me

I'll spare the diatribe about political correctness - but suffice it to say that the only thing I can say about this game is that those reviewers need some Valium, and that the people putting it on the market, while certainly trying to cater to a rather low common denominator of the human psyche, are guilty of nothing more than trying to rake in a huge pile of cash.  And the controversy that's already been generated will serve that purpose more admirably than an ad campaign ever could.

If a fat, sicko, lunatic gimp like me can laugh about it, anyone can!   

[Lyrima]

*hugs Lilica*

I still don't like it.