As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
We're funding a new Acquisitions Incorporated series on Kickstarter right now! Check it out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pennyarcade/acquisitions-incorporated-the-series-2
Heard of that game on the way, "Fat Princess"? Yeah? So have the feminists.
Nerdtendo
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/feminists-cry-foul-over-fat-princess/1232315
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyEuRem5N78
So, I'm wondering if the problem is that the princess is fat, or if it's because it's a girl? Heroes saving princesses or protecting them is nothing new. And fat characters being slow and clumsy is also a common theme.
But, combine the two, and Ono!
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyEuRem5N78
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.
VIEW SCREENS
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.
So, I'm wondering if the problem is that the princess is fat, or if it's because it's a girl? Heroes saving princesses or protecting them is nothing new. And fat characters being slow and clumsy is also a common theme.
But, combine the two, and Ono!
Nerdtendo on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
It's probably just what she said, going to fatten her up like she's cattle, but criticizing video games for non-ideal morality is a waste. Chastising cartoonish ones is even more ridiculous.
She's only mad because she's fat.
http://sexyvideogameland.blogspot.com/2008/07/it-looks-cute.html
Probably on her period, too.
People get pissed about "strong and sexy" because "sexy" usually means "naked."
I guess I don't really have a problem with whole "Fat Princess" thing. I mean, even though you stuffed her with cake and made her fat, it doesn't make her any less desirable to the people trying to capture her.
Would it be better if it was a beautiful Barbie princess with a perfect body, continuing the Hollywood stereotype that women must be thin and beautiful to be worth something?
Or maybe there should be no women at all, continuing the game industry stereotype that games are for men only?
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
But seriously, there's a few. Eve from Parasite Eve, while attractive, wasn't clad in a bikini all the time (yeah, the shower scene in part two). The Resident Evil games sports several. And we can't forget Samus Aran.
Ooh, I like this opinion.
Claire yes, but Jill "Hooker" Valentine, not so much.
It's a (reverse) trap!
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Then nobody would complain, because it would accurately portray the above mentioned parties.
Also, positive strides that are made to close the gap between men and women are only seen as an excuse to shout that "it's not enough", or that "it's too little too late."
On top of all of this, many feminists will jump on anything related to women and try to find something that really isn't there. In one of the quotes, for example, a woman says that this will create a new generation of fat-hating males. In reality, she probably just looked at the title of the game and saw that you can feed a girl cake to get her fat and based her conclusions purely on that. There was likely no further thought about what purpose the fat princess has in the game.
So, to make a long story short, this does not surprise me.
Each team is also armed with concrete cutters, a backhoe, and a forklift for when the doors get to small.
Game looks good.
I don't think anybody's really disputing that this is a kneejerk reaction that is incredibly dumb and helps nobody, but the fact that this stupid crap keeps getting into the press hurts feminists who are fighting for more important things (equality in the workplace????? nope, vidjagames.).
At best, this kind of press makes Joe Public put his hands on his waist, tilt his head, and say "Oh those wacky feminists are at it again". But in reality, it's doing a lot to hurt their public image when a handful of idiots go ahead, over-react to a largely harmless little cartoon game, and go running to the press about it. The press won't cover important strides made for far nobler causes, but they're all over a shot to portray feminists a bunch of fun-hating dykes.
Because like. The point of the game is to rescue her. She made up an argument that was completely the reverse of the actual game so she could attack it.
That was awesome.
That said, my real question is this: is the feeder* community having multiple orgasms over this?
*If you don't know what feeders are, you don't want to know. Trust me.
Roll Fizzlebeef
Edit: Oh, AMAZING top of page. Go me.
She's a pretty good writer generally.
You know the best way to find out the latest happenings in weirdo pervert culture?
Do a search on DeviantArt. Or don't. You probably shouldn't.
I agree with much of what you said, Steak. And I think this argument applies to a lot of groups out there being negatively portrayed because of a few idiots.
Slow news day. Must be there aren't any missing white women to cover.
I'm offended on behalf of my colleagues that these writers assume the game's developers were male. What an unfounded, blatantly sexist attitude -- "only boys make video games, hurrr".
Oh, I agree completely. I didn't mean to make it sound like all feminists hate everything, but upon reading my post again it certainly seems like that's what I said. The ones that do hate everything, are usually the ones that speak out the most.
Like you said, it's unfortunate that this crap gets leaked out and is given more weight than other causes. It's had negative effects on me personally. My wife is a feminist (as in, she is striving for equality between men and women), so I have seen some of the sites that she frequents.
One article blasted GTA4 for being a game about raping and murdering strippers. My wife was angry every time I went to play it because of this until I finally figured out why. She's a little less angry about it now. There was another story about how in India they have developed a device that women can wear to alert authorities if they are being raped. The reason why the submitter was pissed? She implied that the government was forcing women to wear it (which is definitely not the case). A lot of the times, the reported stories of crimes against women are inaccurate (uneducated on subject or event), or intentionally misleading (spouting bullshit).
The fact of the matter is that about 1 third of the articles I have read on feminist sites have been from this group of sky-is-falling "feminazis", who forgo factual research to get a few outcries from the rest of the community. The other 2 thirds just plain don't get reported anywhere else because they aren't sensational enough or can't be used to drive some other agenda.
While the phrase is played out, this usage is a bit of double entendre, so you win three points.
Oh, so you're implying that men are automatically kings, the highest of authority, while women have to settle for princess?