Lair Larrikin
Posts: 18
Joined: Monday, 14th May 2012, 23:16
Friday, 7th March 2014, 20:55
Crawl is a fatphobic game and I am SICK OF IT!!!
tw: fatphobia, fat shaming
I am a longtime Crawl player but I just can't ignore how problematic it is any longer. Specifically the RIDICULOUS amount of fat shaming and fatphobia internalized in the game's mechanics and artwork. Just look at the official tiles for the player character. It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLe to find one that reflects my own weight and body type. If you pick human, the game ALWAYS gives you some thin athletic avatar. What are you saying Crawl? Fat people aren't humans? Fat people aren't worthy of going on adventures and having fun? No one would WANT to play a fat character?
Oh wait, if you want to play a humanoid character of above average size (and don't even get me started on how "thin" is considered average), you have to play an ogre or a troll. OGRE OR TROLL. That's what fat people are in the Crawl universe. And how does the game treat them? They get an evasion penalty due to their size! That says fat people can't move as well, they're such a big target and as a fathlete I'm just sick of seeing these lies in the media. On top of that, they don't get to equip armor like everyone else. The message is that fatties can't find shoes or gloves or clothes in general that fit them. As someone who CONSTANTLY goes through these issues in real life I DO NOT need what it supposed to be a harmless game to CONSTANTLY remind me about them. Putting both these points together reveals an even more insidious message: fat people can't defend themselves as well as thin people, they don't DESERVE to defend themselves as well. Well let me tell you, this fat person is absolutely capable of defending xzaerself.
And it doesn't stop there! Look at the monster that are fat. Blork the Orc is "A particularly fat and ugly orc. He seems to have scavenged a pair of rainbow-coloured suspenders from somewhere. They're not helping.". I just cannot believe how many stereotypes this panders to. Fat people are ugly, fat people can't dress themselves well, fat people can't look good.... the list goes on. Look at Wiglaf. "A fat dwarf wearing a stupid-looking hat. He reeks of alcohol." Even more fat shaming based on the way a fat person dresses AND it implies that fat people have to get drunk to feel good about themselves. It is so clear that whoever wrote these descriptions is incapable of seeing past their thin privilege and realized how hurtful these kinds of things are to a large portion of their fan base.
But the fat shaming isn't just for uniques. Look at ogres, one of the early game's biggest threats. They are fat and of course ugly and of course they do their best to kill you. Why else would this happen other than to suggest that fat is bad for your health and that fat kills people? Just more internalized fat phobia that everyone is just supposed to accept and never question. You know what other monsters are fat? Random pan lord and and cacodemons. DEMONS. Do I even need to explain this one?
I must give the dev team a small amount of credit for not buying into the MYTH that overeating makes someone fat. No matter how much you eat, your avatar never changes size. We don't know how to make thin people into fat people or fat people into thin people and I am glad to see that Crawl does not spread mistruths in this regard. However, I cannot help but wonder if this was not just a consequence of not wanting to depict fat player characters AT ALL.
I REALLY hope the dev team sees this and take some serious steps to make Crawl a more accepting game for people of all shapes and sizes. I must mention that I am still a smallfat (despite watching what I eat and jogging 3 miles a day) so I know that I still have some thin privilege. If there are any deathfats reading this PLEASE feel free to call me out.
I am a longtime Crawl player but I just can't ignore how problematic it is any longer. Specifically the RIDICULOUS amount of fat shaming and fatphobia internalized in the game's mechanics and artwork. Just look at the official tiles for the player character. It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLe to find one that reflects my own weight and body type. If you pick human, the game ALWAYS gives you some thin athletic avatar. What are you saying Crawl? Fat people aren't humans? Fat people aren't worthy of going on adventures and having fun? No one would WANT to play a fat character?
Oh wait, if you want to play a humanoid character of above average size (and don't even get me started on how "thin" is considered average), you have to play an ogre or a troll. OGRE OR TROLL. That's what fat people are in the Crawl universe. And how does the game treat them? They get an evasion penalty due to their size! That says fat people can't move as well, they're such a big target and as a fathlete I'm just sick of seeing these lies in the media. On top of that, they don't get to equip armor like everyone else. The message is that fatties can't find shoes or gloves or clothes in general that fit them. As someone who CONSTANTLY goes through these issues in real life I DO NOT need what it supposed to be a harmless game to CONSTANTLY remind me about them. Putting both these points together reveals an even more insidious message: fat people can't defend themselves as well as thin people, they don't DESERVE to defend themselves as well. Well let me tell you, this fat person is absolutely capable of defending xzaerself.
And it doesn't stop there! Look at the monster that are fat. Blork the Orc is "A particularly fat and ugly orc. He seems to have scavenged a pair of rainbow-coloured suspenders from somewhere. They're not helping.". I just cannot believe how many stereotypes this panders to. Fat people are ugly, fat people can't dress themselves well, fat people can't look good.... the list goes on. Look at Wiglaf. "A fat dwarf wearing a stupid-looking hat. He reeks of alcohol." Even more fat shaming based on the way a fat person dresses AND it implies that fat people have to get drunk to feel good about themselves. It is so clear that whoever wrote these descriptions is incapable of seeing past their thin privilege and realized how hurtful these kinds of things are to a large portion of their fan base.
But the fat shaming isn't just for uniques. Look at ogres, one of the early game's biggest threats. They are fat and of course ugly and of course they do their best to kill you. Why else would this happen other than to suggest that fat is bad for your health and that fat kills people? Just more internalized fat phobia that everyone is just supposed to accept and never question. You know what other monsters are fat? Random pan lord and and cacodemons. DEMONS. Do I even need to explain this one?
I must give the dev team a small amount of credit for not buying into the MYTH that overeating makes someone fat. No matter how much you eat, your avatar never changes size. We don't know how to make thin people into fat people or fat people into thin people and I am glad to see that Crawl does not spread mistruths in this regard. However, I cannot help but wonder if this was not just a consequence of not wanting to depict fat player characters AT ALL.
I REALLY hope the dev team sees this and take some serious steps to make Crawl a more accepting game for people of all shapes and sizes. I must mention that I am still a smallfat (despite watching what I eat and jogging 3 miles a day) so I know that I still have some thin privilege. If there are any deathfats reading this PLEASE feel free to call me out.
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