Make your Characters Overweight, you Cowards

An exploration of why developers aren’t including overweight characters in their games unless they’re evil or a joke.

[Godmars290]

As someone who's overweight I can honestly say the last thing I want to play is an overweight character just to play one. Find it difficult to impossible to believe that a character in an active role would remain overweight, or wouldn't run into performance issues while doing physical activities.

You want to see overweight characters in "serious" roles, stop demanding that others them in their games and make your own.

[TankCrossing]

You are drastically over-estimating slim people if you think Nathan Drake's exploits are believable ;)

[Godmars290]

What? Just because Drake would be a bullet riddled bruise in real life?

[AspiringProGenji]

Nothing Nathan does is totally unrealistic. Ever heard or stunt men? Circus?

[Gazondaily]

"Nothing Nathan does is totally unrealistic. Ever heard or stunt men? Circus?"

And Spider-Man...or the X Men.. ..

[DialgaMarine]

A peron who’s in shape like Drake is far more believable lol

[LordMaim]

Believable-ish. The poor guy sure does take a beating.

[rainslacker]

I've played as donut drake for one play through, and I have to say, watching him do those jumps or climbing was less believable.

It's not really about if it's possible or not, it's more about the suspension of disbelief. It's easier to believe a fit person could do something like that. Being overweight myself....although not as big as donut drake....I can say that I find it more implausible when watching that character do it, thus breaking the suspension of disbelief, and making it more comical. In that case, I don't feel the comic absurdity of it was intentional, rather just a by-product of the extra skin.

[Rachel_Alucard]

@rainslacker

Its not supposed to be believable its supposed to be for fun. In Uncharted's universe everyone can do all the stunts that drake can do. They literally removed doughnut drake just because their studio culture went too emotionally safe.

[Uken12]

Lol people to fantasize about being overweight and unhealthy.

And honestly tons of games allow you to customize your character and make them overweight.

Also MARIO, he is a plump (overweight) Plumber and has always been portrayed that way.

[babadivad]

@TankCrossing

"Nothing Nathan does is totally unrealistic. Ever heard or stunt men? Circus?"

Are you kidding me?

Drake is a literal bullet sponge. It takes less bullets to bring down a terminator. Drake just needs 5 seconds of recovery after getting riddled with machine gun fire and he's good to go.

[TankCrossing]

@Babadivad it wasn't me that said that..

[Nu]

Bob from Tekken is ridiculously overweight but is fun to play as because of the ridiculousness of his fighting style.

When I play games with character creation I tend to make overweight characters. I find it ridiculously funny.

[SirKnight]

Jeeze what a mental website. They have to take the angle of being alternative to the norm but then when somebody jokes about plus-sized characters they will be the first to complain about fat-shaming fat-Drake!

[RememberThe357]

LOL "performance issues"
Oh word play, you get me every time.

[rainslacker]

What about that detective guy in Heavy Rain. He was overweight, and I wouldn't consider him a joke. Granted, he wasn't overly active.

Otherwise, I agree with you. If a company is going for realism, then a heavyset person isn't likely to be making ridiculous jumps that even skinny people couldn't make. Personally, I don't really care if they're fat or skinny, so long as the game is good.

[zaherdab]

He was the evil guy

[kevnb]

have you ever seen soma joe wrestle?

[babadivad]

Better example would be Bam Bam Bigelow.

[Christopher]

I just want to see a more diverse array of characters in RPGs/Open World games. Not necessarily the protagonist, but annoyed at the limited array of NPC models that most games use. And when they do have overweight NPCs, oftentimes it's to mock being fat or geeky and not just your normal person who is overweight.

[joab777]

I am too skinny and I don't wanna play as some super skinny person.

AND...Many games allow you to do this so what's the issue? Do they not know this is a fantasy and a business? Video games are meant to make money often and not change the world. Obviously we prefer what they sell or they would be doing it different.

While we are at it, let's get rid of ALL aspects that aren't absolutely realistic!

ALSO, I am tired of the constant shouting for devs to shoehorn PC. If it fits the story, fine! Otherwise, Nathan Drake would never be 300 pounds, or 105.

[PUBG]

As someone who just worked my @ss off losing over 40lbs in 6 months, so that I can live a healthier lifestyle, I find it offensive, that a website would essentially be encouraging people to glorify an unhealthy and potentially dangerous lifestyle.

This is absolutely damaging to young people who are reading delusional crap like this online. N4G should prevent crackpot sites like this from putting articles on their site. New Normative is a political site, not a gaming site.

[RememberThe357]

Great point. Didn't even think about it that way. Over the years I learned not to take N4G seriously at all.

[TheOttomatic91]

Agreed I'm also fat and the idea of making a fat character just for the sake of being fat is completely strange to me.

[DarXyde]

Gaming is a fantasy medium and is all about suspending your disbelief. Someone who is Kratos' size isn't capable of the things he does either. As jacked as he is, he's far too tiny to pull off the things he does.

That being said, having an overweight character just to have one is silly. I think Tekken nailed it with Bob who made himself overweight to avoid getting tossed around. He's insanely nimble though.

[babadivad]

I used to love making overweight characters in Phantasy Star Online. It made my character seems unique. If there's an option to do so, I'm gonna make a fat guy in Monster Hunter Worlds as well.

[Kakashi Hatake]

Many videogames take place over small periods of time. I think you're reaching here. What's wrong with more diversity?

[Majin-vegeta]

Oh god this.crappy site again.

[Shiken]

I don't want to play as an overweight character and I don't want to play as a female. No discrimination, just my personal preference for the sake of my immersion. I tend to avoid games that force me to play as either of those for the main character. Everyone has their own preference to roles they want to play, period.

Is that really such a hard concept to understand? I mean they preach it, but when other people's preferences don't line up with their own, it all goes out the window.

Pathetic really...

[Chexs1990]

I bump this dude ^

[Varmint]

"but when other people's preferences don't line up with their own, it all goes out the window." You mean, like you saying you don't want overweight or female main characters in games due to the risk of destroying your immersion? The hypocrisy is strong with this one.

[ninsigma]

@varmint
Difference is shiken is not demanding games to be made to their tastes. They act like a normal human being and play what appeals and avoid what doesn't.

[rainslacker]

To each their own. I don't mind playing as females, because I like the booty, and if I'm going to play for 10-20 hours, I like something nice to look at. At the very least, I'd pick a female character over some roided up bad ass male character, whose designs I find unappealing.

While not ubiquitous, I tend to find male character designs less inspired than their female counterparts. It's actually harder to model the female body and make it look believable because of the proportions involved, so I guess I just tend to appreciate one that's done well more than a male character that's done well.

[Shiken]

@Varmint

No where did I say that I discriminate against games that are made like that. I just state that I tend to avoid them because I don't want to play games with those types of characters. Those that do will buy, why should I force myself?

My issue is not with the games, but the one sided view media outlets like this have. They preach that we should buy games that might feature something I might not like, or I am a bigot for not supporting it with my purchase. Sorry it is my money, I spend it on what appeals to me.

Remember, a rushed accusation of hypocrisy is just as bad as hypocrisy itself. In fact, it is one of the biggets problems with sites like these as a whole.

[81BX]

Same

[Cobra951]

I don't mind using an attractive female character in a 3rd-person game. I'd rather look at her for the dozens of hours I'm playing instead of some guy, tbh. But I don't ever want to be represented onscreen by a butterball.

[SarcasticDuck]

So you don't like Tomb Raider or Horizon Dawn?

[Shiken]

SarcasticDuck

The only Tombraider game I have played is the reboot, remastered on PS4. I got Rise of the Tomb Raider on XB1 when it first came out...yet to play it.

I passed on Horizon Zero Dawn due to female lead.

I acknowledge that those are great games, I even enjoyed the remake of TR to an extent. It is just my preference to play as a male and 9 times out of 10 I will pass on a game with a female lead, no matter how good it is.

I think I may give Bayo 3 a chance though. Not that many hack and slash games like that anymore. Even so, I know I will not like it as much as DMC or God of War due to the female lead. Just a personal preference is all. If I need to skip a game though, it very well may be that i pass on it too. It depends on what other games are coming out at the time for me.

[conanlifts]

I tend to create characters that resemble myself for some reason. Maybe it adds to immersion. Now I would play as a female or an overweight character if it fitted with the game, but given the choice to create my own character I choose a moderately muscular character with similar attributes to myself. But then gaming for me is a way to get some physical downtime from working out 6 X a week. So using an overweight out of shape character for an active game doesn't overly work in my eyes.

[DarXyde]

I don't think it'd be bad to have overweight characters, but I don't see what exact meaning that has. If there's some solid reason for it, I'm impartial. I'm not overweight, but I'm not a woman either and I don't see the issue. Metroid and Tomb Raider aren't any less fun and Bob is a lot of fun in Tekken.

As far as immersion, that's a tough sell. Most games have very unrealistic settings, enemies, etc. I think the sense of immersion is very often pretty shallow. Making an argument for high immersion actually lends credibility to the argument that video games cause people to become violent (people losing their minds by playing violent games and losing their sense of self, etc., etc.--we've heard it all before).

Not knocking you--if you have your preferences, that's fine. I just mean to say I don't feel the same way at all.

[babadivad]

Guess I'm different. I ALWAYS play the Siren in Borderlands. I've done a complete run though ME with FemShep[though I consider my MaleShep my "Cannon" playthrough]

The Tomb Raider games are a blast.

I've also done play throughs with female charters on Fallout 3, Oblivion, and KOTOR. Mainly to see how the dialog changes between the sexes.

I rarely if ever name my characters as myself. Even in NBA2K. I guess because I don't really see myself as the character on screen. I am not playing "ME" in a video game. I am controlling Link, Revan, Laura, MasterChief, whatever.

I used to create Fat characers in Phantasy Star all the time. I'm not fat, but it's fun to not be me when I play games. I'm ME 24/7[not that I don't LOVE being me]. It's just fun to be someone else for a while I guess.

[Nyxus]

How would you be able to make an overweight character like Donut Drake without it being funny? I'm genuinely asking.

[Kakashi Hatake]

Insert Muslim, Gay /Transgender, Race, and in for overweight then maybe you'll see how bigoted that comment is.

[Nyxus]

Okay but can you answer the question? Because this article criticizes Donut Drake because it is funny playing as a fat Drake, but how should they do it without it being funny then? That's my question. Because all they did was take Drake, make him fatter and give him a lower voice. And then it's automatically funny. So how would they be able to do it without it being funny? I'm still waiting for an answer.

[letsa_go]

@Nyxus, you aren't going to get an answer from them. Their goal is to ridicule, shame, and name call until you think their way. Bigot, racist, sexist, transphobic, misogynist, etc. Just tools to get you to step in line to their way of thinking.

[Highlife]

Kakashi shut up. Don't try and change what he said. I'm overweight he didn't hurt my feelings. Doughnut Drake is funny.

Snowflake

[rainslacker]

@Nyxus

Seems like the humor taken from it is on the side of the viewer itself. I mean, if they found it funny, then that's a reflection of what they personally feel. While that was likely what ND was going for as well, it doesn't mean the viewer themselves are not guilty of stereotyping and judging of what they're now condemning. If they found it offensive, it doesn't mean they don't have feelings that it was funny.

@Kakashi

Muslim, Gay, Race, or whatever are core traits that have nothing to do with being overweight, and any one of those things you listed could be used without being absurd or "comical".....at least in context to the OP.

@Nyxus

It depends on the game itself. For instance, Heavy Rain had the detective who was overweight. Not grossly overweight, so it was believable. He also wasn't an action star, and for things where he had to do action, you could see he was somewhat labored while doing so.

For something like UC, where there is lots of platforming or running, it breaks the suspension of disbelief, and ends up being comical. Realistically, Drake couldn't do a lot of the things he does without being dead pretty quick, but since what he does remains in the realm of believability, one can just enjoy the ride. But we have our perceptions of overweight people having trouble doing things a fit person can do, and that comes from just logical perception where overweight people simply can't do as much physically as fit people can do.

[generic-user-name]

Except none of those things are comparable to being overweight. Belief systems and sexual orientation and race are usually things you are born into and don't control.

Being overweight, for 99% of people, is a choice.

[johndoe11211]

@Kakashi Hatake

As an overweight person myself I find your comment to be extremely ridiculous and nonsensical. Please stop trying to defend me, I didn't ask you to nor do I appreciate you spewing buzzwords in order to shame people into thinking like you on my behalf. I find fat drake to be ridiculous and I 100% agree with nyxus's comment.

[meka2611]

Lol bigoted for stating the obvious; and your dumb with that comment, weight is something someone can control; race is something you can't, so bad comparison.

[yeahokwhatever]

gay Drake wouldn't be funny? Straight Drake is funny.
EVERYTHING IS FUNNY. It's all about the execution.
@generic-user-name is a bigot.

[antz1104]

Lol what? Comments like that make me wish the bubble system was back.

[Kakashi Hatake]

@Highlife, don't speak for other overweight people if you're okay being the butt of a joke. Just because you don't mind being told what you can and can't do based on your appearance doesn't mean others are okay with it. Take some of your own advice and shut up.

@Generic user name belief system is a choice as well regardless of whether you're born into it or not. Something being a "choice" isn't a green light to throw shade anyway.

[Big_Game_Hunters]

No because being fat is a choice. So is religion. But thats more something you are brainwashed into when you are young.

[babadivad]

What's wrong with it being funny?

[Nyxus]

Nothing but this article criticizes Donut Drake for that reason.

[crazychris4124]

Put the doughnut down fatty

[Godmars290]

More like don't expect to run a matron, do roundhouse kicks on a dozen guys, then hang off a cliff for an hour if all you've done is eat donuts.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Pretty much.
Only characters like Po from Kung Fu Panda can get away with that kinda crap.XD

[NapalmSanctuary]

Its actually not difficult to do round houses with a lot of fat. Ive been big almost my whole life and able to do roundhouse and spin kicks. And I'm not talking about those sloppy ass Hollywood roundhouse and spin kicks either. I'm talking kicks with the proper foot pivoting, weight shift, and form to put the power in the right place.

[Mr Marvel]

@NapalmSanctuary
I’m getting images of The Star Wars Kid in my head (fatties doing spin moves). lmao

I’m sure you THINK you look good doing those roundhouses. ;)

[NapalmSanctuary]

As if looking good were the point.

[chrisx]

u could play as a fat character in gta 3 and if i remember well fable too

[Highlife]

Fat Princess

[franwex]

San Andreas, Claude from 3 was fit.

[franwex]

@gaming_cousin

I’m a little bit older than that... may I ask why the question?

[Cobra951]

You can make your character fat in quite a few games. Saints Row 4 comes to mind immediately. It will have the appearance you choose in cutscenes too. How about playing those games with the weight sliders maxed out? I'm all for letting the player alter their character's body, including BMI. But don't try to force players or developers to change their aesthetic sensibilities, because it ain't gonna fly.

[Profchaos]

I have a feeling you meant GTA San Andreas

[eyeDEVOUR]

Hit more of the gym and less of the plate, you coward...

[Chaosdreams]

Write something worth reading that doesn't exist for the sole purpose of an easy click, you coward.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

This is just stupid; why should we glorify obesity in games?
The answer is that we shouldn't.
No amount of glorification of other things justifies adding another to the pile just to please the SJW's.

[Kakashi Hatake]

Smoking is glorified in games but I don't see anyone ripping solid snake a new one. People are just bigoted to heavier people. That prejudice gets a pass for some reason yet we're taught to be sensitive to religion, race, and gender.

[Nyxus]

Smoking isn't glorified AT ALL in Metal Gear. That's just not true. And it's unhealthy to be fat, so why should it be encouraged?

[Bathyj]

Fat people are the last ones we're still allowed to make fun of. And I should know. When I sit around the house, I really sit around the house.

[Goldby]

MGS4 let you smoke to calm your stress level at the cost of health.

MGSV lets you smoke the ganja to pass time

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Far as I remember, smoking actually harms you in Snake Eater.
That's not glorification, and even if they didn't harm Snake, I still wouldn't use them.

You're deflecting.
We're not talking "heavier" people.
NORDS are heavier people.
We're talking full-blown unathletic fat-butts.
It's not a "prejudice" to be against obesity, it's common sense to not want to glorify unhealthy body types.

[Cobra951]

Apples and oranges. You can't change your race or gender (not really--chromosomes stay XX or XY regardless of other alterations), and you can't choose the religion or ethnicity of your parents. But you can choose how much you eat, how well you eat, and how much exercise you do. You can't be fat without the caloric intake to maintain it. It is an active process, not something that happens to someone without their participation.

[2pacalypsenow]

Lol you loose health if you smoke in MGS.

Should the game end in the middle of climbing a hill because the fat character died of a heart attack?

[rainslacker]

It's not even glorification. Beyond most games requiring there be an aesthetic appeal for to get the consumer interested, how believable is it when you see an obese person doing the thing you see in modern game. I can't imagine doing parkour in AC to be that believable if your character weighed 300 pounds. Doing a Nathan Drake run ruined any sense of belief, which was already strained with a fit Drake. Just the fact that Sully could do some of the same things was inexplicable at times.

[amielucha]

What about Fat Princess? She's no joke!

[CrimsonWing69]

Why?

[slappy508]

Why not demand more characters be in wheel chairs while youre at it? Walking and running is ableist /s

[staticall]

And blind too, imagine what fun it would be, blind fat Nathan Drake in a wheel chair scaling mountains and ancient buildings. Of course screen will always be black, but this would be so bold, so brave, so innovative! /s

[rainslacker]

I bet they could hit 4K/60. Graphics detail would be through the roof.

[Kakashi Hatake]

Fail comparing heavier set people to someone in a wheel chair. The character doesn't have to be Doughnut Drake heavy, more of a Kevin James heavy. Don't understand the discrimination towards heavier people, never will.

[slappy508]

I did not say they are they same lol. Point being if you want a character made to your own set of arbitary standards, then go and be a video game programmer and make one yourself. It is afterall a creative outlet

[rainslacker]

I couldn't see Kevin James doing what is done in most games either. There has to be some level to the suspension of disbelief. This is particularly true in games which strive for a more realistic environment. Things like donut drake exist solely for the purpose of being a fun aside to the main game. A new way to look at things, and if you play as DD, you actually see just how absurd some of the stuff that can be done in the game can be.

I'm overweight. not as much as Kevin James. And I probably couldn't even do the belevable platforming that exists within Uncharted.

So no, overweight people aren't excluded because of the developers or publishers being cowards, they're excluded because it takes away from the experience that the developer is trying to deliver.

They're also excluded because the characters in a game are the focal point of most games, and a character has to be appealing to get the consumers attention. It's just a part of society that obese people aren't as appealing. That may not be a good thing, but it is the way it is, and in this case, products made for the consumer will do what they can to be appealing.

Bringing in more heavy people to games does nothing to try and normalize obesity. There is no reason to try and be inclusive on this matter, because while obese people are often stereotyped, just throwing them into games for the sake of it isn't going to change people's perceptions. People aren't going to suddenly see obese people as capable as fit people physically, and anyone who believes that obese people are somehow lesser people emotionally or mentally due to their weight, aren't going to be swayed that they suddenly are because they are placed into a video game. The judgement about obesity is usually about the weight, not their mental capacity. People in wheel chairs aren't considered to be lesser people mentally either. It's different than say a gay person, who may be considered to have diminished capacity, however, a lot of media in more recent years has shown gay people to be just regular people, who have all the same capacities as anyone else, so their inclusion in postivie roles was actually productive.

[2pacalypsenow]

I also don't understand the discrimination against crack heads and meth heads..

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

To be fair, the beginning of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is kinda fun despite being in a wheelchair.
Makes for some interesting puzzle movement, by not being able to just take the stairs.XD

[slappy508]

You do have a point there!

[Hugodastrevas]

Ban this site already!

[SlashHabit]

Where's the anorexic community's characters? I can only think of one game where the protagonist is anorexic and that's Dante from Medieval.

[FallenAngel1984]

There are already various overweight characters in gaming

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/...

Let’s try not to be a special snowflake and acknowledge the various body types already present in various mediums and not ask for more to fulfill some status quo.

[bluefox755]

I must be a psychic. I said: "This has to be New Normative or JstationX."
Nailed it.

[OffRoadKing]

This is satire right, this has to be satire?

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

It's sadly not.
The website sending this in is one of those pro-snowflake sites with no common sense.

[Chaos_Order]

I'm overweight and I still find fat characters funny. Watching Donut Drake scale a cliff or Tekken's Bob perform somersaults and flying kicks is just entertaining. Also, most game characters are active, running, jumping, climbing, fighting etc. You wouldn't expect them to not be in shape now, would you?

[ninsigma]

I knew it was new normative as soon as I saw the title. Picking fights and crying foul where it's not needed. That's the current cry baby culture these guys are going for.

[garyanderson]

Says the person crying in the comments ;)

[ninsigma]

Crying or stating a fact?? You should learn the difference :)

[bigmalky]

So, you write the usual newnormative bait piece, then troll comments with their factually correct opinions.

Should be banned from posting articles for this behaviour. Just goes to show your site is nothing more than a clickbait pile of dung.

[360ICE]

I'll give them this: Life is Strange, where the characters aren't superheroes, has little excuse. They threw in one overweight person and made her tragic and miserable. Rest are so slim, you'd hardly believe the game is set in the US.

Other than that, making an athletic character overweight immediately introduces an explanation problem. Also, larger hitbox, which is rarely fun.

[manabyte77]

Max could rewind time. Wouldn’t having a power like that constitute a super hero, regardless of how her daily life was portrayed?

[PhoenixUp]

Gaming’s most famous video game icon is overweight you dumbass

[The_Sage]

It'sa me... Mario?... Thata hurta the feelings.

[DONTB]

Fat people are funny, not fun. Please don't glorify this, thank you.

[Kakashi Hatake]

What a bigoted comment. You basically just called an entire demographic of people funny because of their appearance. You're the funny one.

[BlackTar187]

you misuse the word bigoted and thus steal all its value.

[TKCMuzzer]

Actually he never mentions anyone’s appearance in his comment at all, you assume he means appearance, which says more about your train of thought than his.

[babadivad]

Mario is fat.

[iofhua]

GTA: San Andreas did a great job with this. You could become overweight in the game, but it impacted your stamina and ability to climb over fences.

That made it important to keep your character thin at least. Muscular was best but required you go work out at the gym on a regular basis.

It wasn't the best GTA, but it was fun to play.

[Vanfernal]

My brother used to play that game becoming as fat as possible but hitting the gym like a mad man. That fatty could jump fences like it was nobody's business! It shows that even if you're overweight you can still better yourself and prove people wrong. #LifeLessons XD

[Psychotica]

Yeah there aren't too many black female gay midget characters who stutter and have lisp at the same time either..

[jambola]

"Have characters appeal to whatever i want you cowards"

Or how about they make the characters they want to make themselves?

[AnubisG]

Being overweight is not something anyone should want to be or look up to. It's unhealthy, unattractive and a dangerous idea to say that it is ok.

Don't make characters overweight! Show kids that it is not ok to be overweight. I'm not saying shame overweight people. Don't do that. Encourage them to loose weight instead so they can be healthy and live a happier life. Saying that being overweight is ok is a horrible and dangrous idea and anyone who is saying that should be jailed on the grounds of endangering peoples lives. Saying that being overweight is ok is like saying that don't go to the doctor with that severe heartburn you been having for a year, it's ok. Just keep suffering because that is who you are and everyone needs to accept you. Than you will slowly die from stomach ulcer that turned into cancer or esophagial cancer.

I can't stress enough how unhealthy it is to be overweight. Just go and check out Boogie on youtube. If you are overweight, don't expect the world to cater to your feelings and say it's ok. You are not ok, you need to lose weight and be healthy.

[Kakashi Hatake]

Spare me the health excuse. Game characters smoke cigarettes and are made to look cool. The days of family values in entertainment are gone. Having an overweight game character wouldn't kill anyone. People are just too bigoted and like to discriminate against overweight people. You can't do it to gays/someone of a different religion, or race so of course the unprotected class that is the overweight makes an easy target.

[Highlife]

Are you overweight? I'm over weight. And can say shut up. Unless someone is going at a kid or directly at a woman shut up. Political correctness is trash. Ideally you shouldn't be overweight it's not healthy.

There was Fat Princess

[AnubisG]

@Kakashi Hatake,

There is so much wrong with what you said. For starters, smoking has not been cool for the last 20 years at least. It might have been cool during the 40's through the early 90's but for the past 20 years or so, not so much. But you can't justify one unhealthy thing because there are other unhealthy things. How can you think like that?

True, having an overweight character would not kill anyone. But no one can take an overweight character seriously in a serious role. There is a reason why the doughnut Drake is just a funny extra skin you can get in Uncharted and it is not the main look of Drake. There is a reason why when we think of heroes we think, tall, muscular, smart and handsome guys. We are attracted to healthy and strong individuals. That is an evolutionary trait. You can deny it all you want if it makes you comfortable but 99% of the planet does not find overweight people to be attractive or something to inspire to be, hence they don't make good main characters in video games. You have to know your audience. It works in games like Mario where Mario is overweight but that is a childrens game and has a art style and the character fits. But mostly it doesn't.

No one should discriminate against overweight people. They could be overweight for various reasons. Could be because of an illness but most likely it's do to overeating of unhealthy foods and a lack of exercise.

That last sentence where you say that it is ok to target overweight people has so much wrong with it I don't even know where to being. First off, you paint overweight people as victims who are being targeted. That is absolutely not true. They are not victims. You and all the SJWs should stop saying that everyone is a victim. This victim mentality is very destructive, unproductive and a regressive idea of the far left SJW nutcases. No one takes it seriously anymore. I assume you confuse humor that is fat jokes with someone actually being targeted. You can and should make fun of everything. Don't take it seriously but learn to laugh. Laughing is actually very good for your health unlike being overweight.

I see that you are in a very wrong spot in your life at the moment. Your toughs reflect this. I assume you are overweight and you given up?

[rainslacker]

Outside of being rejected by some girls who didn't find me attractive due to my weight, I've never been discriminated against because of my weight. never once have I been denied a job or access to something I wanted to do. There are some cases where extremely overweight people can't do something, but that is either a safety issue(riding a roller coaster), or consumerism(needing more space on a plane). That isn't necessarily discrimination though.

Overweight people, particularly younger ones, are more prone to bullying, but that isn't something that usually goes on throughout someone's entire life, and tends to be more a problem with kids being a**holes.

To my knowledge, you can't actually discriminate against overweight people either outside of issues of safety. For the most part, if someone were to outwardly say something negative about one's weight, especially directly to them, then others around them will likely judge the person talking trash than the person who is overweight, because most people aren't a**holes.

Bigots exist in the world. You can never get rid of all of them. But bigotry stems from a person's ignorance and own lack of self-worth, where they have to put others down to bring themselves up. Remedy that issue if you want to fight bigotry against overweight people. The bigotry against overweight people is more about people being judgmental about that person's eating habits and lack of desire to be healthy in comparison to someone's own view on how those things should be done.

You seem to care too much about what all these judgmental people think. If you think putting overweight people in a video game will change anything, you are really wrong. The fact that these same people you are trying to influence through this inclusion find it comical, just means that it'll reaffirm their own biases. Hell, I'm overweight, and I find things like Donut Drake to be completely preposterous, thus comical to the extreme.

Maybe your argument would be strengthened if you could explain how including overweight people in games would somehow remove the judgements placed on overweight people. At the same time, perhaps you can explain how developers will make their game appealing by including more overweight people, when you seem to think that this bias already exists in the market place. The fact that many do not find these characters appealing is the sole reason that they don't exist more, so it seems your calling the wrong people cowards, instead of just calling out the bigots that do exist.

[2pacalypsenow]

Shut up

[babadivad]

This can't be a real comment.

[Prince_TFK]

Hit the gym you coward.

[FPS_D3TH]

lmao unless they’re evil or a joke? Lmao by those assumption I’m just gonna go ahead and say authors a lazy basement dwelling individual with anger issues since were all about assumptions here.

It’s called game design. They’re cowards for not taking the risk in dropping thousands of dollars creating a character that a minority of groups can identify with? Lol alright buddy...

[rainslacker]

While I don't agree with the author at all, it's not like developers haven't spent thousands of dollars on creating characters that a minority group can identify with already.

I don't feel obese characters are really in this same category though, because being obese myself, I still find fit people more appealing. I'd like to be more fit myself. Thankfully, my wife loves me despite my weight, and she's pretty fit, but I'm not so naive to think that she wouldn't find me more attractive should I become fit. I know there are some people who actually do find overweight people attractive, but I doubt they're really going off on these kinds of rants to have them included in more media.

[MadLad]

There has yet to be a game that caters to the overweight, pansexual, transgender (though gender fluid), half Indian, Asian, Black, Native American person, who is handicapped, and I am highly insulted, and triggered, by this.

[Prince_TFK]

I think South Park The Fractured But Whole can do at least half of what you had just said lol.

[MadLad]

You know what? You may be right lol

[DialgaMarine]

For what game? Mario Walmart Kart? I know this sounds crazy, but the vast majority of fat people aren’t exactly capable of taking down gods, fighting through thousands of men, or being special forces. You want a game featuring fat people? Make your own damn game. God, I hope this is satire.

[gigakain]

There is a reason we have instincts to shun the unhealthy & weak links in the herd. No one WANTS to be fat. It means something went wrong.

[WeAreLegion]

Can confirm. I eat because I hate myself.

[ShadowWolf712]

Speaking as someone who is... it'd be nice to see someone who is not made into a joke, or evil, or mistreated, sure... but I don't really know what sort of game you think they'd fit into, or what role for that matter. Games typically require characters to be active, be capable of fast and often extreme movement, and that's not so believable in someone who's too out of shape. I suppose you could go the way of Sig Curtis in FMA where he's got a bit of a gut but also a lot of muscle, but that's what I mean; you're limited in what you can -believably- do with them.

[ReBurn]

I'm not sure I could buy into a fantasy where an overweight person is parkouring around like Lara Croft or Nathan Drake.

[rainslacker]

More to the point, from a consumer perspective, Tomb Raider never would have become the franchise it did if Lara Croft was obese.

Nothing cowardly about making her fit....and well endowed...it was just a choice to get the consumers attention. It worked. It worked, because the general public prefers attractive people. You can't change human behavior and perceptions too easily. It takes years of work, and even if developers started to do this with obese people, I don't see how it would actually change anything, since what people find attractive is deeply rooted in evolution and general societal accepted norms.

[fluxmulder]

Hey, I play as a fat person.... in GTA4 to test the drunk physics.

[Saijahn]

the roles in most games seem implausible for an overweight person. just the truth. I like Create a characters though that let you make your person as you wish.

[Cy]

It's like...you guys bought a "this is how to be a woke, socially conscious asshole that nobody likes" handbook and you're just...going down the list one by one and writing articles about it. Have you done anything about how horribly damaging and transphobic the Honey Bee Inn scene in FF7 is yet? Or maybe a thinkpiece about why Gone Home is the best story based game ever made and the whole reason we have story based games being made now (you can even get Tim Schafer for a quote!) Or you could even blaze your own woke trail (just kidding, there's no original thought allowed in the SJW community) and concern troll about how upcoming game Biomutant might negatively represent the furry community. Anything but this same tired ass shit with the exact same picture of Nathan Drake in fat mode.

[Mr Marvel]

No, I don’t want to play as some fat prick.
This would immediately rule me out as a potential customer and would turn way too many people off a game imo.

[Tzuno]

Hahahahhhh Nathan looks like he is in a fighting game.

[drunkenspy007]

watch out, newnormative will shame you for not being fat. out of all the crap sites that make it to N4G, these folks have the worst agendas.

[AngelicToucH]

They make their games however they want. It's your decision if you buy it or not. It's not forced upon you in no way. I can't understand why people are starting to turn games into sexuality/political agendas. Same goes for this "article" or whatever trash this is.

[Vanfernal]

If it doesn't add to the story in any significant way what's the point? Inclusion? In most games the characters you play perform feats that involve being in peak physical condition. Not to mention games as most entertainment are a form of escapism. Nobody fantasizes about being obese. If it bothers you so much stick to games with character creators and make your character as fat as you want. Ironically, everyone will see your character and think it's a joke.

[Kumakai]

Here’s the thing. I don’t have a problem with overweight people. A couple of my friends are overweight. They are great people first before anything. The thing is though, being overweight is bad for your health - even my overweight friends stress on this. So if you’re making your game heros overweight and idolizing weight problems, you’re saying there’s no problem being overweight. It’s ok. And socially it is ok or at least should, but for healths sake, I think it’s better to represent people we aspire to be. Hero’s are good and promote the right things and are healthy. That’s why they can do amazing things. Discipline and all that. Otherwise why don’t we just say we should have more game characters that smoke and drink or pop pills or other unhealthy behaviors.

This isn’t a dig on in overweight people at all. Sincerely. It’s more about making healthier impressions. Conversely it could go the other way too. Super skinny, anorexic models send a bad message as well. Both are very unhealthy.

Character customizations in games that allow it tho could and should accommodate anybody’s vision of themselves, whatever their real or desired self image should be - even if that’s overweight. After all, nobody should be ashamed to rep themselves.

[WeAreLegion]

I don't think they should do this, either, but that would in no way be them saying obesity is alright. Video game characters do a lot of things that are morally reprehensible. It doesn't mean the studio condones that behavior.

Shooting people is perfectly fine behavior, but we draw the line at cheeseburgers!

[Artemidorus]

Tomb Raider struggling through the doors of McDonald's sound ok to you?

[Harkins1721]

What a stupid thing to focus on.

[QUIMICOMORTAL]

Why would they?

I don't say they shouldn't! but why would they? for an action game, doesnt make sense, sales wise doesn't help as most of us preffer to play and watch attractive characters, as a person gamers should aspire to be like?...DEFINITELY NOT!

Do not ever forget that obese people are either sick or they neglected to take proper care of their body.

Other than making a game specifically designed to explore the problems/conflicts/point of view of obese persons, there is absolutely no need to make obese characters, and developers are definitely not cowards for not doing it.

[il-JumperMT]

Play dragons dogma everyone is fat since it gave you bigger inventory

[boing1]

Don't we play games to escape the reality?

[Dixiedevil]

They really do want to ruin everything, don't they? Video games, movies, comedy, music, art. They're cultural cancer.

[Cobra951]

Why would I ever want to choose an ugly-fat character to play in a game?

[privatepothed]

Because overweight people should not be the norm it’s unhealthy and not something we should drive to be .

[WeAreLegion]

Yeah, let's focus on normality. Kratos is such a normal guy. Mario? Real normal. I don't want fat characters, but this argument makes zero sense.

You're saying characters should be whatever a developer considers "normal". That's so boring.

[Anorexorcist]

This just reminds of the a great line from the classic 90's show "Married With Children" when Al Bundy is carpooling with three big women:

Al Bundy: So they tell me that you girls are models for Victoria's Secret.
Fat Woman 1: Oh we are; We're Victoria's Big Secret.
Al Bundy: Oh Victoria couldn't keep a secret THIS big...
Fat Woman 2: It's a new line of lingerie for the full-figured woman, cause you know what they say: "You're never too big to be sexy."
Al Bundy: And do you know who says that? ...Fat Girls.

[Profchaos]

Because why would you want to play as an undisciplined Nathan Drake who wouldn't be able to scale a cliff

At least Max Payne got fat in number 3 so you have that I suppose. He also drowns in liquor and pills daily but still

[LordofYogurt]

I’m 305lbs. No. I don’t want this.

Life is hard living with this massive ass. Movement is limited, I get winded easily. Don’t even get me started on my back. I have health complications and yet...due to my addiction to food can’t stop stuffing my fatass mouth. Last thing I wanna do is ruin my second lives with video game protagonists reminding me of that.

Don’t. Glorify. Obesity.

[Chumdiddy]

F*** off lol

[spwittbold]

wtf is this nonsense LOL. What of waste of internet space.

[TheOttomatic91]

Oh a newnormative article *rolls eyes* no wonder why. I thought this site was blacklisted

[bigmalky]

Fighting games, yes, for bulky, slow, methodical characters. Adventure and action games? No... It just seems unbelievable.

You know how sites like your's go on about women being dressed appropriately for combat? Well, try not being a hypocrite.

[DafunkyRebel]

I do, in Dark Souls

[NotanotherReboot]

lol shut up

[stokedAF]

Who is proud of being slob though? I get the “representation” thing, it’s stupid but I get it. They are proud of whatever, race, sexuality, gender.. Are there really people proud of being fat and want to be represented in games? Most overweight people would rather lose the weight, I would imagine lol.

[BadElf]

I hate how games, like Skyrim for example, only have 1 or 2 body types/structure on ALL AI. Same face on a lot of them as well.
I want to see Some women have beautiful, big areolas. Some taller. Some short and fat. Just everyone...different

[-Gespenst-]

Well the excuse that a fat character wouldn't be able to do anything without tiring out is silly. Most characters we play as shouldn't be able to survive the amount of punishment they receive, and yet they do, because the vast majority of games are highly unrealistic in almost every way, including the resilience of the player character. So, if we make thin people unrealistically resilient and athletic and so on, and if we don't have to be realistic when it comes to them, why do we have to be realistic when it comes to fat people? If athletic, acrobatic fat people are immersion-breaking to you, why aren't hyper-resilient bullet-sponge thin people immersion-breaking to you too? It's no more or less realistic. Why don't you complain about the latter? There are examples of unrealistic fat people anyway - lots in fighting games - and no one really complains.

But, we shouldn't be glorifying or encouraging obesity (i.e. leading people to believe that it's harmless and something they can pursue without fear of reduced quality of life and health complications; or that it's something cool), I don't care what anyone says. Plus-sized? Fine. But morbid obesity isn't healthy, and a morbid obese person doesn't WANT or LIKE being morbidly obese, so you're not doing them a favor by refraining from "policing" their lifestyle. Lots of seriously fat people are unhappy not JUST because of fat-shaming, but because being really fat is an inherently physically uncomfortable way to be, and leads to other health issues that compound that discomfort. I'm not saying fat-shame people, because that's no better than leaving them alone - it just leads to depression-fueled self-starvation or overeating and other things. We're partly responsible for anything we could have prevented, and we could tackle obesity if we approached it properly and respectfully, so we're therefore partly responsible for those bad things that happen to people as a result of their obesity, and I can't really have that on my conscience. It bugs me that so many people don't have the quality of life they could have, and in many (but not all) cases because of predatory corporations pumping them full of junk food that is moreish and addictive by design for purposes of sales.

Aaaanyway, like anything misleading and unrealistic in games and other forms of entertainment, we need to be responsible and careful about how we portray it. Other than that, I'm happy to play as any character, regardless of gender or race. I think people stick to characters that are similar to themselves so they can enjoy them as a kind of power fantasy, probably to compensate for their own lives being lacking. The avatar becomes a powerful body for them to inhabit - a different, superior body for their mind / brain that they control with the gamepad. Not all games have to be or should be realistic, but when we're making unrealistic games, we have to be responsible about it. Unrealistic things can put false ideas in peoples' heads about things they have never experienced first hand, and this can attract them to, or repel them from, those things. In other words, in the absence of first hand experience and exposure, such misleading stuff can cause people to believe things that aren't true, and what we believe determines how we act.

[georeo]

It was always a blast to make Carl fat, then work out like to crazy to make him back in shape. Real life accomplishments sort of made me motivated to want to get in shape back then.

[conanlifts]

What if they started with the character overweight and out of shape. Then as they level up and increase their strength and stats the character slims out. So by the end when fully levelled you are a far more toned and muscular. Makes sense in some games when the character can only run for 10 seconds before the stamina bar is fully depleted.

[Big_Game_Hunters]

Fat people who can't accept their condition are cowards.

[Aaroncls7]

Here is a real question to the OP:

In games where you can create the main characters in any shape you want.
Do you make them obese?

[davand114]

A fat Nathan Drake would be hilarious.

[isarai]

It wouldn't really make any sense in most cases seeing as how most protagonists are in situations that are strenuous and grueling which would as a result make them fit. though the idea of an overweight protagonist for some reason makes me want a Mech game where the pilots are out of shape due to just sitting around pulling levers/pushing buttons. Would actually be kinda cool to be this killer mech, then have to hop out and find parts for repair when it's been damaged, with limited movement and a very crappy stamina meter, maybe run into other armed out of shape mech pilots while on foot? dunno sounds neat to me.