Comments on: Walking (very, very slowly) in Fatworld

By: Mulberry

Mulberry — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 00:41:26 +0000

I can’t walk more than a block without stopping to rest and pant, but for cripes’ sake, it’s because I have a lung disease. So when Li’l Lesley gets checked for asthma and hypothyroidism, she should get her heart and lungs looked at, too.
By the way, I have seen people whose stomach sort of folds vertically in the middle, but they’re generally heavier than the cute little redhead pictured at the top.

By: JupiterPluvius

JupiterPluvius — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:59:33 +0000

Seriously, WTF? I thought PBS was supposed to be edumacational, not just dispensing the same ridiculous nonsense as commercial media.

By: JupiterPluvius

JupiterPluvius — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:58:43 +0000

I’m sorry, I would type something appreciative, but my enormous balloon-fingers simply can’t hit the keys correctly.jkgajklbklmbjlb foufbufj;

By: melliepellie

melliepellie — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:41:15 +0000

L’il Fat Lesley is adorable and sexy! I want her in a plush doll! Or felt!

By: Bree

Bree — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:37:50 +0000

If being deathfat removes the presence of mobility, clearly they haven’t seen me and tons of other able-bodied lardbutts hoofing it around downtown Baltimore and not stopping to pant every five minutes. Some of us do have pretty strong hearts and lungs that aren’t ready to collapse under our tons of flesh.

But, if that’s how they want to showcase us in Fatworld, hey, let them have their fun.

By: Christine

Christine — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:07:23 +0000

“EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME FATTERY!” This made me laugh out loud. Ahh. I love when you’re posting. I don’t think I would have played that since I found the image depressing enough. Bah!

Hope you have a great weekend!

By: William

William — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:05:37 +0000

I listen to NPR on the way to work and they have a segment titled “Oh Internet what hast thou rout”. The segment highlights bad internet ideas, well they need to feature their sister company “PBS” in regards to this game.

Check out the extra downloads for this game in the exchange section.

http://www.fatworld.org/exchange.php

By: demo derby

demo derby — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 04:27:32 +0000

hahaha. i was thinking the same thing.

By: thirtiesgirl

thirtiesgirl — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:32:43 +0000

Your description of this game is such a slice of life for me. I work in education, working around many well-intentioned people who want to teach students, each other, and any co-workers who will listen, about health. Some of them (not all) even understand how health and socio-economics can be related. And yet, as you write here, they still use fat bodies as lazy shorthand for poor health and ‘bad’ choices. It’s like they stop just short of getting it. They’re *almost* there…but not quite. It drives me up the freakin’ wall, how they can be so well-intentioned, wanting to do their best for the students they work with and for themselves… and yet miss the mark by a mile and end up causing more harm than good.

By: Living400lbs

Living400lbs — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:30:30 +0000

“Your run burned 14,448 calories” reminds me of diet calculators that assure me I’ll lose weight eating 3300 cals/day. Or being told that I can figure out how many calories I use in walking by tripling the numbers for a “normal adult” because they can’t be bothered to do actual research on actual fat people.

By: Living400lbs

Living400lbs — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:26:15 +0000

The “pant, pant” had me wondering “Did she select “asthmatic” as an option? Where’s the lil inhaler?”

By: Holly

Holly — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:11:53 +0000

And meanwhile, in Springfield, Lard Lad was filing one hell of a character defamation lawsuit…

By: Arwen

Arwen — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:02:31 +0000

I wonder if this stereotype is why I sometimes have people protest that I cannot be as fat as I say I am – because you couldn’t have a BMI of 39 and be active in multiple arenas as part of daily life.

There is the stereotype that being near that arbitrary category of death-fats removes mobility and overall fitness, and that therefore, the presence of mobility and physical fitness proves that someone is not a member of that arbitrary category. Whereas the medical and insurance establishments are very clear on assigning me to that category.

By: lilacsigil

lilacsigil — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:44:17 +0000

I find this deeply hilarious because I’m extremely hypothyroid right now (so that I can have radiation treatment next week) and I am moving at about the pace of a slug with lots of stops for resting. Of course, when I’m not hypothyroid, I’m just as fat, but much much faster. Maybe L’il Fat Lesley needs a thyroid checkup? Of course, it might be hard to get one because (in my experience) I wasn’t ACTUALLY sick, I was just fat and lazy. Until an audiologist found the tumour.

By: Robz

Robz — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:32:33 +0000

Fatworld uses fat bodies as lazy shorthand for poor health and “bad” choices.

That sounds familiar…

By: cindy

cindy — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:25:57 +0000

The top graphic says a lot about how well the game understands how the human body works–the ass is on the front side of the person.

By: Willow

Willow — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:59:34 +0000

I briefly considered trying an “extreme” avatar instead, but after my obese experience I was fairly convinced that an “exteme” avatar would not walk at all, but would rather sit motionless and develop her own gravitational field, by which she could capture the grocery store and the running track and bring them to her, rather than tromping all over town at a snail’s pace.

ROFL

That. Was. Hilarious.

A grand post, m’lady!

By: S

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:07:45 +0000

Oy…well, thank you for making me laugh about something that would probably otherwise just make me cry.

On my way to the grocery store this morning (to buy my usual organic hippy “wheatgrass and soy” fare), I thought about stopping to pant every five minutes…just to be, y’know, realistic or something.

By: metermouse

metermouse — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:34:19 +0000

OMFG I find he whole “extreeeeeme obese” bit about the gravitational pull soooo HILARIOUS!!!!

I know it’s totally F’d up, but omg you had me laughing!!

By: Amanda Levitt

Amanda Levitt — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 16:54:08 +0000

I remember when the game came out and I tried to play it, I lasted about 5 minutes into the actual game because I did the same thing and made a little fat version of myself. After all of the walking breaks to pant I wanted to throw the game out the window.