Plus-size characters in roleplays

[ValentineIllusion]

So I've been roleplaying for a long time, about five years now, but I'm pretty sure I have never once seen someone play as a plus size character. At best, they would be a minor side character that doesn't play a big part in the story at all. 


Honestly, I don't even think it's an issue of fat shaming at all, or if it is, it only plays a minor part. I feel like people just don't even think of making a character plus size or just fat, and I really wish that people would. Especially since so many roleplays are romance roleplays (At least from what I've seen - I usually stick to 1x1, and don't do groups often), why can't a fat person be the romantic interest in stories like that? 


Even if it doesn't particularly make a character more attractive - although it certainly doesn't make them ugly, either - it at least makes a character different. It adds another dimension to the character. Sometimes I feel like the only thing that changes from character to character on here is their hair style and maybe their eye color, and no one really thinks of body type all that much, whether it's big or small. 


I don't know, it's just a small detail I wish more people would think about. Being fat myself, "fat" being a word that I'm not ashamed of, it's an issue that's really important to me. If anyone already has any plus size characters, though, I'd love to hear about them! c:

 

[Chordling]

The only large fellow whom I created that I can think right now is named Mr. Millberry.  His job is to run the senate in the Steampunk world which he lives in.  Of course, he's overshadowed and terrified by my main character in the roleplay.  I almost used his appearance for the main character himself, but I decided to make my menacing senator taller and thinner, so I used the body for Mr. Millberry instead.  He's the second character in the story to interact with my character in the roleplay.  He loves to berate my character for anything. x)


I'm actually amazed at how much I remember about this character.  His appearances thinned out as the story progressed, but I think that I would consider him to be pretty important, despite his minority.

 

[JayTee]

Roleplaying is, ultimately, escapist fantasy.


Thus, people are going to largely play idealized versions of the characters they have in their heads, with, preferably, sufficient flaws to make them not a mary sue.


Fat is, to my knowledge, rarely a person's idealized state.


Thus, it is highly unlikely that it will happen.

 

[Bacon is fluffy]

I honestly have had a few ideas for fatties, the first drawing inspiration from gimly and the other from a drunken brawler. I just haven't really gone through with either yet.

 

[CupAndCough]

Well I dunno if the hypothesis I'm gonna through out there if gonna be TOTALLY correct, but lemme try. 


Roleplaying is sought for many reasons and many different parts--one being escapism. Not totally wrong, nothing wrong at all. We all like to get out of the reality we're in and be thrown into a world much more interesting where we, as characters, can play a more interesting and more conceptually pleasing idea. It's more on the superficial level as well, while it could be just human pettiness or removal of ideas such as "getting fat" doesn't really fit within this escapism's aesthetic, well at least for the majority. That's why escapism is only PART of Roleplaying--but a very integral part for some. 


Roleplaying is probably made up of the emotional and mental attachment of creating and living vicariously somewhat through the characters and such we make. As such sometimes familiarity and social desires sort of lean us in a way where we want to fulfill them. Another aspect of roleplaying is creating a story, and this extends beyond all shapes and sizes, health and illness, morality and sensibilities. A story is inclusive is as one's desire is to make it. But would it interest you to do one of a more stouter fellow? Or one with that of a body of a hairless anime swimmer who looks a bit too much like estrogen is the pool water? All up to preference really. A story is a story. Just as someone can write one of the longest works of fiction surrounding a single character's day, one can also write about how their yaoi boy likes that weird bulge coming out of his boss's tightly pressed suit. 


Another concept? Faceclaims. People like visualizing their character. Something that is probably key to choosing something they like. Depending on where and what you look for, you often get the more attractive scale of modern social sensibilities. Rarely anything goes out of it's way to produce something different without capitalizing that the character's body shape is that character: which brings up another point. 


Unfamiliarity and the "Why would I?":  Some folks are built like others. Some are skinny and lethe, other stocky and rotund. Sure we can write characters with bulging muscles that look like haphazardly cut rock out of the granite mines or women with slender or voluptuous body types with a interesting story, but that's because we've seen it done before. We have examples. We're acclimatized to it.  


Some people would, and they're not bad people--rather just a lack of understanding, write a fatter fellow with something to do with his fat. He eats too much. He's uncomfortable about it. He's a bit slower. He's jealous of the guy with muscles. etc etc etc. Is it right? Hell no. We wanna write people with dimensions. We're just not exposed to it as much so we don't think--"Oh I should reflect upon this more". 


But there's also  the sentiment that goes with the idea of "well if I can write a portly guy with the same type of backstory or same type of thought process as a instagram fuccboi, then why should I expend the effort looking for a FC or explicitly making this character a heavy-set person when I could just have it be the more idealize state?"  Maybe I'm harsher on this than I would like to be--I'm just kind of a dick. But that still shows some human choice to not classify yourself as the person who plays "The Fat __ Character" 


Would it be interesting to see people do more heavy-set folks? Depends on who ya ask--Though I'm in a crowd where regardless of looks I wanna see the story arc that character has is something worth telling. That one chose that character for a reason, not a "Oh it'll be nice" reason--more "This is a aspect of existence I wanna shed light on. I wanna share this with you all". In the end though? I'm meh about everything. Don't be a abusive asshole to the concept or to make a insensitive stereotype and strawman. 


So there's my shitty fuck ramble. (Though T H I C C  thighs save lives. Let's get that straight here. A fat booty is a man's home) 

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

I once made a plus-sized character for, I think it was a superhero roleplay.  : 3


His name was Artemis and he was an "engineer" (no formal education, but he liked to tinker with stuff) who built and piloted his own mech suit.  Something of a genius, but he had real trouble applying himself and got himself in trouble for stealing car parts and such. The organization he joined was supposed to help set him back on the straight and narrow, maybe turn him into something even more.


Unfortunately I didn't get very far in the rp, but maybe I'll use him again sometime.

 

[Noivian]

I personally am fat. There's no two ways about it. But what Cup said is almost 100% true. I live with stereotypes; my mom spouts them all the time, despite also being heavyset herself. I got on the scale the other day and it told me I was 297 lbs. I sit at home most of the day, eating junk food and playing video games. Is that healthy? No. Do I have a problem? More than likely. Is this something I would want to role platy? Definitely not. Not only is it not interesting to others, it's my life. I live being a fat person every day. Why would I want to role play being me when I'm actually being me right now? Sure it would be nice to role play me getting off my butt and perhaps getting a boyfriend, but why role play that when I can actually get off my butt and get a boyfriend? I don't role play to be me, I role play to escape me.


My role play is purely escapism; why would I want to escape to what I already am?

 

[myvalentina]

I think it's also not a lot of exposure to different body types out there to normalize fat bodies. While I don't disagree with the whole escapism argument I think it's mostly because they're just not presented enough in positive ways for people to latch onto bigger bodies as sources of inspiration. Anytime they're used it's with negative connotations attached to them and that sucks.


I am not fat so obviously I could be wrong in the way I approach these things (please call me out if I'm being insensitive), but I have only recently added fat characters to my RPs and that's after I was exposed to body positivity posts and the like, where not only did I hear fat people's concerns but also saw more pictures of fat people being fat and happy and beautiful and carefree and just living life! And I know we get into a weird area where we want to be careful not to fetishize, but now I'm way more open to not only Roleplaying fat characters but adding them to any story I may be writing, because they are a part of the world whether the world wants to positively acknowledge you or not. It's why representation and asking these tough questions is so necessary. 

 

[RatFlail]

JayTee has it right for the most part, although the reasons why is a complex discussion on beauty ideals as a function of socioeconomic signals (the modern Western ideal may be the primary one on this site). People fetishize the characteristics of anyone who has lots of resources. A century ago, it was those who were well fed and performed intellectual labor. In these high-calorie and low-physical times, it's those who have the time and money to purchase nutritionists/weight training/health food/etc.


Marketing also plays a role, since it's in a marketer's best interest that everyone remains insecure. A secure person is a person without self-perceived needs. A person without self-perceived needs is a person who is extremely difficult to sell to. The societal ideal espoused by mass culture will always move to that which is the most difficult to attain so that products can be sold to attain that ideal. 


Youth fetishism also plays a part, since younger people tend to both be more active and have had fewer years to pack on weight. See the massive interest in Academy RPs vs other RPs. This is also a reason that a lot of mass culture focuses on school stories.


I also think it's worth thinking about the definitions of overweight. I've had a lot of heated discussions with my friends about this since we have varied exposure to mass culture (some who regularly watch TV and movies, while others don't bother with cable). Some of the standards out there are ridiculous, and I've had a close family member who struggled with anorexia when she wasn't even close to overweight. I've also had family members whose size severely impacted their ability to function in everyday tasks. So it's important to find a place where you can optimally function without constantly worrying about a largely genetic and situational characteristic.


So to end the rambling, playing multiple size characters is worth promoting, but won't be common because it isn't the societal default setting for reasons explained above.


Edit: It might be worthwhile in historical RPs to review the ideals of the period. I always find it hilarious and sad when Victorian-era media only feature skinny women. Gender disparity is another long-winded discussion, and this post is long enough.

 

[call me rae]

To build on @CupAndCough 's argument on faceclaims - it used to be that I flat out wouldn't join / do a roleplay where I couldn't have a picture to represent my character. I am bit of a visual learner - things stick best in my head when I have a clear visual to attach to them. This means that for characters I used to insist on high quality pictures of some sort so that I could have some kind of visual to attach to the characters in the story.


Now the downside to this is it takes a concentrated effort and a lot of hard work to get any sort of variety in your models. Whether your looking at art or real models most everyone has a similar physique and usually of the caucasion variety. Although different skin tones are a lot easier to find than different body type. 


This is due to a variety of issues but mostly circle back to our ideals of beauty in our society and the fact that people who make a living on their bodies ( models ) or who wish to draw things that others will see are going to stick to the "prettier" side of inspiration.


While there are certainly pictures/character/models out their of over-weight or even fat people they tend to hard to find - especially if you don't want to get into the morbidly obese and fetishist side of thing.