Of BMI and bi-polar conditions: tunnel vision in a game about perspective...

Recently, another TTRPG designer looked at my game. They said it really spoke to them, and they had ideas they wanted to share. 

“Great, bring them on!” I said, “I need all of the feedback I can get.”

And it hit me: all three foundation diseases–AIDS, cancer, and tuberculosis–were wasting diseases, but my reader was easily twice my weight, and while small, I’m hardly a bantamweight.

Why didn’t I think about fatphobia, weight issues? It had never occurred to me in the writing of the game, but as soon as the thought came to me, I had almost a full deck full new deck of ideas based on experiences of friends and family as well as my own childhood (Apparently I resembled Damien from Omen II–but if he were focused on ice cream and not evil).

• Your joints hurt?--How’s your weight?
• You feeling tired? – How’s your weight?.
  
• If you’re sick, it’s your fault because of your poor diet and lack of exercise. Even if the ailment is infectious, a high BMI puts a strain on your immune system and impedes your recovery.

I eagerly awaited my reader’s responses…

…and they had absolutely nothing to do with size--there was all of the judgment, doubt, minor and major aggressions. Really moving, applicable content,  but it had to do with being bi-polar, the overlaps between self-medicating and substance abuse, between doing what you think you need to to survive and self-destruction.

Nothing like I was expecting. Reading a lot of indie RPGs and SRDs I’ve become obsessed with the clarity of a creator’s vision. But clarity that comes from vision so narrow has negligible value.

And to think, the whole purpose of You’re Sick (and it’s your fault) was to help broaden perspectives. 

Designers: it’s about your players, not you.