Parents concerned about Miss Bimbo game
Telegraph (UK)
March 25, 2008
Parents' groups have
criticized a new internet craze in which young girls
give virtual characters plastic surgery and feed them
diet pills.
The Miss Bimbo game has seen girls aged as young as nine
given an online alter ego, which they look after.
They compete against other players in beauty contests to
earn money so they can dress their characters in
lingerie and take them to nightclubs.
The aim of the game is to become "the coolest, richest
and most famous bimbo in the whole world". Players keep
the girls at their target weight using diet pills.
They are given missions, including securing plastic
surgery to give their "bimbo" bigger breasts and finding
a billionaire boyfriend to bankroll her, while keeping a
constant check on her hunger, thirst, happiness and
other statistics.
The game, which was launched a month ago, already has
nearly 200,000 British players, most of whom are girls
aged between nine and 16. When they run out of virtual
cash, contestants can send text messages costing £1.50
each to top up their accounts.
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The sister website in France, which has attracted 1.2
million players in a year, has been condemned by French
dieticians and parents.
The game's creators claim it is "harmless fun" and
builds on the success of Barbie, the Bratz dolls and
Tamagotchis, the virtual pets invented in Japan.
But parents' groups fear it will fuel teenagers' desire
for plastic surgery and lead to eating disorders.
Bill Hibberd, spokesman for parents' rights group
Parentkind, said: "It is one thing if a child recognises
it as a silly and stupid game. But the danger is that a
nine-year-old fails to appreciate the irony and sees the
bimbo as a cool role model. Then the game becomes a
hazard and a menace.
"Children will do what they have always done with Barbie
dolls and the like, modifying them with new hair styles
and clothing. But the technology has changed and so have
the fashions and trends.
"Children's innocence should be protected as far as
possible. It depends on the background and mindset of
the child but the danger is that after playing the game
some will then aspire to have breast operations and take
diet pills.
"Many parents have no idea what their children are
looking at on the internet and there are financial
dangers for parents too if they do not know what their
children are texting when they pick up mobile phones."
The game's creator, 23-year-old web designer Nicolas
Jacquart, from Tooting, south London, said: "The game is
structured in such a way that it simply mirrors real
life in a tongue-in-cheek way. It is harmless fun."