Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Miss Bimbo: The new computer game where girls order breast implants, do crash diets and find billionaire boyfriends

Girls as young as nine can give a 'bimbo' breast implants and put her on a crash diet in a new Internet game.

Players of Miss Bimbo are given a naked virtual character which they must look after.

The characters enter beauty contests to earn money so that they can buy clothes and go clubbing.

Players compete to create "the coolest, richest and most famous bimbo in the whole world".

They are given missions including organising breast implants and finding their bimbo a billionaire boyfriend.

They also have to check her hunger, thirst and happiness ratings, keeping her weight down with diet pills.

The game, which was launched a month ago, has nearly 200,000 British players, most of whom are girls aged between nine and 16.

When they run out of virtual cash, players send text messages costing £1.50 each or use Paypal to top up their accounts.

A similar website in France has attracted 1.2million players in the past year, despite condemnation from dieticians and parents.

There has been a boom in the creation of virtual worlds for children in the past year.

Huge numbers of British children belong to internet sites dedicated to Barbie or the Bratz dolls. The creators of Miss Bimbo claim it is "harmless fun" and builds on the success of crazes for virtual pets such as Tamigotchis.

Parents' groups are horrified that the game is taking off in Britain, fearing it could send the wrong message about eating disorders and plastic surgery to young girls.

Bill Hibberd, spokesman for parents' rights group Parentkind, said Miss Bimbo was "daft and pathetic".

"It is one thing if a child recognises it as a silly and stupid game," he said. "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'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.

"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, insisted it was not a bad influence on children. "They learn to take care of their bimbos," he said.

"If they eat too much chocolate in the game, it is bad for their bimbos' bodies and their happiness levels compared to if they eat fruit and vegetables, which reinforces positive healthy eating messages.

"The breast operations are just one part of the game and we are not encouraging young girls to have them, just reflecting real life."


Source: The Daily Mail

9 comments:

Miss Catwalker said...

whats wrong if girls get to learn about breast implants.Anyway children know everything already so why hide!when they can see internet porn whats a simple game?
http://starvice.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't play the game, but it is abusive, controlling, child-hating parents which give their children eating disorders, low self-esteem, and shame about their bodies, not the internet or video games.

Anonymous said...

Glad this has ben highlightd in your blog.

Miss catwalker, there is nothing wrong with girls knowing about breast implants if they know why women get them or of the health problems which arise from having an implant.

Children don't know everything already. None of us do. That includes me and you. But this is not a simple game. It is yet another tool which socialises girls into wanting to be what men want them to be and it reinforces a poor body image.

It teaches girls what they should aspire to be as they grow into being women

I could go on.

lichen You cant lay the ultimate blame on childhating parents. They too have been brought up within the same system which oppresses, exploits, all of us especially women.

We internalise societies, so called norms. That is how society reproduces itself.

Bloggers like the owner of this own challenge those norms.

Keep on blogging

Anonymous said...

I think teenagers are under enough influence from magazines and adverts about being slimmer, being more pretty, and having a parter.

Why normalise this further than it has already been.
"When they run out of virtual cash, players send text messages costing £1.50 each or use Paypal to top up their accounts."

Ah yes... cold hard cash. Why have morals when you can have cash instead?

Colette Mengiles said...

Thanks for your comments

Miss Catwalker given the replies to your comment need I say more. The sexualisation, materialisation and narcissistic values given by western society to our children and young people are reason enough for my post on Miss Bimbo. The Miss Bimbo game is trying to normalise these values.

Thanks to everyone else for there, insightful replies. I obviously agree with lichen, anonymous and Frank.

email archiving said...

I know in the real world this sometimes happen. But why make it to a computer game like Miss Bimbo? Girls are not that shallow and it is just wrong to teach the younger ones about the rewards of these kinds of activities.

document storage said...

This is a very disturbing computer game. I would not let my daughter play Miss Bimbo or any kind similar to this one.

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Why would people do such things, I think that they should stop this now.

Maurice.W said...

I can't believe that this game is real, viruses can easy attack our documents or files through this.
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