This is so messed up
Miss Bimbo is an online game designed for girls as young as nine, where players are invited to meet the demands of a voracious, virtual teenager whose needs include binge eating and fasting - and plastic surgery. Since its UK launch a month [ago, the website has attracted more than 200,000 visitors.
With a cursory glance at the rules of the “game”, parents of today’s computer-obsessed youngsters will quickly understand its insidious appeal.
Like so many virtual worlds designed to draw in the young, Miss Bimbo calls on the child’s instinct to nurture.The girl who chooses to play on this website is invited to adopt a character and provide for her care by performing online tasks to earn “virtual” money to spend on her charge. The more you play, the higher you climb up a ladder of skills.
She is a teenage mannequin, a “Bimbo” - complete with bunny-girl ears, pouting lips, blank expression and pneumatic breasts.
In stark contrast to the fluffy “virtual pets” which became a fad on the internet a few years ago, the Bimbo’s needs are not for food, shelter and exercise.
She must be provided with modelling jobs, diet pills, breast augmentation - and a fabulously wealthy man who will pay for her expensive tastes.
So, for example, when a player reaches skill level seven, she is advised: “After you broke up with your boyfriend, you went on an eating binge! Now it’s time to diet.”
At level nine, she should “have a nip and tuck operation for a brand new face”; at level 11, secure a breast operation because “big is best”; and on level 17, “meet a billionaire on vacation, catch his eye and his love!”
The website’s creators - two young men named Chris Evans and Nicholas Jacquart - have spent the past week touring the television studios defending the game as a bit of harmless fun.
“We are not encouraging girls to have breast operations,” Mr Evans explained, rather disingenuously. “It is just part of the game.”
According to Mr Jacquart, the game is itself a joke: “It simply mirrors real life in a tongue-in-cheek way.”
Neither denied that Miss Bimbo was designed for children as young as nine; instead they insisted that it is not a bad influence on young minds.
And yet child experts, doctors and eating disorder specialists have been queuing up to point out that whether or not the Bimbo game is intended to be ironic, irony is lost on little girls, who are much more likely to absorb the instructions as valid advice.
At nine, a child’s over-riding desire is to fit in with the herd, and this game sends out a powerful message that to be size zero, famous and rich is the ultimate goal, whatever must be sacrificed in the quest.
June 26, 2008 at 4:47 pm
OMG that is AWFUL! HOLY CRAP! Wow our society is messed up! Why on earth do they allow stuff like this???
June 26, 2008 at 4:53 pm
It is the Parents role to monitor what websites their child visits. If their child visits this and they do not block it, it is then their own fault.
June 26, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Every where you look these days …that’s all their is –CRAP!! The t.v. , the movies, even the commericals …no where is safe.You can’t watch over our youth 24/7 , but you can inform them , teach them about the eating disorders and healthy choices instead —-LEAD BY EXAMPLE!!!
June 26, 2008 at 4:58 pm
that trerible fern HellI dont play video gamesand dont letmy son have a Xbox or be online yet ifit not to do homework
June 26, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Logical progression from Bratz dolls (SPECIFICALLY TARGETED FOR THAT YOUNG GIRL AGE GROUP), Zwinkies, that stupid IMVU thingie that’s like virtual Zwinkies, the characters available in the Sims. The simple solution is easy: block the site. I don’t care if you’re "computer illeterate" as a parent, it is your responsibility to protect your child. And friggin get involved in their life! That’s the problem with society today, and why kids are so unruly today–parents want society to raise, but not discipline them.
June 26, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Id kick my daughters butt if I found out she visited it, but she is 18 now….and bigger than me, BUT afraid of me….hahaaa! I hated Bratz dolls and never bought her one. She did get some Barbies, but usually ones with dark hair and full clothing, no hootchie outfits.
As for computer monitoring, most parent are probably not as adept at PC’s as their kids are nowadays. Its the new "babysitter"
June 26, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Jeezus…….There are some awfuly crude video games as well. You cannot protect them from mainstream culture, in my opinion. What you can do is discuss with them what sensible boundaries are, and lead by example.
June 27, 2008 at 5:20 pm
i just watched the utube video…geeze
Fern you should come over and beat that creator of that game up…