'Miss Bimbo' online game gets makeover amid criticism
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 1, 2008 | 12:37 PM ET
CBC News
The makers of the online game "Miss Bimbo" have removed the option for players to purchase virtual diet pills as the game targeting young girls comes under close scrutiny.
The game encourages players to create a character that will "become the most famous and beautiful bimbo in the world."
'The message is clear and simple: a girl's value is in her looks, and if you're not happy with it then fix the way you look, and that's the only way you'll be happy.'—Linda Papadopoulos, psychologist
Players shop for lingerie, strive to reach a target weight and can use reward money deemed "bimbo bucks" to pay for breast enhancements and — until this past weekend — diet pills. The ultimate goal of the game is to attract a virtual billionaire boyfriend.
"As a result of this rather surprising media attention, we have decided to remove the option of purchasing diet pills from the game," said a statement posted on the site, which also noted they were trying to fix operational difficulties owing to increased traffic. "We apologise to any players whom this may inconvenience, but we feel in light of this week's proceedings, it is the correct action to take.
Psychologist Linda Papadopoulos said the site offers girls a troubling solution.
"The message is clear and simple: a girl's value is in her looks, and if you're not happy with it then fix the way you look, and that's the only way you'll be happy," she said.
Similarly Dee Dawson, a UK-based eating disorder expert, said the game's messages are inappropriate.
"It tells you that a balanced diet is a plate of vegetables which is clearly nonsense and it tells you that cereal bars make you fat, they are not messages we should be giving to young children," she said.
But, Nicholas Jacquart and Chris Evans, the makers of Miss Bimbo, defend the game as satire. They also note players are also offered positive games to play.
"It just seem to be some journalists who picked up on one or two areas of it and completely ignored all the positives," said Evans. "What about the Sudoku challenges? What about loving your bimbo? What about taking care of your bimbo sending it to university?"
Miss Bimbo requires parents to register for girls under age 13. In France, where the game first launched, the site has attracted a million users.
