A Rambling Introduction.
When first heard of Miss Bimbo, most of the information to hand came from second- or third-hand sources, people who had not necessarily played the game themselves but had instead heard about it from another, or read about it in the newspaper, or knew some one whose child said they had played it. Understandably, then, most of the information I received came in wake of the media interest in the game, and I was worried that news sources, ever mindful of the next big thing to hype up and drag through the dirt for as long as possible, might not be offering a fair judgement of the game.
Additionally, as a feminist, I was concerned at the message that this game would send to young children. Oh, don't get me wrong. I am well aware that children are not he naive, bouncy little balls of innocence and sweetness that Anne Geddes would have one believe. At least, not once they start school and have contact with people outside of their immediate family. Nor do I believe that this is the only, or even the most, concerning thing that children may be exposed to.
However, we live in a society where, despite lipservice being paid to notions of equality, there is still a massive division between the sexes. This division is worsened continuously by the continuous messages we receive, telling us that we must behave in a certain manner in order to be acceptable. Women's magazines will dedicate pages to lavishly and relentlessly picking out every physical flaw in the bodies of the celebrities we see, and yet by only using heavily airbrushed images except where their "spot the wrinkle" specials are printed. Men's magazines degrade women with sexist jokes and the insistence on tit and arse specials and offensive humour. Both teach people that voyeurism, and judging a person's worth based on how artificially perfect they are, is a legitimate act and even that it is within a person's right to do so. We feel entitled to treat with contempt people that are not conventionally attractive, do not slavishly obey the requiements of being a perfect man or perfect woman, or who are simply different. Adverts for alcohol, lingerie, sportwear, fragrances and an increasing number of products use not just sex, but hints of violent sex, to sell products.
Children's entertainment often plays into this on a simpler level, and yet this is more troubling since children absorb what they learn at a very young age and, if certain notions are not addressed and debated, sexist ideals can become ingrained. The Miss Bimbo game, at first glance, certainly plays into this. Apearance can be deceiving however, so it seemed prudent to take a look for myself and draw my own conclusions.
A Surface Glance
My review of this game will be necessarily affected by one glaring fact. The website runs like utter, heaving shite. It looks Java-based, based on the loading graphics that frequently pop up before the inevitable time-out errors. Pages regularly fail to load and at present I am unable even to access the front page of the website. I apologise, therefore, that thus far I have not had the opportunity to take an in-depth look at the game features. For this reason, further chapters in this review will be released later, as I am able to spend more time playing.
The premise for Miss Bimbo seems somewhat similar toother online childrens' games, such as Neopets, in that you create your own virtual pet, care for them, level them up and explore the world they live in, playing games to earn spending points and, occassionally, spending actual money as well. This game differs in that, instead of a cute fantasy creature, your "pet" appears to be a teenage girl with the proportions of a doll.
Registering for the game is worryingly easy. The game website pays lipservice to parental guidance. You are required to enter an email for yourself, and one for your parents. However, any fool knows how easy it would be to simply use two personal email addresses. Additionally, whilst the game states that notification will be sent to the parental email address, children can play instantly, being limited only to not using the chat and forum areas. Additionally, the verification code arrived at the email address I gave as my personal one, not the parental one. Regsitration is also very short and simple. Please see the screencap below. That short form is all that I needed to fill in before playing.
Please note that I did not choose that name, for my final username. I have more taste than that!
The doll herself was plain and naked when I received her. Admittedly, however, the game was not running especially well and I note that she initially had no hair either, although this appeared later, so it is reasonable to expect that some plain clothing or underwear would have been present had the game server not been acting up. The legs, like those of Barbie and many comic book heroines, are unnaturaly long. The torso is extremely small in relation to the rest of the body, and very slim as well. Arms are pencil-thin and hands and feet are small and pointed. The natural pose for the doll is extremely girly and passive, but with a "sassy" modern twist. The hips and head are cocked, the doll is standing with her body not facing you directly, but turned very slightly to the side. One arm hangs limly down, whilst another hangs lightly on a hip. I was offered no options to change the skin colour, body size or pose of my bimbo, and thus I am unable at the first stage to inject any personality of my own into her. Customisation is possible, however, through the use of clothing, hair and makeup, and I have seen other skin colours on the dolls.
Bimbos come with certain stats and features, including an IQ, a saving of spendable points and attitude points. My starter IQ is 70, which is in fact considered sub-normal. The average human IQ is approximately 100, with 135, I think, being the starting point for a certified genius. Bimbos also have a starting weight, which is also their target weight. Bimbos are expected to try to remain at approximately 135 lb. There is also an "ideal height", although how a bimbo is expected to keep to this I do not know. The ideal weight and neight for my Bimbo puts her slap bang in the middle fo the "normal" BMI range. My own personal issues with that measuring scale aside, I admit I had expected the creators to set the standard at borderline underweight. My only issue is that the body shown in these images does not, in any way, correlate with a height of 5 foor 6 and a weight of 135lb, making this just another image adding to the many that resultin people these days having skewed ideas of what "underweight" and "overweight" means. Then again, the image is completely unrealistic in any case, so I'm not sure whether this could be considered relevant. I leave you to make your own decision on that one.
A Bimbo also has certain goals to meet, which allow it to move up the ranks. These include increasing the IQ, getting a new hairstyle, getting a job, losing and gaining weight. One goal involes gaining weight to become a curvy, plus-size fashion model. The target weight, however, is onyl 154lb, putting my Bimbo still within the "normal" category, albeit a mere 1lb away from "overweight". Not plus size at all. As a result, I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or not. In the first instance, the language used to describe being a plus size model in this goal is very positive, and sends the message that larger women are still beautiful, However, by setting the goal so low, the game also states that "normal" girls are, in fact, plus sized.
The ability to gain IQ points is a positive plus, and in fact obtaining a high IQ is one of the goals of the game. This can be done by sending your Bimbo to the library, or by playing sudoku and puzzle games. Sadly, IQ point rewards are tiny; as little as half a point and for some games the maximum is only 1 or 2 points. Contrast this to the scratchcard game, which gives away 30 or 40 spendable points a day, and activities like going to the hairdresser that typically give away 30 points, and this sends the message that learning is hard. It's much easier to get ahead by being pretty than by being smart, and rewards for vanity arrive much more quickly than those for intellectualism.
Keeping the body at the goal weight involves monitoring of food and exercise. A Bimbo can gain weight by eating lots of steak and chocolate, or lose it by eating vegetables and drinking soya milk and water. A Bimbo can also lose weight, however, by starving herself, and at the moment I do not know what negative effects this has. Diet pills were an additonal weight loss option, but these have been removed now. I don't yet know how easy weight loss for the Bimbo is using only healthy eating and exercise, so I can't say how tempting it would be to simply starve my Bimbo should Ineed to reduce her weight. More on that, later.
Overall, so far the game still seems troubling to me. There are positive aspects, but these are added in such a way as to seem more about paying lipservice to expected criticism rather than a real effort towards such things.
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I'm afraid that is all for today, since I cannot access most of the webste on some nights, and none o the website on others. More to come!
