ROSE Blog: Rikki's Open Source Exchange

It's hard work (really really really hard work) being a modern mom, and some people just don't make our jobs any easier. When I first heard about the Miss Bimbo game, I hoped it was a bad joke. Sadly, it doesn't look like it is.
According to Karen McVeigh's article in The Guardian:

"The aim of the Miss Bimbo beauty contest game, which was launched in Britain last month, is to become the 'hottest, coolest, most famous bimbo in the whole world', and contestants who compete against each other are told to 'stop at nothing', even 'meds or plastic surgery', to ensure their dolls win."

Karen says that there are more than 200,000 players in the UK, mostly between ages 9-16, and 1.2 million players in France. This horrifies me. As much as I'd like to think that I monitor my 11-year-old daughter's Internet activities, I can't sit and watch her every keystroke. And while I'm pretty certain my daughter would be just as repulsed by this game as I am, there are thousands of other daughters in the world who are not.

For now, the front of the Miss Bimbo website has the following message:

Dear Players,
Due to unforseen worldwide interest in Miss Bimbo we have had difficulty in maintaining our game in the manner players have become accustomed. We are sorry for this incoveneience and can assure you that our game will be up and running as soon as possible.
As a result of this rather surprising media attention we have decided to remove the option of purchasing diet pills from the game. We apologise to any players whom this may inconvenience but we feel in light of this weeks proceedings it is the correct action to take.
We would also like to sincerely apologise to our players for the media comparison of Miss Bimbo and Paris Hilton. We feel that this does a dis-service to the players whom send their bimbos to university, tea parties or chess tournaments.
At this time we would also like to remind players that the Miss Bimbo team assume no responsibility or liability for any fashion faux pas, hair style disasters or boob jobs incurred in real life as as a result of playing the Miss Bimbo game.
The Miss Bimbo Team.

I hope the site is not up and running soon, or ever.

Instead, I'd like to see an online game featuring one of my daughter's heros, Kansas native Amelia Earhart. The Amelia's Flight Simulation Game could take my daughter through trivia, flight training, trip preparation, geography, mapping, weather forecasts, and airplane repair. Players could pick from a wardrobe of kicky aviation outfits. Amelia's plane could land on undiscovered islands and players could gather found objects to write S.O.S. signs on the beach or build rafts to float to the mainland. Now that would be a clever game and get my Mom Seal of Approval.

Miss Bimbo. Really. What were they thinking?