November 23, 2007
Coolest Girl in School, a mobile phone game billed by its publisher as "Grand Theft Auto for Girls", is drawing criticism from some quarters. As reported by Canada.com:A controversial new video game for girls implies that stealing, sexual dalliances, drug use and gossiping pave the path to teenage empowerment, with the express objective being to "lie, bitch and flirt your way to the top of the high school ladder."
According to the game developer, "teachers exist to be manipulated," a looming parent signals potential "social death," new clothes are procured by stealing from the mall, and bribery is an exit strategy for sticky situations.
Although the game won't be released until early next year, a beta test in the Australian market has some watchdogs concerned. A spokeswoman for the Australian Family Association said:
The activities in the game have been shown through vast amounts of research to cause significant, long-term problems for young people.
However, Holly Owen, the creative director for Coolest Girl in School publisher Champagne for the Ladies, felt the game was being attacked unfairly:
Unfortunately the game has been misrepresented in some articles. It is ... a very tongue-in-cheek look at the perils of the quest for cool in high school. Key word: irony!
Owen noted that although smoking or drug use in-game "might seem obviously cool," they can cause the player's character to be sent to rehab or have bad breath when a potential boyfriend is near.
Online expert Christine Daviault of Montreal's Concordia University questioned whether youthful players would grasp the game's subtle humor:
I just don't think most people will see it as tongue-in-cheek. (Youth players) are at a crossroads in the formation of their personalities and a game like this basically fosters a warped idea of what constitutes success and how to get it.
Youth media consultant Anastasia Goodstein thought CGIS might be a liitle too real to be fun:
Coolest Girl In School sounds a lot like high school. Do girls need to play a game to remind them of high school's depressing social hierarchy?
From the game's website:
Coolest Girl in School lets players live out their high school fantasies. Experiment with fashion! Experiment with drugs! Experiment with your sexuality! Cut class! Spread rumors! But try to avoid dying of embarrassment- literally!
In Coolest Girl in School fashion and communication reign supreme. Working out what the hell to wear and answering hilarious quizzes makes or breaks you. Students are labeled according to the sub-culture they subscribe to...
Nobody said being the Coolest Girl in School would be easy…
Comments
News Flash: The overwhelming majority of people do not have problems with seperating FANTASY, REALITY, DESIRABLE NORMS, and ACCEPTABLE CONDUCT.
Mobile games actually have huge sales figures. There are a LOT of casual gamers that lap this stuff up. This game will probably be commercially succesful due to the low cost and quick development pipeline of mobile games.
And despite all that, I still don't care.
This is a non-issue. This type of satirical look at the stereotypical school hierarchy has been done a million times in all forms of media, and the only reason this is getting attention is because it's a game. Next.
"Man, this game isn't going to sell at all. Nobody will care enough to buy it."
"I've got it! We'll compare it to a controversial, violent game. Also, this comparion will need a slogan with a slightly sexist undertone."
"How about we suggest that it's Grand Theft Auto for girls!"
"Brilliant! The media watch dogs will be all over it after this!"
yes, yes, yes, but at least when a girl's parents sees this game and how it's associated of being a 'controversial' or 'evil' game, at least the parent will learn whatever behaviours they saw in the game to be bad will and recognize it in real life. IF the game is an effective teaching tool or it might crash as an oppotunistic clone
Wow, they must think young people are completely stupid.
Coolest Girl In School sounds a lot like high school. Do girls need to play a game to remind them of high school’s depressing social hierarchy?
Since nothing has changed in, like, uh, forever, maybe they totally do. A-duh!
*vomit*
However this doesn't apply to grand theft auto let's compare the two
Ultimate Goal
GTA: Become the drug king, king of the city, criminal king, etc. (very unrealistic)
This game: Become the most popular girl in high school (not unrealistic at all)
How you achieve it
GTA: Engage in ferocious gun battles that only action heroes could possibly win, commit a ton of crimes and rob people (not very realistic)
This game: Bitch, gossip, bribe, take drugs (some people actually have to do this to get popular, peer pressure is quite a bitch).
Unless the humor and parody is stupidly obvious I don't think they should publish the game (although I'm not going to try to force them to not publish the game).
It's almost too bad that all of these arguments are moot; as a mobile phone game, almost exactly no one in America will ever play it.
The last one I agree with ,the first two, not so much.
The Barbie thing ain't so bad as it's portrayed as a career woman with her own property, and lipstick should be a personal choice when to or not to wear it
Except instead of trying to solve problems in a school, in this game it's your goal to create them.
Sounds like art imitating real life actually.
IN FACT you do things in games precisely because you can't (physcially, morally, ethically, whatever) do it in real life
For argument's sake, let's say you DO get better at shooting in a game... you still will not (morally, ethically, etc) do it in real life.
I do like that article a bit back where the guy talks about how veterans didn't come back and become murders and thieves, but the Greatest Generation.
About Barbie, not anymore. I still watch cartoons, to tell the truth, and I see a lot of commercials for Barbie. She's basically a whore now. Though on the subject of dolls, Bratz are worse, in my opinion.
And according to Seanbaby, the male version would be "Dudez: Tractor Yeah" where boys do manly things like drive cars, vote and do math.
The main thing is this, if this is what schools are ( and they are from my experience) then how about we ban schools which create this behavior in real life and can't even teach kids to tell what is real and what is a game as well as the ability to see lessons in a story...
hey you are the ones that think your children are too dumb to figure these things out... sounds like you have bigger problems than a game higlighting them for all to see...oh wait that is the problem isn't it...you don't care as long as it isn't shoved in your face...
I doubt anyone has ever been influenced negatively by a game at all...
agression isn't a negative thing...
increase had idea coordination as well as better perception probably aren't negative things either...
Honestly, I agree that games shouldn't encourage that.. but neither should the music industry, movie industry, toy industry, fashion industry...
Honestly, the sort of behavior all sorts of media is promoting in young girls is appalling, this is just another one on the list if it is.
I can see how the creators probably see it as tongue in cheek, but I can also see why some people worry that kids will just lump it in with all the other media which influences them to become drug taking whores.
Quoted for truth. Though cell phone game sales pump pretty high, I'd dare a guess that the population looking for (and finding) and substantial experience on the level of a GTA is not going to find it in a game for cellphones.
But to be honest, this is high school. I know some people who are still in high school, and a lot of this is in there. Parties, gossip, stuff like that. It's a shame people don't try and stop most of this, but its become so attached with RL that it's hard to severe any ties with any of that stuff. It's sad really...
I'm not touching this with a 10 foot pole.
I can't believe they made another Bratz game.
Uh, no, Bully had you basically standing up AGAINST all the bullies. However, the means available of doing this being much the same as their tactics is intended to make a point.
Fight fire with fire.
1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
3. a literary genre comprising such compositions.
death
n.
1. The act of dying; termination of life.
2. The state of being dead.
la·ment
1. to feel or express sorrow or regret for: to lament his absence.
2. to mourn for or over.
–verb (used without object)
3. to feel, show, or express grief, sorrow, or regret.
4. to mourn deeply.
–noun
5. an expression of grief or sorrow.
6. a formal expression of sorrow or mourning, esp. in verse or song; an elegy or dirge.
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has society become stupid to the point where we have lost our sense of humour?
High school has been like this for quite some time, and I highly doubt you can blame how women have no actual role model on a game. Their current role models are whores like Paris Hilton, Tara Reid, Lindsay Lohan, and whatever other whore you can think of.
The fact is, they are bred to think like this at a younger age by bratz dolls, and Barbie has had to go to that route because Bratz looks "cooler" to the young girls.
I don't see what all the furor is. Sounds like everyday high school to me.
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Papa Midnight