the net raiders

So I found this website called Girls Go Games and like any curious female gamer decided to see what they had. I’m not the most feminist person in the world, but I do know a bad game when I see it, and that’s all this website has. In fact some of them aren’t even games, they’re dress up simulations. Every single game on this website is geared towards the stereotypes that a lot of women and girls try and break away from. The gaming categories consist of such subjects as; Animal, Celebrity, Cooking, Doll, Dress Up, Make Up, Makeover, Princess, and Room Makeover games. There’s even a “Fun Games” category, which let me tell you, is a lie. Some of these games don’t have controls more than – push a button. What’s worse is that these games practically encourage poor behavior and negative imagery for women.

I played some of the dress up games because I like putting together outfits, like character design. Dress up games are kind of fun for me because seeing different combination’s of clothes together without having to try them on makes sense. These games are ridiculous though. Some of them are just bad because there’s a poor selection and all this random flash animation in the background, which I know is just eating up my already limited bandwidth! Other games are obnoxious because you can’t see all of the clothing, everything is so jammed together you can’t get to anything you want. The other thing that really gets on my nerves is the models.

Paparazzi Princess was one of those games that just really irritated that part of me that hates pop culture. You can pick four different models, all the same except for their faces and skin tone. Mary-Kate, Ashley, Lindsey and Paris are your models for this game. Pick from 7 different outfits what you’re wearing for the day, then go pick out a sidekick. You can choose between the hot guy, the other disproportionate girl, or a small dog. Then you pick where you want to go “hang out” and the paparazzi take pictures of you. The picture gets slapped on a fake magazine cover and that’s then you start all over again. Miss Beautiful Dress Up didn’t score too many other points with me either since the models head is twice as big as her waist like a Bratz doll. Talk about negative reinforcement.

Parents, if you care about your little girls growing up with a healthy self image and the ability to think about things besides who’s on the cover of the newest People or OK magazine, don’t let them play the games on this website. These games aren’t mentally stimulating, and they only promote shallow materialistic behavior. I’m all for women flaunting their natural feminine gifts, but please just be able to carry a conversation with me about something besides; Animals, Celebrities, Cooking, Dolls, Dressing Up, Make Up, Makeovers, Princesses, and Room Makeovers.