'Toxic' video game aimed at girls
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."
Coolest Girl in School is billed as the young woman's answer to Grand Theft Auto, the popular series in which players steal cars, kill police officers, and indulge criminal impulses.
The role-playing game puts a magnifying glass to the darker side of school life, with participants encouraged to experiment with fashion, drugs, sexuality, cutting class and spreading rumours.
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 Coolest Girl in School won't be widely available until January 2008, its ongoing testing in Adelaide, Australia, has at least one organization sounding the alarm over content it deems "toxic" and "grossly irresponsible."
But Holly Owen, creative director of Champagne for the Ladies - the studio behind Coolest Girl in School - believes her game is being unfairly demonized.
"We have had a lot of press and, unfortunately the game has been misrepresented in some articles," says Owen. "It is ... a very tongue-in-cheek look at the perils of the quest for cool in high school. Key word: irony!"
Owen notes that although activities such as smoking or using drugs "might seem obviously cool," they can work against a girl in the game, because she could be sent to virtual rehab or have foul-smelling breath when a love interest approaches her.
Christine Daviault, an expert on female gaming at Montreal's Concordia University, isn't sure the target audience will detect the game's intended tone.
"I just don't think most people will see it as tongue-in-cheek," Daviault says. "(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."
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