Whether parents are aware or not, playing games on the internet is something that a lot of kids like to do—it’s not a fad either, it’s here to stay. In fact, according to a 2009 report by the Media Literacy Clearinghouse, 81.2% of children access the web to play online games.The great thing is there are dozens of fun and engaging games on the internet that stay on safe grounds and don’t impose any negative influence on our children’s behavior. However, this influence can be highly dependent on the age of your child and how susceptible they are to the message that might be behind the game.
Unfortunately, London-based company, Blighty Arts, speaks to the contrary regarding negative adolescent influence. Blighty Arts is the creator of the free-Web game/virtual world, My Minx that of course can be played by anyone from any country. This site has been receiving a lot of scrutiny and rightfully so.
I went ahead and tested it myself to see what the fuss was all about, and I have to say, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I was prompted to set up my profile. To my surprise, in addition to the usual, of being able to choose my skin color for instance, I was then able to choose the breast size of my avatar!—sadly, this was only the beginning.
As I got further into the setup process of My Minx, I was asked what “I am”; the options to choose from made my jaw drop.
What gets me is the site looks like it was designed for tween and teen girls. It’s decorated with bright-pink banners, fashion symbols, and tween culture—but the content on the site is like that of an adult “friend finder” as it allows you to display your current mood as ‘horney’, ‘bi’, or ‘an alcoholic’.
“Come on!” was all I could think. Can’t we please find a way to provide positive reinforcement for our daughters instead of yet another example of throwing a culture at our kids that sexualizes them and teaches disrespect, and reinforces negative behavior?
In an article by Amy Hatch from Parentdish.com, the founder of Blighty Arts, Chris Evans, says that My Minx is “not aimed at children [...] this is for teens or early 20s”. Hmm…that’s funny because I could have sworn that “teens” included children who were 13, and I’m pretty sure that most parents would agree that the content in the site and the images shown here are not in any way appropriate for a 13 year old.
Evans goes on to make the claim that My Minx is “a responsible site” and that “if anyone is causing trouble on the site, we ban them”. Well unfortunately “trouble” isn’t the problem Chris—it’s the fact that your website, though you say it's intended for kids 13 and up (which doesn’t even justify the content), it's fully accessible by any child that can click a button and lie about their age. And just like other malicious social networks that open their doors to anyone and everyone, you and your company do nothing to prevent the same thing from happening here.
Not only is the virtual world openly accessible and full of adult content, but the message behind the site isn’t very good either (to say the very least). The site influences children to mimic the methods of movie actresses and Hollywood fashionistas—most of which shouldn’t be idolized.
Once digging deeper into the site, I found out that you are able to adopt children from different countries in the hopes of replicating Angelina Jolie and Madonna – thus making your avatar more fashionable. As you know I’m an adoptive parent and I was truly disturbed by this. How despicable to imply that women adopt for any reason other than love and wanting to make a difference in the life of a child. How callous to diminish the importance of adoption. I’m personally grateful for celebrities adopting--since we’re such a celebrity-focused society. If Madonna and Angelina can influence other parents to adopt, then that is a wonderful thing in my opinion.
To add to the unbelievable amount of crap (for lack of a better word) on the site, members can use the in-game currency, called “pink pounds”, to buy contraceptives such as condoms and morning-after pills. How is this OK for a thirTEEN year old Chris? Ohhhh that’s right, I forgot, you already explained that: “This is a stylish game for stylish ladies” says Evans. Right, because morning-after pills and adopting Moroccan children is “stylish”. How dare you apply your lack of values and morals to a game that targets children.
To top it off, I continued to mine my way through the site and found that, whether permitted or not, My Minx was using SpongeBob SquarePants to promote the purchasing of their pink pounds. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know too many people in their early 20s who still watch SpongeBob, and if they do I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be intrigued enough by SpongeBob to buy some pink pounds—so who’s the REAL target audience Chris?
Parents, online games are fun for our kids. They can be engaging, positive, educational and rewarding. However, using this game as an example clearly demonstrates why it’s important you spend time in the communities your children are a part of. Navigate your way around the community with your children. Here, My Minx has all the things I’m concerned about: the wrong content, the wrong culture, and the accessibility to our children by the wrong people.
I say no to My Minx for your children and mine.
Feb
9
