Miss Bimbo online game under fire

Game condemned by anorexia treatment centre and investigated by premium rate regulator

Andrea-Marie Vassou, Computeract!ve 28 Mar 2008

An online game in which players can make their character take diet pills and have plastic surgery has concerned anorexia groups and premium phone rate regulator Phonepay Plus.

Miss Bimbo gives players a virtual character and allows them to compete to " become the most famous, beautiful, and sought after bimbo across the globe".

Players can use virtual money to buy clothes, plastic surgery or diet pills to maintain the character's “svelte” 127Ib, 5ft 6in figure. Extra virtual money can be purchased by sending a text message that costs £1.50.

The Rhodes Farm Clinic, which treats eating disorders, accused Miss Bimbo of being as “lethal as pro-anorexia websites”.

The premium rate regulator Phonepay Plus has confirmed that it is investigating claims that the site may breach UK law.

When contacted by Computeractive, a representative for Miss Bimbo told us there “was a lot of over-the-top press”.

He said the site had been built around the US Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which asks for a parent's permission if a child under the age of 13 posts personal information on a site.

“There is no minimum age for a child to use this site but we used this Act as a guideline as we couldn't find anything similar in the UK.”

"We will be getting rid of the diet pills from the site but we will be keeping the breasts as the plastic surgery option has been popular,” he said.

Computeractive visited the site and registered twice: once as an adult and once pretending to be nine years old. When posing as a nine-year-old the site asked for a parent's email address to get permission.

However, once our "parent" had approved, both accounts were able to play the game identically.

In a statement, Phonepay Plus said: "Our code of practice has specific requirements for services targeted at children or likely to be particularly attractive to children.

"In addition to issues around cost, our rules make it clear that services should not exploit or provide content that parents are likely to think unacceptable.

"We are looking into claims that the Miss Bimbo service might contravene these requirements."

Parents or children who have concerns about Miss Bimbo’s premium rate services are being advised to contact the regulator.

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