Gamertell

Mobile game Coolest Girl in School has been dubbed a Grand Theft Auto for Girls and has already raised some concern in Australia where its currently being beta tested.

The goal of the game is to lie, bitch and flirt your way to the top of the high school ladder to be the coolest, even if it means experimenting with fashion, drugs and sex. Cut classes, manipulate your teachers to get what you want and spread rumors to get the upper hand on classmates who stand in your way. Above all, do not embarrass yourself. Every interaction with the inhabitants of the school affects your social status in the game.

Although this game is not scheduled to be released until January 2008, a beta test in Australia has already stirred up attention.

“The activities in the game have been shown through vast amounts of research to cause significant, long-term problems for young people,” said a spokeswoman for the Australian Family Association.

Holly Owen creative director of Champagne for the Ladies, feels the attack on the game is unfair.

“We have had a lot of press and, unfortunately the game has been misrepresented in some articles,” Owen said. “It is ... a very tongue-in-cheek look at the perils of the quest for cool in high school. Keyword: irony!”

Owen said the negative activities such as smoking or using drugs “might seem obviously cool,” they can work against a character within the game as they have to deal with the consequences of their actions such as being sent to rehab or have bad breath when a potential love interest approaches her.

Christine Daviault, an expert on female gaming at Montreal’s Concordia University, said she’s not certain that the average female teen playing the game will see the tongue-in-cheek intentions Owen describes.

“I just don’t think most people will see it as tongue-in-cheek,” says Daviault. “(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.”

Daviault said just being called a Grand Theft Auto for Girls will certainly draw their attention to the game, but predicts that the same gamers will quickly lose interest in the game and move on.

“The tween and teen girls who don’t already engage in this type of behavior may think it’s an interesting fantasy for a short period of time, but I don’t think it’ll keep their attention for very long,” Daviault said. “For a fantasy to be successful, it needs to make you feel good. And I think this game is too corrosive to have that effect.”

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