Friday, February 25, 2011

Feminism is f*&%ed.


I saw a young friend of mine on Facebook posted some "It Girl" illustrations so I clicked over to see what all the fuss was about. I was intrigued/alarmed, because my first thought was that the "It Girl" images looked pretty much like Barbie if Barbie was a trendy teenager and she went to raves and/or appeared on a reality show and/or was a young hooker and/or had multi-cultural, fashion-obsessed friends.

There are 9 million "It Girl" users on Facebook. It is an avatar-based online shopping game. And here, verbatim, are the rules.

What is the purpose of the game? Welcome to CrowdStar’s It Girl: a place for fun, fashion and beautiful people. The purpose of the game is to become the It Girl, the most stylish person at cool events around the world, surrounded by the biggest clique! Visit stores to search racks for fashionable outfits, attend events and Show Off against rivals for the It Girl title. You can move around this ultra-cool world by clicking before or behind your avatar or by dragging your avatar back and forth. How do I create and customize my Avatar? You will be walked through your Avatar customization when you first start playing the game. After that, you can visit the Spa to change/update your Avatar’s appearance. How do I get cool clothing? Visit Stores by click on the door. Search through the racks to find clothing. Each piece of clothing has a ‘style rating’ that helps you Show Off. Clicking on the items will also show you how much it costs, and give you the option to try it on before buying. It will also tell you the type of event that particular item of clothing will be appropriate for (Black tie, Nightlife, etc.). If you decide to buy the item, it will be placed in your Closet. Visit your closet to change your outfits. Racks display as either hidden or searched. Once you search through a particular rack, it will display as ‘searched.’ As new inventory comes in, the rack will go back to being hidden. Hover your mouse over a searched rack to display the type of clothing available. Shopping in stores is like a treasure hunt: stores restock at random times. So come back to relook at inventory. On a random basis you will find an uncommon or rare item. Reminder: searching racks uses up Energy points. Use your energy wisely! How do I gain energy? Energy renews over time. You may buy power ups in the coffee shop using premium currency. You can also give and receive energy as a free gift. Simply publish a feed for your friends to send you some! How do I earn more money? You earn money over time. Think of it like an allowance. You can keep getting some as you keep coming into game. Your allowance gets bigger the more as you level up. Why am I seeing closed stores? A Store will show up as closed if you are not at the required level. However, you may gain entry into a closed store without being at the level by paying premium currency. What are Quests? Click on the Quest icons on the left of the game screen to display the description, requirements and rewards associated. Completing Quests gets you invitations to events. What are Events? All events fall under four Event Types: Night Life, Outdoor, Black Tie, Classy Casual, Casual Hip, and Beach Party. Events are parties or other social gatherings like a Debutante Ball, Lawn Party, Summer Rooftop party, etc. How do I enter events? You can get an invitation to attend an event by completing a quest or by attending other events You must complete the event requirements to be able to attend. For example: a Black Tie event – Debutante Ball – is being held at the Five Seasons Hotel on 5th Avenue. You are required to visit the stores that sell clothing for that event type (Black Tie in this case) and buy a black lace dress, black pumps, pearl necklace and pearl earrings. In order to attend the Debutante Ball, you must first buy the required clothing items and accessories at a suitable store. Next, you must find and travel to the venue: Five Seasons Hotel on 5th Avenue. You can also gain an invitation by clicking on an in-game ad promoting the event. Remember, events are only open at a specific time. You may not enter the event before the start time or after the end time. What happens at an Event? When you are at the event, you will need to Show Off against several other party girls. These are other real players who play It Girl. You can identify these party girls by the exclamation mark floating in a thought bubble above their heads. Click on the party girl to get a compliment from them. If you get a compliment, you will gain confidence points. If you get a negative comment, you lose confidence points. The event continues until you win the Show Off (by getting compliments from several party girls), or if you lose (because of negative comments), or if you run out of stamina. The number of party girls you defeat (by getting compliments from them) determines the outcome of the Show Off. How do I gain confidence? The Confidence bar (heart icon) determines how much you can battle at each event. When you battle against another party girl your confidence (and hers) will go down each time, even if you win. You're battling your confidence versus her confidence. Whoever loses lesser confidence is the winner. How much confidence you lose is determined by the outfit you’re wearing, your clique size, and the style points of your whole closet. How do I gain stamina? Stamina determines the number of events that you can go to. You gain stamina at a fixed rate through the game; the maximum amount being determined by your level. You may also purchase stamina using premium currency.


So fueled by caffeine, you tart yourself up and shop for clothes and try to get friends to join your clique. To gain self confidence, you have to get people to compliment you. And you loose self esteem points on a matrix that calculates how big your clique is and what is in your closet.

Honestly, I don't really need to say more, do I?

Except maybe to repeat my headline. Feminism is f^%#ed.






2 comments:

  1. I agree - this whole thing is mindless B.S.

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  2. I don't know if this has as much to do with feminism, as it does with life in any big American City, especially Los Angeles! ;) Though, part of me does want you to know that I would totally tart myself up to be in your clique. I want you to know that Stacy, I want you to know it baaaad.

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