The shocking ‘Plastic Surgery’ game – found on popular family site silvergames.co.uk – allows children to take a cartoon girl through the process of harrowing procedures, which include scalpels and syringes.
The main image - advertising the free cartoon game which is suggested to kids of 12 and above – shows a cartoon character surrounded by knives, needles and plasters next to a much slimmer yet bustier girl with bandages on her face. Internet protection experts told The Mirror, the game was “highly inappropriate” and it has escaped new online safety regulations because it is a game kids can play alone.
Plastic Surgery features needles and operationsCarolyn Bunting, CEO of online safety organisation Internet Matters said: “The ‘Plastic Surgery’ game is an example of an online platform which is clearly aimed at children, but is highly inappropriate for them. I urge the developers to consider the appropriateness of this game for children, and to implement robust age assurance to ensure that children are not harmed. The Online Safety Bill – due to pass into legislation in a matter of weeks – will introduce regulation of user-to-user and search platforms.
"This will ensure children can enjoy the benefits of connected technology, while reducing the risks. Unfortunately, the ‘Plastic Surgery’ game falls out of the scope of the new regulatory regime – as it does not facilitate interaction between users.”
Children under the age of 18 are banned in the UK from having any plastic surgery. But despite being suggested to kids 12 and over, there is no age verification process to access the game in fact it is one of the first games that come up on search engines when searching ‘Games for Girls’.
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Plastic Surgery was made by German firm SilverGamesIn its blurb for the game, it says: “When no diet can help a girl to find her beauty, there may be one quick but slightly painful solution. Become a plastic surgeon and make that girl’s dream come true. Perform a Plastic Surgery on your patient and dress her up in order to get her as pretty as she could possibly get. Do you think you can manage to get this life-changing job done correctly? Every body type and appearance is beautiful in the same way, but if you want to look like the typical model, you can find a way here.”
The sick cartoon is made by German firm SilverGames but is one of hundreds of cartoon games on the site, which features a host of ‘surgery games’. The site is on the first pages of Google searches when you enter ‘Free games for kids”.
Plastic Surgery, which is found in the ‘girls’ and ‘surgery’ sections of the website, can be played by simply clicking a big button saying ‘PLAY’. A child-friendly tune plays in the background as you start. There is no waiver to say you are over a certain age.
Kids are presented with a girl standing in a surgeon’s room next to a nurse and a doctor. After agreeing to surgery, you are shown the dramatic transformation your character will have after surgery. Kids then are asked to draw lines of incision on their character for surgery before applying a syringe to areas that require liposuction. Young users are then asked to wrap their character in bandages and presented with a scene saying ‘5 days later’ where they are presented with another game where they have to take stitches out on their characters’ face. They are then presented with a scene called ‘5 weeks after surgery’, where you have to dress your thinner, bustier and more glamorous character.
Carolyn Bunting added: “The developer should also consider its obligations under the Age-Appropriate Design Code, to ensure that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration when designing services likely to be accessed by children. It is crucial platforms take their responsibilities towards children seriously. Children and teenagers must be protected from harmful content in the digital environment. This includes material which may leave a lasting negative effect on body image. A greater degree of insight and protection must, therefore, come from parents and teachers to ensure that children are engaging with developmentally appropriate content online.
“An individual’s experiences in adolescence are pivotal in setting up how they perceive and feel about their body for the rest of their lives. There is strong evidence showing the link between online content that promotes unrealistic beauty standards, to negative body image among young people – in particular among teenage girls. Negative thoughts about appearance, in turn, can lead to more serious problems including depression, anxiety and eating disorders.”
Silver Games were unavailable for comment.
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