Dissecting and Relabeling the Genre
So outside of Flash Game Friday posts, it’s pretty apparent that I have an unhealthy obsession with the Dress-Up Game genre. After some pondering and walking around the streets of San Francisco, I came upon the conclusion that made the most sense to me. The reason I like the Dress-Up Game experience isn’t because of the digital reproduction of paper dolls (though dressing someone up in seven dresses with shoes for a face always gives me a chuckle), but rather how it actually equates to my own childhood experiences. These things are action figures.

Now that I’ve made this clear distinction, I feel like a strange weight has been lifted off my shoulders. This stigma that’s attached to Dress-Up Games is now simply replaced with a comfortable act that I do on a semi-daily basis: accessorize and customize my action figure collection.

Now, a Dress-Up Game doesn’t seem so bad, does it? No coughing the word “nerd”, thanks.

I will, however, be the first one to admit the the Dress-Up Game straddles a thin line between game and toy. For the sake of this experiment I will call it a game, but in my heart I will still regard it as a digital version of a toy that I don’t have to fork over $8.99 at the store for (I saw some on the discount shelf at a Barnes and Noble).

So, what’s wrong with these games and what can be done?
One of the most obvious problems that I see with Dress-Up Games today is the fact that their creation and presence is as cookie cutter as the paper equivalents of which they are derived. I can’t help but feel that, ironically, there is nothing as empty and soulless than the overly sparkly glitter that follows your mouse cursor as you decide to give the current spotlight of your affection new duds. All of this superficial and shallow interactions feel devoid of any life. It’s like that movie A.I. where the robots looked human enough, but something about them just creeped you and your neighbors out for days.

Many of the Dress-Up games try to get a player to ignore this fact by diverting their attention towards something else. Some tactics I’ve seen include, but are not limited to: a pop song playing in the background, a multitude of dresses, sparkles or a “goal” of dressing up to meet the dreamy guy at the cafe. I frequently find myself just clicking on the “show” or “complete” button as soon as the game starts, sending my paper avatar out to her night on the town in nothing but her discount store undergarments. Hilarious? Most definitely. I then wondered why I did this (outside of the obvious strong urge for juvenile delinquency).

If a game doesn’t offer a direct challenge, engaging experience or other things we have come to expect with “good games”, we automatically write it off as another bomb and forgotten piece of ones and zeroes to drift aimlessly in the depths of internet space. By adding this layer of humor to the game, I then increase the implicit value of the game for my own consumption. Pablo Naruda once said that “Laughter is the language of the soul.” Maybe with this little speck of hope we can add a soul to this shell of a gaming experience.

Just take a moment to think of your own gaming experiences. Let’s take a sandbox title. Once you’re done with all of the missions and challenges, seen every corner of the city and collected every single package, what do you find yourself doing? You’re probably barreling down the street as fast as you can to see if you can get your avatar to launch himself out of the car window and tuck into a “perfect 10″ cannonball through the hot dog stand, sending dozens of digital wieners into the air to later come crashing down on unsuspecting citizens. It’s fun to just mess around within the confines of the rules of the box.

Is this the evolution of Dress-Up Games?
Please keep in mind that I’m just a guy in his mid-20s who enjoys his games (console, internet, traditional board and card, tabletop and whatever else I can get my grubby hands on). I’m not here to change the way Dress-Up Games work. As previously stated, they are just digital version of paper dolls. I’m just trying to see what can be done to make the appeal of these games a bit more widespread than the general “kid sister” demographic that has this inexplicable urge to put Hannah Montana in the latest fashions. There will always be a tween girl ready to do that and I’m not here to take that away from them.

What’s next?
So the plan and experiment is to see what can be done to these games by adding humor to them. It could be from the art, the interaction options available or even new features that aren’t often seen in a Dress-Up Game. Will it be good enough to survive the expected zero-bombing of Newgrounds and Kongregate (my two benchmarks for this experiment)? We shall see!