Kim Kardashian’s game is starting to take its toll. People are crying for help on anonymous social networks like Whisper to confess their addiction to this mindless app.
The Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app, made by Glue Mobile, is making almost $2 million per week in virtual sales. And with advertising it could be a $200 million annual moneymaker. It has spent most of its time since launch among the top 5 downloaded games.
The app is simple: You just tap your way from a virtual nobody to a virtual A-List celebrity (still an actual nobody) by going to photo shoots, shopping and climbing the superficial rungs of Hollywood by going on dates and to parties. It’s like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" without any actual adventure, and it often involves you paying—up to $99—to accelerate your progress.
Making progress in the game has indeed become a full-blown obsession with some people. They’re proclaiming their compulsion in anonymous forums like Whisper, displaying all the stages of addiction from denial to acceptance. Some are even enablers—women dragging their boyfriends to join them.
Here are the signs you’re addicted:
At first, you just don’t get it.
Sure, it’s stupid, but you can’t seem to resist.
Addiction creeps in.
Then your new addiction takes a sinister turn.
You start pushing it on others and they’re now addicted.
It starts interferring with those other activities that used to bring so much joy.
It’s getting in the way of your work.
Life itself has a little less joy.
And just like that the will to live is gone.
