Flashback Friday!: Playdom’s Sorority Life
Did anyone else play the Facebook game Sorority Life?
Created by Playdom and later acquired by Disney, Sorority Life was game on Facebook. It debuted in 2009 and was a very successful and popular game until it was closed in 2014.
While it was around I was pretty shocked to learn that this was a pretty polarizing game. I had always thought it was silly game that ate up too much of my time when I should have been doing something school related.
I couldn’t help it! They game was so addictive plus you got rewarded just for logging in!
And I do agree that there were a few elements that aren’t that great, especially the aspect of girl-on-girl aggression. Also, yes the stereotypes. Everything in the game was so pink because girls love pink! Then the body image issue because all the girls looked so the same.
But while I totally respect the arguments, I have to say that I really liked this game.
The Catwalk, the slapping and the fighting weren’t the best parts of the game. And I remember all the fighting on the message boards about people fighting about their characters getting their names written on the Burn Book and having bounties placed on them.
So what was Sorority Life all about? The objective of the game was simple enough: get stuff!
You can get a car, new clothes, new hair, new shoes and certain boyfriends.
No seriously. The game was materialistic and didn’t even try to hide it.
Once you create your character, dress her, pick you college major, you are encouraged to get as many stuff as possible. You can do this by playing games or even picking “fights” with other players.
Each game was centered around “sorority” themed activities such as organizing parties, doing activities and such.
As you get more and more stuff, you rise up in levels and can receive more members in your sorority. Your “House Mother” will also reward you with Brownie Points to purchase special items.
Swag were items you could purchase for more energy so your character could play more games or if you needed more power for fights.
The items could be clothes, shoes, bags, pets and even boyfriends.
The boyfriend buying was very strange. And you were encouraged to purchase several of them.
However, you were only allowed to have only one official boyfriend. Each day he would give you a gift, the higher level your boyfriend was the better gift you received. But you had to be careful because boyfriends could be stolen by other game players. You were able to safeguard your boyfriend by giving them a kiss before the day’s 24 hour period was over.
Before it was shut down, Sorority Life started doing Study Abroad.
The Study Abroad quests were time limited quests where your character could go to a special location and earn special items. But you had to get a special pass and to be a certain level to do the quest.
Basically, it was gimmick to make sure you logged in at least once a day to the game. A lot of the games were time limited. Plus, you had to receive certain gifts from other players to accomplish the goals.
My favorite Study Abroad was Seoul, South Korea. The outfits were super cute.
I admit I was sad to see the game go. I had spent a lot of time in the game and like I said, it was a fun way to waste time when I was procrastinating.
I’ll miss you Sorority Life and all your girly pink wonder.
Entering a Sorority’s Forbidden Precincts by Seth Schiesel
Sorority Life: Playing Facebook’s Mean-Girl Game by Jessica Coen
Sorority Life Blog: Sorority Life - Game Closure
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