Angry Brides game takes aim at Indian dowries

GlobalPost

Indian brides have more reasons to be angry than most.

Even though the practice is illegal, grooms and their families commonly demand expensive dowries from prospective wives in the form of cash, cars, jewelry and clothes. Disputes can lead to abuse and even murder, Reuters reported.

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According to the latest figures available from the National Crime Records Bureau, 8,391 women were killed over dowries in 2010. The numbers have increased year on year despite the prevention and awareness campaigns the government claims to have undertaken.

Now, online matchmaking service Shaadi.com has decided to address the issue in the traditional 21st-century way: by creating a Facebook game.

Angry Brides features an eight-armed heroine based on the Hindu goddess Durga ("the invincible") and bearing a variety of domestic weapons. Zee News explained the rules:

To play the game, users have to try and hit three dodging grooms. The Angry Brides are given a wide range of weapons to choose from, including a stiletto shoe, a frying pan, broomstick and tomato. Each groom has a price tag, starting at 1.5 million rupees. Every time user hits a groom, his value dips and money is added to user's Anti-Dowry Fund.

The three grooms have different professions and varying levels of greed, the Deccan Chronicle said: an engineer groom wants the smallest dowry, a doctor more than double, and a pilot the most.

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More than 270,000 people have "liked" the game since its launch last week, according to Zee News. But others were skeptical about Angry Brides' supposed social purpose. From TechTree:

While the game does aim to create awareness online, a lot more needs to be done to help the cause of women suffering from the menace. Saving virtual money, and beating up greedy grooms in a game doesn't really help the cause.

Indian website AntiDowry.com has advice on how else to protest against dowries.

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