Dress Up Games Question & Answer Month January 2007
January 2007 was Question & Answer Month on Dress Up Games. Users asked over 1.500 questions and I picked one question to answer every day for 31 days!
31st Question: Are any of the websites listed indecent or have viruses?
Answer: I always do my very best to make sure that the websites I link to do not have inappropriate content, viruses, spyware or anything of that sort. I use McAfee's Site Advisor to help me avoid sites with spyware, spam and viruses.
From 2 anonymous users.
30th Question: Why are some links removed?
Answer: There are two main reasons:
1. The website itself or the dress-up games has been removed. This accounts for about 90% of removed websites.
2. The owner of the removed website does not want to be listed anymore.
From Dallas, Taylor, Natasha and 2 anonymous users.
29th Question: I love this website but sometimes its really hard to find the game at the website you link to. Sometimes you write something like "under games&activities" but not always.
Answer: This is an excellent advice! I'll keep it in mind.
From Danni.
28th Question Follow-up: Why don't you have a search?
Answer: Search is here! You'll find the search box in the left column, at the bottom.
28th Question: Why don't you have a search?
Answer: Working on it!
From Mahnoor, Sammy, Ashleigh, Emily, Brittney, Sarah, Caitlin, Natasha, Brooke, Taylor, Nicole, Erin, Jessica, Amanda, Charlie, Chloe and 4 anonymous users.
Bonus Question: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Answer: Colonel Sanders: I missed one? 
From Jackie F..
27th Question: Why don't you include freeweb games?
Answer: Free website hosts, such as Freewebs, are meant for small personal websites. If a website is listed on Dress Up Games it will receive thousands of visits on just the first day which would cause the free website to shut down immediately.
From Bex.
26th Question: I tried to run a website like this myself, but it became too difficult looking for games and I became VERY stressed out and shut it down. Also there were many weird users that always complained and wanted to argue. Do you ever get stressed out to the point of wanting to shut down this site?
Answer: I'm sorry to hear that Morgan. If you liked having a website, you should open it again (or another one) and be sure not to have a tag board, message board or anything that troublemakers can take advantage of. Just do it for yourself and don't worry about what other people think. I'm not going to lie and tell you that my feelings have never been hurt by nasty messages but I don't worry about it so much anymore. The best way to deal with a troublemaker is to ignore him or her. Works like a charm!
I don't think I've been so stressed that I've though about closing it down, at least not that I can remember. If I became that tired I would just take break from updating it in a while. The worst thing you can do to yourself, as a webmaster, is thinking you have to update constantly even if you don't feel like it. If you put that kind of pressure on yourself, your not going to have any fun with you website which should always be your main goal! (Also, if you have fun with your site it's going to show and people will like it more. Don't tell anyone, it's my big secret behind a successful website!)
From Morgan.
25th Question: It would be really helpful if you made a page of new games so we wouldn't have to search through all of the pages.
Answer: Ah, but there is indeed such a page here! It has updates from the last two or three months. You can always find it on the front page, under older updates.
From Sara.
24th Question: How do you submit games? How do you report broken links?
Answer: If you scroll down the left column you'll find a Submit & contact link. Click on it!
From Sarah, Halee, Catherine, Susanne, Chloe, Alicia, Jade, and 3 anonymous users.
23rd Question: How did you decide to have so many categories on your website?
Answer: It happened over time. I'll just realize that there are enough games for a new category and I'll make one. The newest category (if I remember correctly) is formal with wedding dresses, prom dresses, and other formal wear.
From Rachel.
22nd Question: What happened to paper dolls because I really miss a dress up game from it?
Answer: If you're looking for CandyJeans.com or OliveTamale.com (and you probably are!), see question six. I used to have a category called "paper dolls" for games that had bigger base dolls than most games, and because of that reminded me of paper dolls. But then the line between "paper dolls" and just regular dress-up games became blurry (and probably always was) so I moved the game listed there to girls.
From an anonymous user.
21st Question: Do you want to be the best dress up games site ever?
Answer: This is a difficult question but I'll try to give a brief but honest answer. I want to have a good website that I can stick by and be proud of. Sure I want to be the best dress-up game site ever but someone else's idea of "best" might not be the same as mine. For example, it is important to me that every link on Dress Up Games is family friendly and safe for all ages. Someone else might not care about that so their idea of "best" would not the same as mine.
From Heather.
20th Question: If you couldn't continue you a dress-up website, what kind of a website would you make?
Answer: Oh, so many ideas, so little time! The biggest challenge is finding something that no-one else is doing. I had an idea to start a website around room escape games (I even registered the domain roomescapegames.com) but decided I would much rather spend my time on Dress Up Games!
From Sophie and an anonymous user.
Bonus Question: Why did the man throw butter out of his window?
Answer: Because he wanted to see the butterfly.
From Ashlie.
19th Question: Do you test every single game/website that you put on your website?
Answer: Oh yes, absolutely. I would never link to anything I haven't tried out first.
From Logan, Danielle S., Curly, Mary, Audrey, Lou Lou, Lorna, and 1 anonymous user.
18th Question: Why didn't you put up that one doll house you said you were making. I was looking forward to it so please can you put it up?
Answer: Yes, I did promise the dollhouse last summer and I'm sorry about that. It took much longer to finish than I expected. But it is finally ready. Enjoy!
From an anonymous user.
17th Question: Which is officially the best dress up site, www.stardoll.com or www.i-dressup.com?
Answer: Lol, I'm not sure I'm ready to be the judge of that! Actually, they are both very good and I'm a big fan of both sites, Stardoll has excellent celebrity dress-up games and I-Dressup has great fashion games. All of us who like dress-up games owe a lot to Stardoll as they've done so much to bring attention to dress-up games from the general public. More attention means that more people become interested in making dress-up games and that is good news for all of us dress-up game fans!
From an anonymous user.
16th Question: How did you make the website?
Answer: Learning how to make a website is like learning to play an instrument. It takes time and it's important not to get frustrated when you get it wrong. I started out by using Microsoft Front Page, simply because it came with the computer I had at the time! I quickly switched to Notepad, a simple text editor that comes with all versions of Microsoft Windows. For the last few years I've been using EditPlus, which suits me fine. Programming and coding is not my strong suit but when I need to learn something new I look it up on websites like HTML source or HTML Goodies. You'll also find a good (if not particularly up to date) instructions for kids at Lissa Explains it All. Last year I hired a web designer and a graphic artist to help me with the new look, and I'm very happy with the results!
From Abera, Jess, Brinna, Jessica, Kasha, Sinead, Leigh, Sydney, Ranika, Aquanett, Safaa, and 3 anonymous users.
15th Question: What was the first game on Dress Up Games?
Answer: The site had two pages when I opened it with about 30-40 links. Most of the games I had listed back then don't work anymore but one example is Dress Bill Gates. (Has been removed since then).
From Ara and 2 anonymous users.
14th Question: Can you change it so that the users vote on how good the website is not you?
Answer: I could (it's technically possible) but I'm not going to!
From Hannah.
13th Question: Which categories are the least viewed?
Answer: Not always the same ones, but usually the sub-categories don't get as many visits as the main ones. For example, more girl games (under girls) and Barbie games (under dolls).
From Yasmine.
12th Question: When you started dressupgames, how did you get the word out for your site, so that it would become as popular as it is today?
Answer: A few months after I started Dress Up Games it was picked up by a popular website called "Center for the Easily Amused", and was linked in their "Sites That Do Stuff" category (no longer online, was at amused.com). The link was there for a few months (until they got their own dress-up section) and that really helped, especially as a motivation for me. Since then the word has pretty much spread by mouth. The fact is, if people like your site they will tell others about it. So I heartily recommend spending most of your time building your site and very little time worrying about gaining popularity.
From Shelbybug.
11th Question: How many visitors do you get every day?
Answer: The average for December 2006 is 224,000 visits per day (1,5 million page views). The slowest day had only 164,000 visits but the busiest had a whopping 307,000!
From Kit, Lauren, and 1 anonymous user.
10th Question: Why are some games not dress-up games?
Answer: Well, I decided to start collecting links to dollhouse games (room makers and scene makers) simply because I liked them To me they have a lot in common with dress-up games, they are both interactive and creative role-playing games, which to me is a nice change from all the speed and shooting games.
The simulation and virtual pet games listed on Dress Up Games all have dress-up games. I don't list simulation and virtual pet sites without dress-up games.
From Shawn, Sprite, and 2 anonymous users.
9th Question: Will you add more games? When?
Answer: Yes. When I find more games or new games are submitted to me. Many of you asked specifically about simulation so if any game/website developers are reading this, they are in demand!
From 115 users.
8th Question: Are you going to have chat rooms, a forum or a comment system?
Answer: No, never. In my opinion, they need to be monitored around the clock and I simply don't have time. However, you'll find links to websites with chat rooms in simulation games.
From Dana, Genesis, Anna, and 1 anonymous user.
7th Question: Do websites pay to be listed on your website?
Answer: No, it's free, has always been free and will always be free. I know it costs to be listed in many directories, but that just doesn't make sense to me. I want to make a directory with the best websites and those aren't necessarily those who can pay.
From an anonymous user.
6th Question: What happened to CandyJeans.com and OliveTamale.com?
Answer: I have no idea! I don't know who owned those websites and they didn't tell me when and why they shut them down. Those two dress-up games have lots of fans out there, I get asked about them every month. If the former owners of those domains ever read this, you can probably sell those games for at least several hundreds of dollars! I was also asked about WatchMeChange.com, a domain owned by Gap and it really boggles the mind why they shut that one down! Surely a corporation like Gap can afford to keep open what is certain to be a great advertising for their line of clothes?
Update from Maggie on September 29th 2007, Watch Me Change is still available from the website of the company that made the game!
From Limeberry, Michelle, Britt and 4 anonymous users.
5th Question: What is your favorite Dress Up Games category?
Answer: My favorite category is historical dress-up games where I put games with vintage clothes, period costumes and such. If I could draw, those are the types of games I would do myself!
From Lauren, Allison, Gabby, Elley, Julie, Milly, Ciere, Violet, Sophie, Tricia, Chelsea, Ara, Dakota, and 2 anonymous users.
4th Question: Can you make a favorites page, with the best of the best dressupgames on this site?
Answer: My favorite games are the ones with a smiley face and they are really too many for a single page. But I am working on a new page with the best of the best which will be labeled with a trophy 
.
From an anonymous user.
3rd Question: How do you find new games?
Answer: Some I find myself using search engines, directories and lots of patience. Some are sent in by Dress Up Games users who want to share what they've found with others (which I think is very nice!). And sometimes I learn about new games directly from the people who make them.
From K'tlyn, Miley, Melissa, Heidi, Britany, George, Morgan, Danielle S., Megg, Imani, Cassie, Corey, Courky, Tashila, and 10 anonymous users.
2nd Question: How often do you update Dress Up Games?
Answer: I update most weekdays and I usually add more than one game per update.
From Libby, Neilani, Victoria, Gabrielle, and 2 anonymous users.
1st Question: Why did you start Dress Up Games?
Answer: I stumbled upon a "virtual paper doll" on the web and showed it to my niece. She liked it (as did I) so I began looking for more games for her to play with. They weren't always easy to find but I am a librarian (a very stubborn one!) and looking for things online is something I really like doing. When I had book marked about 30-40 games I had an idea to make a website with links to the games I had found. It took me a while, and a lot of patience, to learn to actually build a website, but I finally had a working two-page website in March 1998. I wasn't really sure what to call the website but since many of the games I had listed were called "dress up (someone)" I decided to call the website "The Dress-up Games Page" and later just "Dress Up Games", after I registered the dressupgames.com domain in 2000.
From Sara, Christina, Ro, Britianey, Danielle T., Mariott, Emma, Ashli, Hanna, Sasha, Deshia, SuperBunnie, Kristyn, Anna, and 4 anonymous users.