Kim Kardashian: Hollywood's Dubai Is Different Than the Real Dubai

Kim Kardashian: Hollywood has expanded far outside the scope of Hollywood. As Kim told Kara Swisher at Re/Code’s recent Code/Mobile conference, new versions of the game follow her around the world in real time. They also places she’s been before, like Dubai. But the Dubai of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood doesn’t quite match up with the Dubai of our world.

As Bustle explains in their guide on where to get energy in the game, your choices for activities in the newly released version of the game mirror what Kim did when she was there in 2011:

The three buildings the new location offers are even ripped straight from her trip. You can go to The Mall of Dubai, where Kim held her perfume signing at the Sephora. There’s also a restaurant with a giant fish tank modeled after the one she and her family visited at the Atlantis aquarium. Plus you can buy a luxurious suite in The Atlantean Hotel which is probably a reference to Atlantis The Palm where the Kardashians stayed at during their trip.

But a reader pointed out that though the things you do at those locations might be par for the course in California–go on dates, kiss, wear sexy clothes–some those activities (kissing, touching, wearing certain clothing) can get you in a lot of trouble if you do them in public in Dubai. Although the United Arab Emirates is far more westernized than many Middle Eastern countries, you can still be sent to prison for having sex outside of marriage or for being overly affectionate in public.

When Kim visited the Dubai Mall with her mom Kris in 2011 she didn’t seem engage in any affectionate activities in public. Nothing she wore was particularly different than what she would wear in the States, except when she bought a burka. (Her sister Khloe was spotted in Dubai in October also wearing pretty normal Kardashian clothing.) This probably speaks to the inconsistent nature with which the city’s somewhat vague rules are enforced, coupled with Kim’s celebrity status.

During the Code/Mobile conference, Kim hypothesized that a big reason Kim Kardashian: Hollywood has been successful is that people “want to vicariously live through what they see our lives to be.”

“Everyone felt like, ‘oh, you’re in Mexico and I’m in Mexico on your game and we’re wearing the same bikini in the game and I just had a photoshoot here,” explained Kim. “Everything I was doing, they were mirroring that in my game.”

“We’ve mapped out the whole next year of my travel plans and making updates for those certain countries and cities,” she added. It’s gaming imitating life—but always up to a point.