Since the proven success of Club Penguin, there’s been a wave of new virtual worlds for kids going into beta or being announced. Lego just announced they’re planning one for 2009. Buildabear.com hauled in a million users in just a month. Planet Cazmo is in beta. Zoodaloo, oops I mean Dizzywood is in beta and is already reaching out to get some of that cross-branding goodness. And there are more, many more. Too many to mention. From the time I’ve spent visiting them, they all have one thing in common: buying stuff.
And that worries me.
Without exception, all these virtual worlds involve a routine of playing games, to collect coins or some coin-substitute, which can then be used to buy clothes, toys, furniture and other stuff for your avatar and their space. This is the model of Club Penguin and it’s done them well. Same with Webkinz (although they blend real goods with virtual goods and have garnered a wave of imitators.)
The thing that bothers me, is that these worlds are doing little more than training visitors to be mindless consumers, buying stuff for the sake of it, or to impress their friends. This bothered me so much that I recently put together a critical analysis of Club Penguin for one of my courses at OISE. You can read my critical reading of Club Penguin here. Rather than re-posting my feelings on the space and all the others like, head on over and check it out.
In the meantime I’m asking myself: what is the educational potential for children’s virtual worlds?
Today in early 2008, you say kids education and virtual world and you think: whyville.net. And you’re right.
I haven’t spent as much time in whyville as I should, but so far I partially like what I see. But only partially. I’m not crazy about the branded content in there, but I dislike branded content in general, so that’s something that needs more examination. I really like what whyville is trying to do. I realize they (and all the other vws) need to pay the bills, but still, I get an icky feeling when I see avatars (who I assume are kids) getting financial advice from a Scion car dealer.
It’s the paying the bills thing that is causing me the most concern and will be the challenge for any future virtual world that doesn’t want to appear compromised. I’m all for making a profit on your endeavors. I don’t write my books for free. My perfect virtual world would be one where kids can meet, socialize, play engaging, epistemic games that teach them more than how fast to click the mouse in some mini-game and reward them with something more than coins to buy stuff.
I do have a few ideas and maybe I’ll post them here in the future. Or maybe I’ll keep them to myself, get a gazillion dollars in funding and build the darn place myself.
I’ll let you know when it goes beta.
In addition to the “buy stuff” mentality, I’m concerned with the hours and hours of real life that kids give up to be plugged into a pretend computer world. I will have to look into this further.
I think it all comes down to balance Kristi. Play and learning in virtual worlds must be balanced by play and learning in the real world.
Kids and adults have been plugged into other worlds via TV for years it’s become an accepted thing (not a good thing but accepted.) Studies (this one in particular: http://snipurl.com/1xkdw ) state that the average adult gamer spends 21 hours a week playing mmos. The average TV adult watcher spends 28 hours in front of the TV. Granted, these are stats for adults and neither of these numbers is good, but I feel they highlight the point that if we’re going to talk about the amount of time spent in front of computer screens playing video games, then let’s also talk about the time spent in front of screens watching TV.
This is where balance comes in. And young people often need an adult in their life to help them navigate that balance. I know I sure did. It usually came in the form of my mom saying: “Turn off that game and play outside!”
Liam,
Thank you for mentioning Dizzywood.com in your round-up. We appreciate the coverage. I encourage you to take a closer look at how Dizzywood works. While it’s true that we have a purchasing system in the world that uses coins, the overall focus is on achievement and story-driven goals. Many of the items that are available in Dizzywood must be earned by accomplishing certain tasks/goals, usually presented in the form of assisting other characters in the world. Kids learn quickly that although money can by some things, it can’t buy everything. I think that’s an important lesson for kids–of all ages.
Furthermore, we’re designing the world in such as way that kids learn that rewards become proportionally greater as they work together in teams to reach common goals. A good example of this is our “archeology dig” in the Explorer’s Camp area. Kids can complete the task on their own, but quickly learn that it can be accomplished significantly quicker if they work together. The reward for completing the task is a super-power that cannot be purchased with coins.
In any case, thank you again for mentioning us (and noting the name change). I’m adding your blog to my must-read list–I loved the article on epistemic games.
Thanks for stopping by Scott. There are definitely things I like about Dizzywood – the story driven quests for example. And I do agree that learning the value of money, whether it’s fictional coins or real dollars, is very important to kids of all ages. I haven’t checked out the archeology dig, but certainly will. It sounds like the type of activity that an educator like myself could tailor to have epistemic value extending beyond the game world to tie into a host of curriculum expectations. I will be paying Dizzywood another visit to check it out.
Have you checked out Handipoints yet? The website doesn’t provide much detail on the virtual world component, but rewards are set by parents of the children playing.
So rewards can be for good behavior, doing chores, or whatever – and translated into the virtual goods.
It seems like a bit of a breath of fresh air, though I haven’t logged in personally to check it out.
Thanks again for the handipoints website. I do like the idea of linking inworld rewards with realworld behaviours. Would like to see this go beyond the parent model and into an educator/school realm too.
As a creator of virtual world for kids ( http://www.chobots.com ) I came to a critical conclusion that virtual spaces is not the best place for education. Nowadays, the word “educational” is mostly used as a marketing feature for parents.
But I tried to make our world as useful as possible for other kids and for my own.
Details are in my article:
http://blog.chobots.com/2008/12/real-things-in-virtual-worlds-education.html