Virtual Worlds for Kids

Because virtual worlds provide access to many people in the world, there are certain safety issues which can disrupt the playing experience of children. Althought the administration and moderators of virtual world are always on the lookout for these safety issues, parents must still be active in monitoring their children when they are logged in.

Sexual predators. Like it or not, there are twisted pedophiles out there lurking in cyberspace and looking to take advantage of the innocence of children. These perverts would stop at nothing to get precious contact details or to entice them with promises of more toys or more playing time.

Don't even think that these pedophiles will only stick to physical manifestations of their crookedness. With technology expanding, there are those who would resort to virtual sex with hapless children to satify their fetishes.
Virtual worlds, themselves, have been more active in resolving these issues. So far, these instances have been grounded to a halt with the emergence of Parental Approval-necessary Chat and filters for profane words. However, parents should not depend on machines all the time. True guidance is still needed. Always check what they are doing and communicate with them all the time.

Exposure to Bad Information. Because of the wide reach of the World Wide Web, there is no stopping bad and profane information such as violence from leaking into these virtual worlds. Granted that there are chat filters in place for these virtual worlds, parents should still empower their children any possible bad information which they may be exposed to.

Overplaying. There is always the risk for your chidlren to spend too much time in their virtual worlds. As wise men say, too much of something is always bad enough. Spending the entire day plugged in front of the computer can have significant effects on the socializing skills of your child.

Virtual worlds are meant to rehearse the way children interact with other people. And that's the point. It is meant to rehearse - not replace. Thus it is still important for parents to implement time management strategies so that children would not be addicted to virtual worlds. Moreover, spending too much time in front of the monitor can damage the young eyes of your children. Moderation is always the key.

Amidst the allure of virtual worlds on children, certain experts are concerned that childen may be overexposed to commercial messages. There is the danger of turning children into commodities wherein they are conditioned to apply to a lifestyle of patronizing products in order to have a complete experience in virtual worlds. This comes in light of the fact that most virtual worlds are licensed extensions of cartoon characters, toys and other children products.

Walt Disney and Cartoon Network are at the forefront of this ownership trend in virtual worlds. Recently, Walt Disney paid $350 million to acquire the rights for Club Penguin, a virtual world for children with an estimated paying subscriber count of 700,000. This acquisition goes hand in hand with Disney's ownership of ToonTown Online - an online community with about a million subscribers. Cartoon Network has the same extension with Cartoon Network: Fusion Fall.

MGA Entertainment Inc., the manufacturers of the popular Bratz brand of fashion dolls for girls, announced the launching of Be-Bratz, an online community brandishing a new Bratz doll. Access to the virtual world is patterned after a USB computer interface wherein one has to only plug into a Web-enabled computer.

Not to be outdone, the established doll brand Barbie from Mattel Inc opened their own virtual world, the Mattle's Barbie Girls online community. Due to the strong fanbase of Barbie, the virtual community saw a fast-rising subscriber base estimated at 4.5 million people. Mattel has disclosed plans of selling Barbie dolls in the virtual world at $59.95 complete with a built-in MP3 player which allows children to access the online world.

According to Rosie O'Neill, the "chief Barbie Girl" in the online world, their virtual world is "designed to expand and enhance the experience of playing with Barbie dolls." Every aspect of the Barbie doll can be changed including eye and skin color, hair style, and the design and color of shoes, jewelry, and clothing.

However, O'Neill rejects the idea that Barbie Girls is a marketing tool: "In the site we don't actually show any other products. There's no advertisement on the site." The same has been the statement of Be-Bratz. Lisa Sirlin, director of online development at MGA Entertainment, states that Be-Bratz aims to expand the value of Bratz dolls, by giving girls two ways to play with them.

"They like the online experience as much as they like the doll," Sirlin said.

However, Peggy Meszaros, director of the Center for Information Technology Impacts on Children, Youth, and Families at Virginia Tech University, does not believe the press releases of the two doll tycoons. "I've had grandchildren with me this summer," said Meszaros. "I've been playing along with them" online. That is pure consumerism."

In Be-Bratz, for example, participants can collect clothes and accessories if they have enough points. They can do this by playing games on the site or by purchasing points cards at retails stores. Also, access to more game characters and accessories are only possible when purchasing more dolls. Thus, there is the underlying perception that children should buy more dolls in order to get the full experience of the virtual world.

This instance shows that virtual worlds - especially those owned by huge companies - can be used as a tool to promote products into children. Even if there is no hard selling of products, letting children experience the virtual world is a means of making these children close to the brand. There is the conditioning that to have a full experience in virtual worlds, they have to be constant consumers of these products. As parents, we should always guide our children against excessive consumerism.

When the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) conducted a research on children and virtual worlds, they described online communities as "helpful" to their growth.Findings of the research concludes that virtual worlds can be valuable places where children rehearse what they will do in real life.

With a research demographic of 6-12 years old, the research from BBC was carried out by Professor David Gauntlett and Lizzie Jackson of the University of Westminster. It was done on a batch of children who were the first to survey and research BBC's own virtual world Adventure Rock.

These are some of the advantages children can derive from virtual worlds. Amidst all the flak received by virtual worlds as a hazardous place for children, it does have its perks.Due to its simulation of a real community, it can help train children about their abilities to mingle and interact with other people. Children with shyness and social skills issues may benefit from this kind of set-up.

Created by the Belgian game maker Larian, the virtual world of BBC enabled chidlren to adopt different roles. These roles are: Explorer-investigators, Self-stampers, Social climbers, Fighters, Collector consumers, Power users,Nurturers and Life system builders.

With the variety of roles, it can be argued that children have already adopting tasks which can be described as a microcosm of the world.

Prof Gauntlett said the research revealed that children assumed one of eight roles when exploring a virtual world and using the tools they put at their disposal. Prof Gauntlett said online worlds were very useful rehearsal spaces where children could try all kinds of things largely free of the consequences that would follow if they tried them in the real world.

For example, children in the Adventure Rock virtual world learned many useful social skills and played around with their identity in ways that would be much more difficult in real life. More than anything, virtual worlds afford the chance to create content such as music, cartoons and video and the tools that measured their standing in the world compared to others.

"Virtual worlds can be a powerful, engaging and interactive alternative to more passive media," he said.

"The kids know what they are doing and are very good at telling you in a brutally honest and forthright manner about what they want to see," said Wil Davies, a teacher at Peterston Super Ely primary in Glamorgan, from where some of the research subjects were drawn.

Irene Sutherland, a teacher at Merrylee primary, which also took part, said: "Children were adamant about the bits they did not play but were full of ideas about how to improve them."

However, the key word in this research is the term "helpful." Virtual worlds should seek to complement real life - and not become real life itself. Still, moderation is still advised for parents regarding the use of their children of virtual worlds.