Stan Trevena thinks NOT!
________________________________
From: educators-bounces@lists.secondlife.com on behalf of Trevena, Stan
Sent: Mon 12/31/2007 1:22 PM
To: SL Educators
Subject: RE: [SLED] kiddie virtual worlds exploding...nyt
I've got triplet 15 year old boys and a 9 year old boy. My trips were into Neopets in the early years, and they have played most of the MMO's since. My 9 year old is into Club Penguin. What sets all of these other "virtual worlds" (more on that in a minute) apart from SL? Mini-games. Or put another way, "Short Attention Span Theater". These worlds are built on earning points and spending them on trinkets, be those neopets or accessories for your penguin and igloo. You earn your points by playing web flash games, many that are based on old arcade hits and new variations on that theme. Most of these mini-games only run a few minutes long. Another recent entry is UB Funkeys. This one is clever, in that it looks and feels like a virtual world, but you never really bump into other players, you only visit their houses when nobody is home to see all their "stuff". UB, Barbie and Bratz all use USB dongles and mini-toys that dock with a reader to unlock areas of their "virtual worlds".
I've not read the NYT's article yet, I just got in, but there are HUGE differences between these kiddie "virtual worlds" and SL. Interaction in these other worlds ranges from limited chat and no avatar mixed spaces to 2D screens where small avatars crowd the screen with chat bubbles floating above their heads. None of these platforms are "virtual worlds" where there's anything close to the open ended environment of SL. I would classify these worlds more as a wrapper placed around a large collection of flash games (the different lands are really only groups of games) that drive the kids to earn points to buy cool virtual objects, reset then repeat indefinitely. What is even more pathetic is that they don't even play the games that they really enjoy, they play the games that give them the most points the quickest. No surprise that the games that pay the most points are linked to new movies or toys that are coming out soon. It's the old "rat - button - food" reward activity. If the games had some educational value, or some purpose other than building their hand eye coordination they may be more redeeming in value. As they stand, they are simply virtual attention drains for teens who want to push buttons to get virtual rewards while sometimes having ads or themes flashed at them (movies, TV shows, etc). None of my kids have any relationships or communications with others in these worlds. I would classify them as the junk food of "virtual worlds", good for a light snack, but mind numbing in any quantity.
Will these kids flood into virtual worlds like Second Life when they tire of these worlds? Not likely. This model increases and deepens the boredom factor of these kids if they are not fed activities minute to minute to occupy their short attention spans. I believe these games have replaced cartoons over the past several years for most kids. Give them an open virtual world like Second Life and they quickly get bored and leave. They might stick around long enough to explore anything with bright lights or flashy graphics, then they will leave never to return. Maybe this behavior is already invading SL and contributes to the 10% retention numbers we already see? Maybe our schools are causing this behavior, we have drained most of the creative thinking and social activities out of our schools and instead now focus everything on test scores, test taking and cramming for tests.
Kids from these "virtual worlds" will be much more likely to invade worlds like WOW and Tabula Rasa than Second Life (assuming they are looking for social interactions and shared quests). But their more logical place to go after they grow out of the kiddie virtual worlds are places like Maple Story (http://www.maplestory.com/) and DOMO (http://domo.aeriagames.com/). These clearly draw their lineage from the Neopets and Club Penguins of the world, and slap a 3D virtual environment on top. Maple Story was purchased by Wizards of the Coast, the makers of the still popular Magic the Gathering Collectible Card Game. Is it by chance that Maple Story has a collectible card game (available at Target, among other places) that have secret codes for virtual items printed on one card per pack? (http://ww2.wizards.com/maplestory/). Last year even Blizzard succumbed and released a collectible card game of their own (http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/en/) centered on the World of Warcraft universe. And yes, there is that treasured secret code in random packs that will land you really cool and high bid fetching eBay virtual item if you are lucky.
These kiddie virtual worlds are not much more than interactive virtual commercials wrapped around real world products. Instead of calling them "virtual worlds" they should be classified as "virtual commercials". MTV now own Neopets. Disney owns Club Penguin. Kids are running treadmills to get prizes. Hey, maybe they're 3D virtual happy meals, not virtual worlds
I guess I'll go and read this article now that I've expressed my personal views of these "virtual commercials". Comments on the article to follow soon.
Stan Trevena
Director, Information and Technology Services
Modesto City Schools
http://pacificrimx.wordpress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment