Date: Thursday, August 16, 2007
Kids gaming sites taking over cyberspace
Child-size social networking sites are the thing of the moment, and are set to become an even greater part of the online world in the future.
The emphasis may be on grown-up social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace at the moment, but kids’ cyber worlds are becoming increasingly more important. Most recently Club Penguin has hit the news when it was sold to Disney for a mammoth £345 million, showing just how seriously the world is taking kids’ interactive websites. Club Penguin is a site which for $57.95 (£28) a year, allows children to control their own penguin in a virtual world and interact with other users. Other child-orientated sites include Webkinz which revolves around the purchase of real-life soft toys that can then be converted online in to animated virtual characters. Canadian toy manufacturer Ganz retails the Webkinz toys at $12 each and they each come with an individual code which can be entered in to the website to create the animated version of the toy. In the last two years Ganz has sold more than two million of the toys, and the web data company Hitwise reports that the website has seen visits increase elevenold from the previous year, more than twice the amount of Club Penguin. Another online statisics company Nielsen/NetRatings reports that the Webkinz site attracted 4.1 million unique users in May, greatly surpassing long-established brands such as Barbie. However parents are concerned over the highly commercialised aspect of the website, especially the fact that after a year membership expires and children have to buy a new toy to maintain their online presence.
Other websites that cater to the tweenage market are Neopets and Disney’s Virtual Magic Kingdom, as well as dressing-up websites tageted especially at young girls, such as Cartoon Doll Emporium which has 3 million visitors a month, and Stardoll which has 8.8 million members. The kids’ virtual online worlds seem set to cash in big time, and many major companies such as Viacom and AOL Time Warner are keen to get a slice it.
Sources:
Times Online
Guardian Online
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