After going through the module content for this week I was feeling excited about the potential for immersive and virtual worlds.
I have a lot more experience with immersive and virtual worlds than I originally thought when I first started to work on 559M Module VI. Sure I had checked out Second Life back in the day but it did not develop into a priority activity in my life. Then after reading the module I realized that my children and I have been interacting in immersive worlds for years. For them it started with Webkinz, then Club Penguin and then Moshi Monsters. I had not given this much thought before but they all have affordances of social media: participation; collaboration; creation; and immersion.
These virtual worlds are targeted to approximately 4 to 14 year olds. They are marketed to parents as safe online spaces for children. They supposedly have a lot of safety controls so that children can play on these sites with minimum parental supervision knowing that the activities are age appropriate and no personal information can be exchanged.
Just for fun?
These sites are all about adopting pets and then using the pets as avatars in the immersive worlds. Participants earn tokens, money, points (whatever it is called in each virtual world) by playing arcade like games and/or participating in knowledge and skill building activities. They then use the accumulated points to purchase food, treats, housing, furniture, toys and recreational activities for their pet /avatar. Once there is an established presence in these worlds the children can meet up with friends and make new friends and organize play dates for their pets to have online. Users collaborate with one another through chat, to trade items, share events, give and receive gifts and participate and organize group activities. There are arts and crafts activities for the participants to create items such as greeting cards. The participants are also continually creating the living and play spaces for their pet. As the children are attached to their virtual world pet they return to the website to care for them and make sure the pet is well.
Unfortunately it is difficult to care for your pet if you forget your user name and password. How long can a virtual pet survive without food? My family may find out … or it may be a mystery we never solve. We spent time this week trying to track down some old friends and creating new accounts and making new friends.
Although the children participating with their pets in these virtual worlds are having fun they are also developing computer skills, keyboarding, and technology literacy. Many of the activities the children participate in require a variety of skills in reading, math, strategic thinking, problem solving and creativity and more. These requirements can be adjusted by age range.
Webkinz … http://www.webkinz.com/
The Webkinz community begins outside of the website as children must first purchase a plush toy in a store. The toy has a name and a code attached to it which you submit once you have created an account and then your physical toy is brought to ‘life’ in the webkinz virtual world. As children notice their toy lying around the house they are reminded of their virtual pet online that needs cared for.
Club Penguin is a Disney product … http://www.clubpenguin.com/
There is a level of participation within the Club Penguin virtual world that is free but full Club Penguin access requires a paid membership, $8.00/month or $60.00/year Canadian dollars.
Moshi Monsters … http://www.moshimonsters.com/home
Children have limited access to the Moshi Monsters and their world free of charge but full access to ‘cool extras’ requires a paid membership and the price is complicated?
These are some of the earliest immersive worlds that children of today will experience. They will be introduced to more educational immersive tools in school. The industry is growing up and finding new affordance for the tools that are being developed. This technology is not just for entertainment with many immersive training and educational tools being implemented. By the time the generation, using Webkinz, Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters reaches adulthood immersion may have many affordances in everyday life.