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| Monday, December 31, 2007 |
| Webkinz Bullies |
 The New York Times article: Web Playgrounds of the Very Young describes the various virtual world games aimed at young children - a very lucrative niche it seems.
I have never aspired to have a "Second Life" nor do I understand why anyone would want to spend $6 a year to join a Penguin Club. The only reason I am aware of these products is from my nieces and nephews. But just as I hated the Pokemon craze and the Beanie Baby collections - I hate these NeoPet and Webkinz obsessions. It seems ridiculous to me to spend so much money on something that only teaches your child how to hoard and accumulate more and more.
One of my nieces is a Webkinz junkie. Her room is overrun with stuffed animals and at some point the Webkinz's animals started being collected. But unlike her older brother's beanie baby obsession of a decade earlier, these Webkinz animals are purchased for the tags, then the animal is discarded. She spends hours on the Webkinz website interacting with her "pets" and using the tags to widen their world and acquire "things" for them. It turns out she was not the only one obsessed with Webkinz. Everyone at her school seemed to have accounts. But some parents started clamping down on their kids obsession.
When Mom and Dad stopped supplying their Webkinz fix the kids started stealing from each other. My six year old niece had her account wiped out by one of these Webkinz bullies at her school. The older kids would lean on the younger ones for usernames and passwords (lunch money is passe now it would seem).
Maybe I am just too old to "get it" but I have always refused to buy into any of these fads. I don't see what they learn from playing Webkinz, other than an early lesson in how those stronger and older can victimize you. |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 10:12 AM *
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| 5 Comments: |
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Doh! I recently bought Webkinz as Xmas gifts for the kids I babysit for. I had no idea!
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My kids play on Club Penguin and Runescape. You don't have to pay to play on these sites. On Club Penguin, you can pay $6/Month and become a member, but that just means you get extra puffles and stuff. Their friends have all paid and when given the chance to part with THEIR $6 to become a member, they didn't want to. They said it wasn't worth it.
Webkinz sounds like a nightmare though.
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Yikes! What is this world coming to? I don't know any kids in this age range, so I had no idea about this craze!
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I was into Neopets back in the day (though I was probably 14 at the time). It was a fun way to pass the time, but there was a lot of bullying and scamming on there too. It didn't translate into my everyday life but it may have for some people.
I don't regret it, especially the early lessons in spoofing. That's right, people would build fake Neopets sites, redirect you to them, and steal your login!!! All for virtual currency on a virtual world (not even like Linden $ which can be translated back into USD or money that could be used to buy real stuff from their store).
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Those rug rats are enthralled by the enchanting messages from those devious pied pipers of Madison Avenue. How do we teach them to do their own thang?
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Doh! I recently bought Webkinz as Xmas gifts for the kids I babysit for. I had no idea!