A recent headline in Virtual World News certainly caught my eye: “FTC Study Finds ‘Explicit Sexual Content’ in Teen, Kids Virtual Worlds.”

Having written several reviews of kids virtual worlds here, I was at first relieved to not see any of them named in the article. Then, I got nervous when I found three of them listed as part of the survey sample: Build-a-Bear-ville, Handipoints and Pixie Hollow. However, after searching the report, the only mention of them I can find is in the appendix list of the survey sample; so, I’m hoping that is a sign that explicit content was not found in them.

But, to make sure, I dug into the FTC’s Virtual Worlds and Kids: Mapping the Risks - a 92-page report to Congress. All-in-all, I think it is rather balanced.

From a “master list” of 187 virtual worlds, the Commission constructed a sample of 27. Six were deliberatly included because they’d been identified as potentially containing explicit content. These worlds were Gaia, IMVU, There.com, Second Life, Red Light Center, and Kaneva - none of which are targeted at children under 13.

Fourteen of the 27 online virtual worlds in the Commission’s survey were open to children under age 13. Of these 14 virtual worlds, the Commission found at least one instance of explicit content on seven of them. All of that was observed when the Commission’s researchers visited those worlds posing as teen or adult registrants, not when visiting the worlds as children under 13 (with the exception of one world named Bots).
In six of these seven kid virtual worlds, the amount of explicit content observed was considered low.

Only in Stardoll, did the Commission find a moderate amount of explicit content. That’s one world I had thought of reviewing, but wasn’t sure it was right for my seven-year-old. Sounds like I might be wise to wait.

It’s interesting to see that they also note: “Because the Commission’s researchers examined these worlds with the express purpose of uncovering sexually and violently explicit content, it is unlikely that a typical user would stumble upon such content unintentionally.”

Almost all of the explicit content they found in the kid virtual worlds was text-based and was found in chat rooms, message boards, and discussion forums. In Stardoll, almost all of the explicit content observed was in the form of “violently explicit text posted on discussion boards. Again, however, none of the explicit content observed on Stardoll occurred when the Commission’s researchers registered as a child under age 13.47.”

Not surprisingly, the Commission found more explicit content in the online virtual worlds that are supposed to be closed to children under age 13 (“teen- and adult-oriented virtual worlds”). They found a greater concentration of explicit content in worlds that permit teens to register.

“Although some of the teen- and adult-oriented online virtual worlds in which the Commission observed explicit content have taken steps to restrict minors’ access to explicit content, their efforts have not fully succeeded. Virtual world operators can do more to limit youth exposure to explicit content. Given important First Amendment considerations, the Commission supports virtual world operators’ self-regulatory efforts to implement these recommendations.”

Some of the things they are suggesting include:

• better age-screening practices
• segregating users by age
• stronger language filters
• more community moderators, and
• parents and children alike should become better educated about online virtual worlds.

That last one is always the most important. Parents should never totally rely on age-screening mechanisms to keep their kids out of virtual worlds they shouldn’t be in — they’ll always find ways around registration restrictions.

It’s up to us to monitor where our kids are going online, teach them how to behave online, and teach them how to keep themselves safe when we’re not there.

As the Commission put it, “even properly registered children should be taught to make safe and responsible choices when communicating online, and to be cognizant of the risks posed by playing games and congregating in venues that may be designed for older audiences.”

What was the ultimate conclusion of the FTC Commission regarding explicit material in virtual worlds?

“Online virtual worlds provide children and teens with educational, social, and creative opportunities. However, as with other aspects of the Internet, youth may be exposed to explicit content while participating in online virtual worlds. Parents, therefore, should familiarize themselves with the features offered by the online virtual worlds their children visit. For their part, operators should ensure that they have mechanisms in place to limit youth exposure to explicit content in their online virtual worlds.”

I think that sums it up nicely.

This is part of a series of posts looking at virtual worlds targeted toward kids.

It seems appropriate to be writing this review from a vacation beach house that has mezuzos on the door posts, since the virtual world of Shidonni is an Israeli start-up.

The first kid’s virtual world we’ve encountered that runs on Microsoft’s Flash competitor Silverlight (be prepared to download it before playing), it is most unique for the fact that kids get to draw their own virtual animals. We’re not just talking about picking and choosing avatar styles or clothing - Shidonni presents a blank slate for artistic children ages 6-12 to draw an animal and watch it come to life. They also draw the virtual backyard or home their animal lives in, and they draw food and their animal eats it!

In no time at all, my girl had populated the world with a dog and cat which soon had a kitten. Then after I read this post about the easy tutorials, she followed some of them and added a penguin, a turtle and a bird to her menagerie. Next, she started playing games with them and visiting other worlds.

A blogger shot this video of Guy Bendov, head of marketing and business development at Shidonni at Seedcamp Tel-Aviv explaining the virtual world. It’s nice to hear the view from the inside:

The Good

Shidonni has found a unique angle in a field that is rather glutted. I like the creativity it fosters by allowing kids to really build their world. My girl thought it sounded a bit boring when I first mentioned it to her after reading about it in Virtual World News; but, after seeing her first drawing come to life, she was hooked.

This world is a good one for younger children because it requires little to no reading skills, and has a number of simple games like chutes and ladders or puzzles made from your drawings. There is also plenty to do with the free account, but if you choose to upgrade to a membership (typical “freemium” style) you get more colors, brushes and stamps  with which to draw.

The Bad

While extensive language skills are not required to play Shidonni, it can be rather hard to draw on a computer if you’re not used to it. My girl preferred drawing with her finger on the trackpad of our laptop, rather than the mouse. If you happen to have a graphics pad, I bet it would be better.

If you are looking to make connections with others in-world, it is not exactly easy. While the fact that you must know someone’s user ID before you can connect with them as a friend is good for privacy and protection of children, it also makes it difficult to interact with others. And, if you’re thinking about inviting a friend to join so you can make that virtual connection with a real life buddy, your option for facilitating it is a set of invitations you have to print and hand or mail to them.

The Lessons Learned

Overall, Shidonni seems to be a very unique entry into the kid-targeted virtual world market. The very thing that makes it unique, however, also means a little preparation might be useful before heading in-world. Our recommentation would be to do a few practice draws on paper or on another drawing application before you begin drawing your virtual pet. My girl was rather disappointed with her first efforts, which could impede the desire to continue in those easily frustrated.

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This is part of a series of posts looking at virtual worlds targeted toward kids.

If your kids watch the same TV channels mine does, then you’ve probably seen the commercials for a new virtual world called Free Realms. My girl certainly saw them and wanted to go check it out, so our series of kid-focused virtual world reviews continues.

Free Realms
Free Realms bills itself as “a fun, whimsical virtual world filled with dynamic gameplay and compelling content for everyone, especially families.” It’s really more of a pure MMOG than any of the other worlds we’ve toured as part of this series. As soon as my girl set up her account (all by herself, except for my need to give her an e-mail to attach to the account) and entered the world, she was met by a character asking her to embark on her first quest. This prevents the “what do I do now” issue that plagues some virtual worlds, but also aligns more firmly with games such as the non-kid-focused World of Warcraft (WoW).

With more than a million people signing up for it in the first week and that number doubled already, it’s on target to be just as popular as WoW, too. In addition to quests, kids can work at a variety of jobs from pet trainer to ninja to miner and others mentioned below. Like most other kid virtual worlds, you can enter and play for free; but, for $4.99/month you can upgrade to get more things like additional job options, and you’ll also pay to purchase items.

The Good
Free Realms automatically limits kids under 13 to “quick chat” - my preferred choice for my youngster because it restricts them to a preprogramed set of words and phrases to communicate. That way you don’t have to worry about them giving out any personal information (but, don’t let that get you off the hook for still having that discussion about what you don’t share online).
Free Realms’ parent controls area also mentions that they intend to implement a feature which will permit you to customize a calendar to set times of day and/or days of the week that your kid will have access to the account online, as well as days and times during which they may play.

The Bad
I’m willing to bet that most of us teach our kids that fighting is wrong, so it’s a little unsettling to see that quests in Free Realms can involve combat and one of the jobs kids can get is called a Brawler. Brawlers are described as being “up for fight anytime with anyone” and they “use hammers, clubs, and powerful kicks to defeat enemies.”
We didn’t run into any Brawlers in our first few visits to Free Realms, but then again, we didn’t run into anyone other than the in-world characters who play parts in the quests. This may or may not be a bad thing, but struck me as odd considering there are supposed to be more than 2 million people in-world now.

The Lessons Learned
I only heard the “rated E for everyone” part of the commercials, but when you really look, you’ll see it is “everyone 10+” and I would reccomend following that age recommendation from the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Even more specifically the rating warns of “crude humor” and “fantasy violence.” We haven’t encountered the humor yet, but as noted above, the violence is definitely there.

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This is part of a series of posts looking at virtual worlds targeted toward kids.

This series of posts was born out my confession to buying a Webkinz stuffed animal for a friend’s daughter, and for the first time since then we visit another world based on furry purchases.  Build-A-Bearville first launched in December of 2007 and now has about 7.8 million registered avatars or users. When we first ventured into this new world, I must say I didn’t expect much; but, it seems to have struck a cord with my daughter. She has returned so often that she is now a certified Jr. Cy-Bear Guide - which means she’s an in-world ambassador who answers questions from other residents such as where the fun places are to visit.

The Good
This world definitely carries a positive vibe - my girl says that she likes to visit it when she’s had a hard day. The music that constantly plays in the background plays a big part in that - they’ve invested in some quality, original tunes that are very upbeat.
There is a much larger variety of locations to visit in Build-A-Bearville than we’ve seen in the other worlds we’ve reviewed. And with the abundance of locations comes a large number of games. Many of them are multiplayer, and they range from an easy game of tug-of-war to a more challenging car race.
Build-A-Bearville also has great parental controls. When my girl tried to change her chat option from Safe Chat, which limits her to pre-programed responses, to open text chat one day after school, I received an e-mail notification where I was at work asking me to approve first. Today, that’s not even an option — last October Build-A-Bearville disabled their open chat option saying that “Until technology is available to prevent potential abuse we will continue to use ’safe menu chat’.” And, WiredSafety recently presented them a “Best of the Web” award at the 9th Annual WiredKids Summit.

The Bad
While I personally don’t have an issue with the business model, several readers of past virtual world reviews have expressed displeasure with worlds that they feel do a switch and bait on their children - luring them in as free, but restricting much of what can be done in-world to those that spend money for premium content access. Build-A-Bearville, while very connected to the purchase of an animal at their Build-A-Bear Workshop stores, also follows that common standard. They note that “you don’t have to have a furry friend to play, but if you do have one, you can play a lot more games and have even more fun.”

The Lessons Learned
If you’ve somehow been able to avoid the Build-A-Bear Workshop at your local mall and your child doesn’t already hound you for a new animal every time you walk by, don’t get them started with the virtual world. The site was built with the goal to “keep children (and their parents’ credit cards) connected with the furry product after the initial sales.” And it works. In the company’s Q4 2008 earnings call, CEO Maxine Clark said 10 percent of visitors to Build-A-Bear Workshop’s physical stores were influenced to visit by the company’s virtual world, and on average those visitors spend more than others on each visit.
But, if you’re already stuck lining the pockets of Ms. Clark, the virtual world extension is a safe, fun place for your kids to hang out.

Check out another great review of Build-A-Bearville.

Laura P. Thomas is the wife of a former rocker and mother of one 6-year-old girl that’s already waaay too interested in The Jonas Brothers. (the apple didn’t fall far) She works in the Global Online team at Dell, evangelizes virtual worlds, and twitters too much as LPT.

This is part of a series of posts looking at virtual worlds targeted toward kids.

A commenter on my Handipoints review here asked if I’d heard of another world called SecretBuilders. His child’s teacher had mentioned it, but he was concerned about the safety. (Teachers seem to have been early PR targets during the world’s testing phase, and have their own section on the web site.)

It’s taken a while for us to get back on our safari, and in the meantime it appears that the SecretBuilders world officially launched. So, we’ve taken time here during the holidays to go check it out.

SecretBuilders.com

The style of graphics is very similar to Club Penguin, although the avatars are human figures. The intentions are higher than many other kid-targeted worlds, as their site says they view children not as consumers, “but rather as creative, ingenious beings that will help build a vibrant virtual world that will also impact their real world.”

Screenshot of a room in SecretBuilders

The Good

SecretBuilders is designed primarily for children 5 to 14 years of age and is free to join and use. And, they are very concious of privacy concerns. My six-year-old was able to complete the account set-up process essentially own her own. She only needed my assistance for a parent’s e-mail account, which for safety reasons they require of all children under 12.
Also, restricted chat is the default for those under 9 and parents are required to approve additions to their buddy lists. Free chat is available to children over 10 but moderators will still screen out inappropriate language and speech including bullying, harassment, intimidation as well as revelation of any personal identity information.
In addition to interacting with other children in the Secret Builders world, there are opportunities to chat with historical figures such as Shakespeare and Einstein and fictional characters via artificial intelligence (AI). These characters are supposed to chat with children vis-à-vis a monitored chat dialogue and provide guidance on places and activities in SecretBuilders. The only one we’ve encountered so far was called “The Beast” and looked like the Big Bad Wolf, but I’m guessing was from the Beauty and the Beast story. Results of the AI chat were rather mixed - can’t say it was an easy conversation to follow.

The Bad
It was hard to find much to dislike about Secret Builders. After my girl went back on her own to give her friend from next door a tour, I asked her if she had any criticisms. She said it was cool, easy to move around and had fun things to do (she and her BFF were taking turns painting a picture at that moment).
However, I did have some difficulty finding how to edit the settings of her account after it was set up. Apparently, she must have entered her age incorrectly because free chat was available on her account, as well as safe chat. I couldn’t find a parental login, so I tried logging in as her to edit, but still couldn’t find a way to change it.

The Lessons Learned
While it’s nice from a user experience perspective to know that even the younger users can get started using SecretBuilders without a lot of help, parents should still be involved in the initial set-up to ensure everything is done the way you want it to be.

The one thing I was left wondering after a couple of visits to SecretBuilders was just where the name came from. Were the kids secretly building or building secrets or what? Not being able to really find that answer online, I finally took a shot at sending a note to the generic e-mail address on the site. I soon heard back from Umair Khan, CEO of SecretBuilders:

“We named our world and our community SecretBuilders because it is a world whose builders are children themselves. Children will build this world out, with their ideas, suggestions, creativity and activities. They will build out this world both by helping build venues and features, and also by providing content for others to consume (by publishing articles in our magazine for e.g.) We will provide them with more and more tools, activities and features to help them do so.”

Doesn’t sound so secret, but it does sound very admirable!

For another good review of SecretBuilders, check out: Kids Computer Games Recommendations

Laura P. Thomas is the wife of a former rocker and mother of one 6-year-old girl that’s already waaay too interested in The Jonas Brothers. (the apple didn’t fall far) She works in the Global Online team at Dell, evangelizes virtual worlds, and twitters too much as LPT.