Unleash your imagination and experience a virtual world where you, the kids and your friends can be whatever you want to be and do whatever you want to do. It’s the newest media and fascination amongst children and adults alike. Create your very own virtual pet….adopt them and then take care of them. You can enjoy having a pet without all the real life problems of actually owning one.
Better yet, why not adopt a baby? It’s true, there is a virtual game where you can play mommy and 
dress them, change diapers, and feed them. Oh, and you choose what you want them to look like. Maybe this can give you a taste of the real life of parenthood before you ever experience it. Just imagine, listening to it cry but never loosing sleep, changing a diaper without ever really smelling it, feeding it without the mess! Life is good!
Unlike the virtual world itself, these games are becoming an increasingly popular reality with children. A tech research firm analyst, Barry Gilbert, recently reported in BusinessWeek that ”90 percent-plus of the activity is going on with kids.” Some say that these type of games are not healthy because children sit in front of the computer when they could be outside playing. Because of this, toy makers like Irwin Toys, created a new virtual gaming device called Me2 which actually is a pedometer that kids wear during the day and plug into a virtual game at night. Integrating the real world of walking into virtual world “energy” to play the game.
Companies are quickly starting to realize that children and adults are spending more time in virtual worlds today than playing games. They are becoming extensions of brands and gaming will just be one of many different activities. Coca Cola, Second Life, and IBM are just a few of the companies that are promoting their brands in the virtual environment. According to a media consultancy Screen Digest, subscription sales from online virtual worlds rose to $526 million in North America in 2006. I think this is the next big media thing for the future. What do you think?
Tags: gaming, new media, virtual worlds
October 17, 2008 at 8:42 pm |
Carol,
What a great idea by Irwin Toys to help ensure that kids are not spending all day just sitting at the computer! I wonder if any weight loss companies will pick up on this technology; it seems like a great fit for the Weight Watchers point system, which weighs exercise points against food points.
DB