The explosion in online virtual worlds for kids and tweens gets covered in the NYT.
Millions of children and adolescents are spending hours on these sites, which offer virtual versions of traditional play activities and cute animated worlds that encourage self-expression and safe communication. They are, in effect, like Facebook or MySpace with training wheels, aimed at an audience that may be getting its first exposure to the Web.
While some of the sites charge subscription fees, others are supported by advertising. As is the case with children’s television, some critics wonder about the broader social cost of exposing children to marketing messages, and the amount of time spent on the sites makes some child advocates nervous.
Seven sites targeted to this audience were reported to have experienced a 65% increase in traffic over the past year. Cartoon Doll Emporium and Club Penguin get the ink, and BarbieGirls also gets a nod, but several others are noted as well - though I missed Whyville and Neopets not being included.
Some of the operators seem to be quite concerned about safety and potential criticism of advertising practices. Interestingly, issues like obesity, levels of physical activity and sexual stereotyping were absent from the article. More insight and reason to attend to what the digital natives are up to [check out the wiki].
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