Yesterday on the Patt Morrison show a mom called in and talked about how her son was really stressed out by his Webkinz being "sick" and worried that if he didn't log on compulsively, it would stay sick and suffer. Another parent called in about what sounded like her son being duped by a scammer in his game who stole all his virtual weaponry. The other week I posted links to stories about avatar identity theft in Gaia Online and the furniture theft in Habbo Hotel (Giga Om has a great longer post about how this is really a problem for virtual worlds).
It made me think about how what happens in virtual worlds feels very real, especially for children, and about whether there has been any research done around younger children, stress and caretaking games like Neopets, Tamagotchis, etc. (MacArthur folks?), especially since they seem to be proliferating like mad right now. For example, you could play with your stuffed animal and pretend it was sick. But it never looked sick or acted sick and you could just as easily instantly decide it was better and "poof" it was. In virtual worlds recovery doesn't come quite that easily (they make you work for it). It seems that by creating virtual versions of these toys that kids can really interact with, we're creating more real relationships provoking real emotions. Afterwards, I felt stupid telling this mom to explain to her child that it isn't real.
I was talking to my friend about the theft of virtual goods and she said, "this is something most people in older generations just don't understand" meaning why anyone would pay real money for virtual goods in the first place. Gamers obviously understand the value of virtual goods but most parents don't...until they see how crestfallen their child is when someone steals everything in their igloo.
Posted by anastasia
Tweens
Comments
Ugh! This is just one of the (growing) reasons I'm not such a big fan of the product-based virtual worlds. I used to ramble about that a lot in regards to Webkinz-- whenever I would talk to kids with webkinz their pet usually was placed next to the computer... this gave me two thought processes:
1) Exceptional use of visual reminders (see your webkinz stuffy and remember to play online)
2) What a crappy guilt trip. Having your 6 webkinz sitting by you at the computer... staring... waiting for you to virtually play with them. Bah-- gives me the creeps. I have a Zibbie penguin & a Webkinz cat sitting on my desk and I'm always looking at them and frowning... guilt trips, bah!
But this also reminded me of my Neopet. I created Colin Skye (my neopet) three years ago-- and for 2 of those years I would look to him once a month and put him up in the swankiest neohotel (presidential suite) with all the extras (parental guilt, buy the neopet's love with well spent neopoints), that way I knew I wouldn't have to chase after food and feed him, or play with him-- and I could do just what I wanted to do in neopets-- play that darn 'Blocks' game. And then I went to India and forgot to take care of my neopet. No way-- I didn't want to face the idea that he was dead, so I just didn't log in for several months. Who wants to be reminded that they suck at virtual pet parenting?
Kids snuggle with their teddy bears at night and have their favorite toys-- they build stories and worlds and memories around these faux-friends. They know they're not really living and breathing- but there's always that loyalty and trust and imagined friendship.
You take that relationship online where your pet looks ill or unhappy or bored, etc-- the imaginative power is out of your head and now computer controlled online. OF COURSE that line might be blurred for a kid.
I think what you said to the mother was just fine, Anastasia. In the long run we'd love to have the right answers for exact situations, and we'd LOVE to be able to spare a child from the disappoint and hurt... but learning that something isn't "real" is part of the growing process. Kids need to experience, live, learn, fail, and succeed. The conversation about a toy not being "alive" or a world online not being "real" is part of the process, just like stories about Santa (oh, the lies!), toothfairy, and the stork eventually need to be told.
Parents just need to involve themselves. They don't have to care about the wellbeing of the child's virtual toy... just be aware of the possibility sensitivity to the experience.
Ah well, I could probably ramble more on this... but i'll stop for now. Great post, Anastasia!
Posted by: Izzy Neis | November 27, 2007 1:31 PM
I think what you said is fine but let me add an insight between the difference between a sick webkinz and pretending your stuffed kitty is sick.
Control.
Who controls how to make the stuffed kitty better? The child. That's empowering and reassuring for a kid in a world where very very little is under her control.
Who controls the webkinz kitty? The kid? Or some program protocols?
I think the part of stress feelings from the sense of lack of control. Kids have so little control over things in their lives.
Posted by: Lisa Scheid | November 29, 2007 2:00 PM
My four year old grandson received a Webkinz pet for Christmas. I was amazed at the website and all the activities. As time has gone on though, I have severe reservations about the site. One instance for concern is with the "Daily Activities" they have two daily games where you can go and get FREE Webkinz money. One is Wishing Well and the other is the wheel of WOW. My question is--Is this creating our future gamblers? Both games are simuations of slots and gambling. When my grandson is "forced" off this site--as would be any computer games--that's all he talks about it the games for hours. Parent monitoring is a must on games and websites for toddlers and young children.
Posted by: Cathy | May 14, 2008 3:40 AM