ALKHOBAR, 14 August 2007 — If you think that adults are the main targets of companies on the Internet, then you need to consider how many children are now turning to online play. And don’t imagine that this play is about teenage boys shooting down bad guys in other dimensions. Virtual worlds appealing to young children and girls are some of the hottest sites on the Net and companies are finding that combining real-world toys with a virtual environment can be very, very profitable.
Disney Online has just released its second Fairies book by author Gail Carson Levine, “Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand.” Levine’s books and the website are focused on Pixie Hollow, home to Tinker Bell and her friends. At http://disney.go.com/fairies/, fans can explore Pixie Hollow with Tinker Bell, play online games with a variety of other Disney Fairies, read along and listen to chapter audio files from several Fairies books and stories, and create their very own personalized Fairy, complete with the ability to select Fairy wing style, clothing styles and colors, accessories, hair style and more.
After creating and naming their Fairy, online guests can then share their Fairy with friends and family via e-mail, communicate with other children who have made and published fairies on the site, and decorate a room in which their fairy will live. The site is freely available to all, although without a broadband connection loading is slow.
Another virtual world that young Net users have taken to heart is BarbieGirls.com. The site has four million registered users to-date and is growing by an average of 45,000 girls per day. This week, BarbieGirls.com will reach full functionality with the debut of the Barbie Girl Device. Retailing at $59.99, the Barbie Girl Device is a portable music/MP3 player, next generation fashion doll and a “key” to unlock exclusive play features and trillions of character and room combinations on the BarbieGirls.com website.
The portable, doll-inspired Barbie Girl Device connects to a girl’s computer via a USB-enabled docking station and allows girls on BarbieGirls.com to adopt pets, such as a puppy, bunny or monkey; enter exclusive hangout spots within the world; “buy” or “gift” special fashions, including everything from a tiara to a cowboy hat; and decorate their rooms with girl-favorites such as an aquarium, tiki hut, and even a juke box that plays music.
The Barbie Girl Device is 4 1⁄2-inches tall and features a range of snap-on, mix-n-match fashions and accessories, so girls can customize and style out their Barbie Girl Device, while also making a fashion statement of their own with clip-on earrings and beads for the device’s earphones. The Barbie Girl Device has 512MB of on-board memory and it has an expandable miniSD slot that holds a memory card up to 2 GB. A belt clip, adjustable-sized earbuds and storage case are bundled with the Barbie Girl Device. Accessory packs are sold separately for $9.99 and include various fashions, accessories and pets, as well as additional, exclusive content that comes to life online.
The BarbieGirls.com website is scheduled to come out of its beta phase in late August. Mattel, the site’s owners, are in the process of implementing new parental controls, which will require parental permission via e-mail for girls to register on BarbieGirls.com. Additional parental permission will be required to access certain chat functionality. Mattel is also encouraging parents to spend time online with their children to monitor their online use. This week Barbie Girls websites will go live in five additional languages including www.barbiegirls.fr (French), www.barbiegirls.es (Spanish), www.barbiegirls.it (Italian), www.barbiegirls.de (German) and www.barbiegirls.com.pt (Portuguese).
If Barbie is not your style, then perhaps you’d prefer to Be-Bratz in the Bratz World. MGA Entertainment has just launched the Bratz web-based community. Be-Bratz.com combines creativity, communication, music, great games and hip fashion into one online world where girls ages six and up can safely explore and interact either by themselves or with other Be-Bratz.com users. With Be-Bratz.com, you create and become your very own virtual Bratz character, play with and take care of your online pet, chat with and make new friends, and venture into exciting environments filled with activities galore.
Unfortunately, the features of Be-Bratz.com are accessible only with a special necklace that comes packaged with one of three new Bratz fashion dolls ($29.99). The necklace doubles as a USB key that unlocks the Be-Bratz.com world.
Combining online and real-world play is the trend and Ganz with its Webkinz Pets has capitalized hugely on the concept. Webkinz are a cuddly collection of plush toys. While each toy is a stuffed animal that a child can play with, without a computer, each Webkinz Pet carries a unique secret code which opens the virtual world of fun and adventure at www.webkinz.com.
At the site, children discover that their care and nurturing will ensure the happiness and health of their Webkinz Pet. Fun games and trivia quizzes enable pet owners to earn Kinzcash and build their very own virtual house, complete with uniquely designed rooms.
Even if you don’t own a Webkinz Pet, you can take a quick site tour of the Webkinz World with Ms. Birdy and see what happens when members join for the first time. Webkinz are sold at gift shops and are proving to be extremely popular with more than one million Webkinz stuffed animals sold since their April 2005 debut. In February, the Toy Industry Association named Webkinz the Specialty Toy of the Year for 2007.
