According Debra Williamson, an analyst at eMarketer, 20 million children will be members of some sort of virtual world by 2011. Today there are 8.2 million.
In a recent New York Times article, Web Playgrounds for the Very Young, Club Penguin attracts 7 times more traffic than Second Life, a virtual world for adults. [Even those of us who’ve not memorized the times tables through 99 can see that’s a huge difference. See my post, Future Watch: Education, for back story on this].
The New York Times quotes, Steve Wadsworth, president of the Walt Disney Group: “There is a massive opportunity here.” In other words, watch out. The big corporations (Movies, toys, etc) are coming after your kids.
What do you think?
———————————————
Register Now for HUMANA 2.08. For more info see the Website at http://fight4humanity.com
6 comments
Comments feed for this article
Trackback link
http://alex.voxtropolis.com/2008/01/03/future-watch-web-playgrounds-for-kids/trackback/
January 3, 2008 at 3:24 pm
tony sheng
My 10 year old started with Club Penguin. Both of my kids now really love Webkinz, which starts when you buy a stuffed animal with a code on it’s tag that gets you into the virtual world filled with games, rooms, etc.
Reminds me of that whole blending of human and cyber that you reference a lot. Continuing to be interesting, no doubt.
January 9, 2008 at 3:30 pm
revzwife
thought you might find this article interesting:
Time Warner invests $12m in Gaia
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003694051
ps tell Niza hi!
January 10, 2008 at 2:38 pm
niza and manus
Thanks for you comments. There does seem to be a melding between the cyber and concrete that continues to slowly surround us.
January 10, 2008 at 4:08 pm
revzwife
but the question that keeps surfacing for me is,
Does the cyber slow down the ability to develop relationships in the concrete?
January 10, 2008 at 4:22 pm
niza and manus
beth, most of us haven’t been that fast anyway.
January 11, 2008 at 2:45 am
revzwife
truth is spoken
I have other concerns about virtual, especially with children, but that’s an entirely different topic. I was a tyrant when it came to my child’s use of the internet. Just ask them, they’ll tell you!