Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 18
Virtual Worlds for Young People in a Program
Context: Lessons from Four Case Studies
Marina Umaschi Bers, Laura Beals, Clement Chau, Keiko Satoh,
and Nauman Khan
Developmental Technologies Research Group, Eliot Pearson Department of Child Development,
Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
Introduction
In 2007 a report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project (Lenhart, Madden,
Macgill, & Smith, 2007) revealed that 93% of Americans between the ages of
12 and 17 years are Internet users “and more of them than ever are treating is as
a venue for social interaction—a place where they can share creations, tell stories,
and interact with others” (p. i). In addition, the report found that 55% of online
teens (ages 12-17 years) have a profile on a social networking site (e.g., Facebook
or MySpace).
Prescott (2007) reported that of the five most frequented virtual worlds sites,
four of them were youth focused
1
and furthermore, were ranked higher than adult-
oriented equivalents such as
Second Life
and
World of Warcraft
. The Association
of Virtual Worlds published a report entitled “The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide
to Virtual Worlds” (Association of Virtual Worlds, 2008, August) in which descrip-
tions, links, and categories for hundreds of virtual worlds are provided. A count
of these worlds reveals that approximately 110 are categorized as for kids, 115 for
tweens, and 140 for teens (some worlds, however, are designed for multiple age
groups).
As examples of the increasing popularity of virtual worlds for children, the site
Webkinz increased its visits by 1141% in a year (Prescott, 2007), and Club Penguin
doubled in size, from 1.9 million to 4.7 million visitors (Shore, 2008). This popular-
ity, however, for many of the sites is tied with commercial endeavors—for example,
Club Penguin was acquired by Disney for $350 million (Barnes, 2007) and US retail
sales of the Webkinz dolls in 2006 earned $45 million (Tiwari, 2007). As another
