Children’s BBC (CBBC) have been beta-testing a virtual world for children – ‘Adventure Rock‘. A major launch is probably imminent given the appearance at the weekend of the article “Web worlds ‘useful’ for children” on the BBC news site. (I think that the world is actually now open to all, but haven’t seen the launch yet… maybe I don’t see enough CBBC)
A little comment below, and a minor ethical dilemma…
According to the news page:
Children explore the world alone but it uses message boards so children can share what they find and what they make in the various creative studios dotted around the virtual space.
If this is right, Adventure Rock (AR) isn’t a multi-user virtual world at all – but a single player game tied into a range of noticeboards and forums which allow children to message each other, share fan art and so on.
The BBC had also sought input from researchers at the University of Westminster:
Prof Gauntlett said what children liked about virtual worlds was the chance to create content such as music, cartoons and video and the tools that measured their standing in the world compared to others.
“Virtual worlds can be a powerful, engaging and interactive alternative to more passive media,” he said.
The content creation tools appear to be a major feature of AR – though they are not necessarily such a large feature in all virtual worlds.
Where my ethical dilemma comes in is that – as someone with a professional interest in virtual worlds – I would like to log into AR and play around a little. But to download the game I must first create a forum account on CBBC. And to do that I have to be under the age of 16. Or lie.
And it doesn’t appear to even be a truly multi-user virtual world. What about if I wanted to study (scary stuff here) Barbie Girls?
The alternative I guess is to explore these worlds vicariously – by studying how children play them. That of course has its own logistical and ethical issues to resolve…
Back to AR – the other side to the dilemma is that as a responsible parent I might want to download and trial AR in order to decide whether I felt it right for my own children (Tanya Byron would be proud of me). But here too I would still need to tell some fibs to the Beeb first… is that right?
