I figured I should try to talk about toy trends on this blog. I mean, Toy Graveyard can be so much more than me bitching and moaning about various toys my children own. As such, and in the interest of trying to get myself into next year’s Toy Fair (as if my incessant shopping isn’t a key reason Mattel is in business), here goes my first major attempt at reporting on a hot new toy trend.

So, online virtual worlds for kids are big. Huge, even. This probably isn’t news to those of you who have to chase your children away from Webkinz.com or Club Penguin.

I had a little fun looking up some of the stats involved with virtual worlds aimed at kids (I’m an online marketer in my other life). Not surprisingly, they have tremendous reach which grows larger each year. I found a rather alarming FTC report that revealed explicit and/or violent content was found on 19 of 27 virtual worlds aimed at children (mainly within chat and bulletin board sections of the sites). I know to keep my kids out of the chat and bulletin board features, but the 5-year-old can’t read yet. What happens when kids get a little older and more autonomous online?

The report also shed some light on the sheer size of the online virtual (kids) world industry.

**There may be as many as 200 youth-oriented live, planned, or beta virtual worlds (with these numbers expected to grow)

**There were an estimated 579 million virtual world accounts (globally) in the second quarter of 2009

**Nearly 60% of accounts are for users aged 10-15

**About 20% of users were aged 5-10

**About 15% of users were aged 15-25

**Research by eMarketer demonstrated that approximately 8 million U.S. children aged 3-17 visited virtual worlds on a regular basis in 2008

**The number of youth participants in online virtual worlds is projected to grow to over 15 million by 2013, with the most significant growth among the pre-teen (ages 3-11) segment of users.

The FTC seems to have gotten most of its stats from a site called Virtual World News. Fascinating stuff.

So, what does this mean for our kids? I’m not sure. My kids don’t go online much at this point. They’re 8 and 5. My older daughter can now navigate this new online frontier without much help from me, but she doesn’t have her own computer so that helps keep her offline.

She did get involved with Webkinz a couple of years ago and, with lots of help from me, registered many new Webkinz and spent time playing on the site. She did a bit of high-level social networking too (she sent and received pre-written messages to her cousins). We didn’t allow her to go into the free chat area and probably instilled a horrible fear of strangers in her at that point in time (e.g., “sometimes creepy grown ups hang out in those chat rooms and they want to take you away.”) Yep, great parenting skills, I know.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t recognize how much time and money and sheer talent has gone into the creation of the top online virtual worlds for kids. Many of them are free, or cost a minimal amount of money (e.g., one just needs to purchase a toy to gain entry). But I don’t know. I’m a worrier. I mean, stories of social networking addiction abound these days and I can’t help but wonder if these online worlds are just more high-tech versions of pseudo-creative toys.

Let’s face it, a child with a stuffed horse and a Barbie can invent amazing things when left alone with their imagination. On the other hand, tethering my child’s imagination to an interactive world sort of limits the possibility of Barbie turning the horse into a fire-breathing dolphin while she goes off to seek assistance from Greek gods or long-dead Vikings. I mean, I’m just saying.

So, yeah, I have all sorts of reservations ranging from stunted imaginations, to stranger danger, to online bullying to social network addiction.  For now I have no problem keeping my kids away from these cyber temptations, but in a few years I’ll have to reassess the situation because I’m pretty sure I’ll be hearing things like, “everyone else in the class is doing it!” Life was so much easier when all parents had to worry about was Lite Brite and Barbie!

One final reservation and then I swear I’ll be done. All these sites seem so animated and inviting (hello Joe Camel!) I think it may be impossible to keep the kids from logging on. I visited a few today which I refuse to list or link to, and they all looked completely AWESOME. It just seems like all these companies are dangling cyber candy in front of impressionable children. At the end of the day, are we teaching our kids to be happy little office drones? Is this training for a life of cubicle drudgery? I suddenly have the urge to sign my children up for bungee jumping and outdoor survival camp. I mean, someone in this house needs to learn how to survive without a flat screen in front of them, right???

Tags: Toy Industry Trends | Category Toy Box Musings, Toy Industry Trends