Whyville.net

Social site with good edu value needs supervision.

Entertainment Value: Medium Graphics: Bitmapped cartoons Playability: Medium Reading Level: Medium Website: http://www.whyville.net

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this site is a popular virtual community created for kids (mostly girls) ages 8 to 15, although it may not be appropriate for the younger side of that wide span. The main concern is that although the site uses a language filter and city workers review the chat log and warrant "duct tape sentences" to offenders, the chat is not monitored on a 24/7. But kids must take a highly instructive chat license test that teaches online safety features. Numerous safety measures built into the site help protect kids from online predators (requiring a parental permission slip to be sent via snail mail, a certain number of days on the site before a user is able to chat), although both kids and adults are welcome to join and roam around.

Families can talk about how some activities on this site are different from other virtual worlds. Do your kids come to the site because it offers good community activities? Does the safety test help them feel safer exploring the site. Families can also take a tour of the site together and talk about what they see: What are the avatars chatting about? Would you want to chat with an avatar called "RatedXLie," "Missxxy9," or "MurderMan"?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Dana Villamagna

On WHYVILLE.NET users create an avatar -- a digital icon to represent themselves -- and meet others to play science- and math-centric educational games, chat, spend virtual money (or actual money if you want) to shop, and hang out. The site is set up to mirror a real-life community, including a government that users can participate in. The site, however, isn't nearly as attractive as some other online networking sites and can be confusing to navigate at times.

Similar to adult virtual communities like Teen Second Life, Whyville.net users spend virtual money called clams to buy cars, build their own homes, and fancy up their avatars. The players can buy clams with real money via paypal ($5 for 500 clams, $20 for 3,000) or earn clams by playing the games.

Creators have included a number of safety measures including: registering for the site with a parent's email, requiring a parental permission slip to be sent via snail mail, and a certain number of days on the site before a user is able to chat, taking a thorough pre-chat test, and reporting abuses by other players through a "911 report." But, the major mishap is that the chat rooms aren't monitored around the clock so there can be predictable teen-like interchanges about "hooking up" and some inappropriately frank -- and sometimes hurtful -- comments.

Many of the educational components within Whyville are sponsored by well-respected institutions in the science, art, health and math fields, such as NASA and the John Paul Getty Trust. Activities run the gamut from checkers to games that use vector arithmetic. Subjects discussed on the site range from phytoplankton blooms and multi wavelength spectroscopy to how to create a robotic car or a cute avatar.

Younger kids may be confused or frustrated by the complexity of a lot of the games and the topics discussed. In one thread a citizen asks: "What is an atom?" While a few responses were accurate, others gave off the mark responses like, "Atoms are the teeny specks of water in clouds."

On the negative side, there are a lot of advertisers on the site, including Wal-Mart, Disney, and the car maker Scion. The constant call for clams and trumpeting of big-ticket items like cars makes Whyville somewhat of a conundrum for parents: Do the educational benefits outweigh the commercial influences?

For more beautifully rendered social networking sites for kids, head on over to ClubPenguin.com or Nicktropolis.com.

Reviewed: 03/23/2007

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content Chat rooms are not constantly monitored; lots of chats about who's getting with whom. A number of avatars have sex-inspired names ("Wannafak").
Violence Some kids choose violent monikers or use violent images in speech.
Language Kids can misspell words to get around the filter. Some kids use violent speech such as "I want to hurt him until he dies," which the filters don't catch.
Message
	Social Behavior Like in any avatar world, kids can be rejected rudely. On the other hand, there are socially responsible messages, too.
	Commercialism Areas are "sponsored" by Cheetah Girls, Scion, and more. Kids are encouraged to buy "clams" in order to purchase things by playing games. You can also pay for "clams" using real money via the Internet.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco
	Educational Value Some educational games and information (mostly for teens) about math, science, healthy eating habits, and community life (learn how to submit an article to a newspaper). The J. Paul Getty Trust art museum game helps players learn the different ways art is classified.