SecretBuilders

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Vast virtual world appeals to wide age range.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this enormous virtual world offers a huge variety of activities to satisfy its target age range of 5-14. The site has several educational features that introduce important historical characters and basic concepts in math, science, and the humanities.

  • Players are encouraged to become part of the Secret Builders community, by befriending others, chatting with people and submitting feedback about different activities and features. People can make suggestions for new features and read other people's ideas on forums. Players are encouraged to notify the moderators about anything they may think is inappropriate. The site also features a game that enables kids to raise money for charity groups.
  • Not applicable.
  • Not applicable.
  • Moderators screen all submissions for inappropriate language before it is posted. There are two modes for chatting; younger players use the restricted chat feature, which limits people to a list of words and phrases, while older kids can, with their parents' permission, chat freely, though the content is still screened for inappropriate words. Parents have control over players' buddy lists.
  • The site encourages people to earn money, called shills, by playing games, and then to spend it on various items.

What's it about?

SECRET BUILDERS is an enormous online world for kids to explore. Players customize their own avatars and navigate through virtual bazaars, haunted houses, magical forests, laboratories and many, many other locations, where they encounter other users, historical figures and plenty of entertaining activities. People can play games, go on quests and participate in other pursuits, usually earning "shills," the coin of the realm. Everyone gets their own home, and can spend their shills to purchase pets, furniture, and other decorations. People can also befriend other users, chat with each other, and post messages on public forums. The site says it is aimed at kids ages 5 to 14, and offers a huge variety of ways for children all across this very broad spectrum to have fun.


Is it any good?

 

Secret Builders is so engrossing, that users may not even realize that it also has a strong educational element. Many of the games introduce basic concepts in science, math, and the humanities, and players will encounter important people from history such as Albert Einstein and William Shakespeare. Children are strongly encouraged to help develop new content by submitting ideas and requests for new features and activities, which will likely create a stronger sense of community.

 

Online interaction: The developers have taken pains to make the site a safe place for young
people, by ensuring that parents can keep tabs on their kids'
activities and online friends, offering different chat modes for
younger and older players, and by screening user-submitted information
for inappropriate content.


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about combining education and entertainment. Is it possible to make games both fun and educational? Is a game less fun if it also tries to teach something? Do the games on this site seem like school? Do they make learning fun? Do some seem more like lessons than others? How would you make learning into a game?


This review was written by Will Wade
Adult
July 7, 2009
 
safe, educational and fun! what more could a parent want?
this site is constantly playing with their filters and improving it. The previous reviewer mentioned the dating talk was passing the filters. not so anymore. I trust my kids on this site more so than club penguin. I have an 11 year old and a 8 year old.

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Parent of 8 year old
May 25, 2010
 
The game is interesting. However it has a chat and I found very inappropiate an email my child received. I copy it textually: "Dear xxxx,Please come home and tuck me into bed! I'm really tired and sleepy" What kind of language a kid use it? I am afraid Some pedofilos can be behind this Web page. Furthermore they have some clubs, a secret club for example where the child is invited to share his or her secrets....uhmmmm very suspicius!!!!

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Kid, 12 years old
February 19, 2011
 
Safety isn't much of an issue as of how saying a swear you will be banned; however, some users may use words which are obviously substituting the words such as: sax or b!tch. It also includes educational games using skills which can help children learn in the future.

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Kid, 8 years old
May 17, 2011
 
hmmm...im new so i dont nkow wat this website is.

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Teen, 15 years old
May 6, 2009
 
NO!
This site is REALLY fun! But...When people are walking up to you and saying things such as, "Hey baby" or, "Wanna make love?" or, "Will you marry me?" It's terrible!!! I think that if you want to join this site by all means go ahead but I highly suggest that you first make sure that you can handle it when somebody calls you the 'b' word! This is no joke! This girl said that she was Obama's daughter so this other girl walked over to her and said, "We hate you." "You're a BEEP" She called her the B word!!! She separated it so I reported her. But It's terrible and I wouldn't recommend it for kids under the age of 14.

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Parent of 11 year old
September 7, 2009
 
awsome perfect for any age enjoy
i love it.my daughter is very in to secretbuilders and she stays on it all day because she thinks its fun.

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Adult
January 14, 2009
 
Fantasic! 2nd best online game I have ever played!!!
This game is worth checking out. It has plenty of games, contests, and quests! This game is actually mostly about writing. With several refrences to classic books.The average kid might not like it. If you have a writer, though, they probably will! Totally age appropriate. Chat is safe. Nothing to worry about here. In case you're curious, VMK was the best online game I have played.

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Kid, 13 years old
September 17, 2010
 
i love carly she is a good roll modle, so is frad and fraedy. i love sam but she is not a good roll modle

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Adult
January 16, 2009
 
Inappropriate chatting
At first I was very pleased with this site. After using it for several days and really enjoying it, another playing sent a message to my daughter saying" hey you and I would be great together !" then another one said " wanna go out with me ? that phrase seems to be very common. Then worse of all someone called her a loser and a jerk. My daughter is no longer allowed to use the site. Karpawalsh

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Adult
July 15, 2011
 
Way too much inappropriate talk going on!
My 11 year old daughter learned about this site from a teacher recommendation. They said it's a great learning site that basis games around history and literature. That may be a portion of the site but I believe the part that is most used by the children is the chat and social aspect of the site. Here they can type messages to each other that are supposed to be safe chat but the players have found ways around that. There is lots of negative chat, name calling, sexualized messages, rudeness and pawning of items. There is also a game I just learned of today that they play in another member's house. It's spin the bottle! They all gather in another player's house and a boy or girl picks a player, who then sits next to them and they type in 'KIZZ' or' make love to me'! I was shocked to see this and embarrassed that I have let me 11 year old play on this site for so long. Shortly after I saw that, I noticed another player type, spin the bottle at my party, all boys. Which made me realize that anyone can sign up for an account, even adults. These adults could be playing these "games" with your children. Well, I'm done with this site. My daughter may not understand my way of thinking but this is not what this site was intended for in my eyes. I do not like that there is little monitoring. Sure, a player can get kicked off their account for ludicrous language but they can immediately open another account. Very bad website for children.

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This review was written by Will Wade
This review was written by Will Wade

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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