Common Sense Media Review
By Dana Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Virtual world for real toys with many ads pushing more toys.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 8+?
Any Positive Content?
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 78 parent reviews
Parents say that while the website offers a fun and nostalgic experience for children, it has become increasingly frustrating due to issues like expensive memberships, account deletions after inactivity, and significant lagging. Many reviews highlight the concerning consumerism, lack of customer support, and the overall perception that the game focuses more on profit than on providing a quality experience for kids, making it essential for parents to monitor their children's activities closely.
- consumerism concerns
- lagging issues
- account deletions
- expensive memberships
- customer service complaints
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 286 kid reviews
Is It Any Good?
This site is a favorite for many elementary school-age kids because of all of the colorful, fun things to do that mimic real-world responsibilities. It does promote shopping and spending -- there are plenty of ways to earn and spend KinzCash (to buy clothes and furniture for the pet's room), on- and off-line. The ads for Webkinz products and other third-party ads are all over the place, and the site doesn't make it easy for parents to find where to turn the third-party ads off. Overall, Webkinz is slightly educational and mostly fun, which adds up for lots of repeat visits. Time limits are a must.
Online interaction: Kids can participate in KinzChat, which is a controlled, pre-scripted chat that prevents kids from sharing personal information. In regular KinzChat, you can only chat with others in games, unless you know your friends' -- then you can mail letters to them, and visit their Webkinz online "house." Even in KinzChat PLUS, which is a filtered chat that parents must approve, members can report other members who aren't chatting age-appropriately.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the rules for playing safely in an online world.
Kids may be tempted to play in virtual worlds for long periods of time. Families can also talk about setting computer time limits.
Families can talk about the prevalence of cheating and how Webkinz secrets and cheat codes are offered freely on the Internet. Ask your kid whether they think it's OK to use cheat codes in a virtual world.
Website Details
- Genre : Virtual Worlds
- Pricing structure : Free
- Last updated : November 11, 2020
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