Virtual worlds for kids have been popping up everywhere since Disney’s $ 350 million acquisition of Club Penguin was announced, each hoping to be the next Club Penguin.
For the uninformed, Club Penguin is a virtual world created for children where they can buy items, such as pets, clothes, food, etc., and get jobs for money. They can socialize with other players, throw snowballs and dance with each other, etc. It is essentially a social and games platform for children.
Some research will reveal that Club Penguin is perceived as a very safe virtual world for children to visit. It is safe in the sense that they have features to prevent children from being bullied and bullied by pedophiles. It has won many awards for being “kid safe” and this may be one of the main reasons parents trust Club Penguin.
But is Club Penguin really that safe for kids?
Well, some people have their doubts. They believe that while there are live moderation and message filtering features built in to keep an eye out for lurking pedophiles; There is no absolute and complete way to prevent the exchange of addresses and telephone numbers through private emails.
And while Club Penguin watches out for pedophiles, other dangers arise.
Ironically, on certain forums, there have been interesting jokes among kids who subscribe to Club Penguin that they are tired of other kids out there looking for dates. Not just boys, but girls too!
So, as Club Penguin fights hard to prevent infiltration of pedophiles, who is going to protect the children from themselves?
So are virtual worlds for kids safe or not? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? I don’t have an answer and I don’t think anyone else has the answer. A car can be safe if you drive it safely and lethal if you drive it recklessly. Perhaps the solution is in how much you want to restrict the social activities of children within the virtual world itself. But that might take away some of the fun factor too. And one thing is for sure, and that is the fact that new complications and dangers arise with evolution. This is something that we cannot avoid.