Whyville is a virtual world and networking site for kids aged 6-16. Over 5 million people inhabit the Whyville virtual world, making it one of the most popular virtual worlds on the internet. Through a series of games, discussions, sponsorships and community efforts, Whyville seeks to educate kids about topics ranging from science to art.
As one of the very first virtual worlds on the internet, Whyville has enjoyed an exceptional longetivity. In a field where user attrition is high, Whyville has managed to hold on to its user base over more than a decade. Key to the success of Whyville has been its exceptional focus on user experience, learning, and building a sense of community ownership.
Design
Whyville feels decidedly ancient when compared to the snazzier designs of modern day social networks and virtual worlds like Maple Story or Facebook. The colors and artwork look dated and can be a bit harsh to the eyes. Users accustomed to the Spartan design of Google, or the clean lines of Twitter might feel bit of a shock at the abundant use of color on Whyville. In terms of design, thus, Whyville is a letdown.
Features
Whyville describes itself as “A free website dedicated to learning through exploration and communication”. True to these words, Whyville offers a host of games and roleplay opportunities to learn about a particular topic. As one of the very first simulation based virtual worlds dedicated to learning, Whyville was key to understanding and improving upon the concept of online learning, and has played a major role in molding ideas about how the internet can impact education.
A main feature of Whyville is its “virtual economy”. Whyville was among the first websites/virtual worlds to incorporate an internal virtual currency. This currency is called “clam” and a thriving trade has built around it in Whyville.
Users can earn ‘clams’ by participating in various activities – playing games, answering questions, helping other members, etc. Once a user has enough clams saved up, he can start his own store to sell self-created “face parts” or graphics for others’ virtual avatars, homes, and cars.
Clams can be spent on a wide variety of things – from decals for cars, furniture, homes, to clothing and face parts for virtual avatars. This buying and selling of clams has helped create a thriving, vibrant virtual economy.
The primary focus of Whyville is education and learning. Through a wide variety of games and role playing actions, users can learn about topics ranging from art and history to geography and physics. The use of personalized avatars and a host of attractive characters has lent a mass appeal to Whyville’s online learning and education component.
Other features include elections to select ‘senators’ that teach members about the electoral process, concerts by popular acts like Jonas Brothers and the Cheetah Girls, and a weekly newspaper populated with user submitted stories.
Sponsorships
Sponsorships have been a prevalent feature of Whyville since its inception. A host of private and public companies have sponsored certain games or activities in Whyville. These range from private sponsors like Toyota Scion (after which all cars in the Whyville world are named), Disney, and EMI, to public sponsors like NASA, Univ. of Texas System, and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These sponsorships have helped inculcate strong values in Whyville’s audience of pre-teens through various games and community features.
Website Performance
Whyville is rarely ever offline. Despite its popularity and the large traffic it attracts, Whyville boots up fairly quickly and performs well on even older systems.
Conclusion
Whyville might look and feel a bit dated compared to its snazzier competition, but few can match its online education component. Parents might have to be a bit vary of the amount of safety the site offers to their kids, but with sponsors as respected as NASA onboard, your kids will only pick up some good values through Whyville.
The Summary
Target Demography:
Whyville doesn’t really have an opinion of which demography they are trying to target, but we think Whyville is probably most suitable for tweens with some adjustments.
Graphics: D
Dated. static and boring.
Educational Value: B
If the chat feature was eliminated, Whyville would get full marks.
Entertainment Value: C
Static graphics make the website frustrating and games difficult to play.
Price:
There are no membership costs.
Visit Whyville at www.Whyville.net.
The above Whyville review was written by a responsible parent and media professional who believes that child safety on the internet must be observed as a top priority. Contact us if you would like your virtual world reviewed too.
It’s so boring!
Nothing to do at this virtual world so don’t go.