kids

The rush to build virtual worlds for kids is on. With spaces like Webkinz and Habbo Hotel dominating, and Gaia Online coming up fast, Mattels Barbie Girls which launched in April has its work cut out. Barbie may just have a little more to worry about now though, as she chases the preteen girl market, as details on Sony's new "Free Realms" emerge in this NYT story. Free spaces filled with horses and puppies and no doubt princesses and pretty dresses as well.

Free Realms is basically aimed at children, especially girls. The game will be free to play in general, but will require paid membership for access to special zones and activities (hence the term “velvet rope”). In terms of microtransactions, players will be able to buy virtual in-game items like pets and clothing à la carte. And there may also be advertising inside the game.

Free Realms is due out this winter on the PC.

A week or two back I mentioned some upcoming virtual worlds for kids, and it seems that it's becoming a very hot area right now. IAC, the company that owns Search engine ASK, and feed reader Bloglines among many other web properties, just announced that they will build a new virtual world for kids called Zwinktopia on their Zwinky site. Zwinky as it stands, is a toolbar and widget site that allows young users to create custom avatars from thousands of different clothes and body settings to embed on their MySpace profiles and similar pages. The new world will literally add a whole new dimension to Zwinky, giving users the opportunity to hang out with friends, earn and spend ZBucks and generally do a whole bunch of stuff kids already do on sites like Gaia and Club Penguin.

Mike Arrington has the full details of the release from IAC.

Reuters reports that Nickelodeon will open a "Nicktropolis" for kids. It sounds like a ton of fun: "The site will feature gaming, online video, popular Nickelodeon brands and other elements to help children interact with each other or Nickelodeon characters in real time.".

Nicktropolis will be ad-fueled, and likely start out with one main sponsor according to the story above.