She's a cute, stuffed, black kitty that looks just like Inka. I like her too - that's why I picked her up from the store. After she received her, Rachel ran downstairs to log her new cat in.... and that's always where I start having an issue. To keep Webkinz virtual pets happy, you have to buy them virtual stuff. And to buy them stuff, you play games (dare I say under-age gambling?) to make money. The more money, the more stuff. I asked Rachel if the games were hard, but guess what? Money making is EASY on Webkinz. And, it's pretty unlimited. Since Rachel logged in on her birthday, she was given 100 bucks! However, since the game earnings can be in the thousands, she reported the birthday gift as only 100 bucks. In fact, just for purchasing and logging in her new Inka cat, she was given $2,000 and some other random junk. Now, it's been about an hour and Rachel's still messing with the Webkinz thing, and I don't mind her spending time playing a computer game - it's just this one. I'll repeat myself here, just because I am so baffled by the concept and how people / parents think this is good. On Webkinz, the more stuff you get, the happier your pets are. Money making is easy street - just gamble for it. If you don't regularly check in with your Webkinz site, your pets lose happiness, so make sure and keep coming back to cyberworld (obsessively) to buy more stuff (again, obsessively). And have as much fun as you can - for a year. After that your pet expires and if you do not buy another one, your whole account is kaplooey. This morning Rachel even contemplated not logging in Inka until her other latest one - a horse- expires in December - so worried is she that she'll lose her whole virtual world.
What are we teaching our kids?
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Those Webkinz are EVIL I tell you! In my home, I think they actually MULTIPLY when no one's around...I just recently found out about the one year limit thing. The nice thing is, if you go out & buy a new one, it can move in with all the "dead" ones who expired--they're still there, just in limbo or something, waiting for their owners to come back and revive them by buying a new friend.
ReplyDeleteAnd how the Webkinz can be friends and send each other stuff..iit's kinda like Facebook for the younger set, no?
In our video game-free (but not computer-game free) home, I am officially neutral about Webkinz. Apart from the lost opportunity for the kids to spend time on, say, great books or pre-calc or staring at the clouds to figure out what shapes they resemble, Webkinz seem kinda harmless. But I agree with you--I can't imagine why any parents would actually ENCOURAGE them!
:)