Posted in Animal Jam, Club Penguin, Disney, gaming, kids, online community, Safety/Privacy, tween, virtual worlds, Webkinz

Virtual Worlds Mgmt 101

Izzy Neis and I worked on a primer of kids virtual worlds that we could share with people.  Kind of a what’s good about them, what difficult about them, what they are and are not. Enjoy.

And as I was uploading this one, I saw this fantastically designed on on Slideshare as well.  Guess which one of us has access to graphic designers 😛

Posted in gaming, kids, marketing, online community, Safety/Privacy, trends, virtual worlds

Oldy but goody links

So I was clearing out my favorites on Twitter and thought I would aggregate some of the random old articles I had saved to look at later….. way later.  Why not put them here, right? 😉

Learning

Big Thinkers: Henry Jenkins on New Media and Implications for Learning and Teaching

Why playing in the virtual world has an awful lot to teach children

Is Video Game School Training a Generation of Professional Princess Rescuers?

The Changing Views of the Online Experience – from Fears to Possibilities

Raising Future People (aka kids)

Commentary on: Are you raising a Douchebag? Your indulgent parenting is spawning a generation of entitled hipster brats

A Healthy Day Starts in the Classroom with School Breakfast Programs

Online Safety

Twitter Safety: Keeping young people safe on Twitter

Social Media etc

15 Ways to Measure Return on Engagement (ROE) of Social Media

Game Design for Social Networks

Why Community Management is still misunderstood

What is Social CRM? An Introduction

2010: The Year of the Community Manager

35 social media KPIs to help measure engagement

Play!

Playtime can teach us all

Backyard Adaptations Of Video Game Classics

Posted in gaming, kids, marketing, online community, Safety/Privacy, tween, virtual worlds

National Geographic Animal Jam – Open Beta!

Hey everyone!

The reason I haven’t posted in forever is because I am hard at work on our newly launched project (albeit in open beta) National Geographic Animal Jam!

The day is finally here to live wild with National Geographic Animal Jam™. Now you and your kids can be among the first to monkey around in this virtual world of discovery and fun. Combining the chance for kids to be the animal of their choice with access to National Geographic’s limitless libraries, National Geographic Animal Jam will open your child’s eyes to a world of adventure and exploration like no other virtual world out there. Your kids will soon realize that they’re having tons of fun in the coolest jungle around!

Two years in the making, National Geographic Animal Jam represents an ongoing creative collaboration between the great minds at National Geographic and the gaming gurus at Smart Bomb Interactive. The goal of this virtual world is to provide a fun, exciting, and safe environment for kids to play online, as well as inspire them to explore and protect the natural world outside their doors.

So come prowl around inside National Geographic Animal Jam. With lush tropical kingdoms, amazing adventures, and fascinating facts in store—plus the chance to live it up as your favorite animal—mommy and daddy bears (and their cubs alike) will find a wild world worth discovering!

National Geographic Animal Jam – Jump into the Jungle Today!

We are tweaking and polishing through the summer, and as such, it is completely free to play through the open beta! When we have our Grand Opening this fall, we will offer premium subscription content, but the game will always have free to play features.

Check it out and let me know what you think!