Ok, I'm coming out. I've got a Webkinz. His name is Koko. He's a cuddly silverback gorilla. But it's an academic interest. No, really. My fall into deep gorilla love began about two weeks ago, when a sharp young architect I know scolded me for failing to connect with the interests of my NetGen children. I've watched my kids play in Webkinz world on our computer for a long time now, mostly just looking on from afar, being mildly annoyed at the sounds coming out of the arcade, but (the shame) not really paying much attention to the thing other than glancing over the rules of engagement to convince myself that it is safe for them.
Backing up-- Webkinz are fuzzy little stuffies with a twist -- with each critter comes a year's worth of access to a virtual world with real estate, an economy, social networks (albeit limited ones). Kids (and, as it turns out, Very Big Kids) can log in, visit, chat with buddies, play games, do jobs to earn money, furnish their rooms, buy real estate, and much more.
After my meeting with my architecture friend, I came home filled with new questions for my children, four of whom showed me their Webkinz worlds and explained things to me. The younger ones even handed over their passwords so that I could go in late at night and earn some Kinz dollars for them on the surprisingly engaging games.
Last week I celebrated my birthday and one of my children, with a smile big enough to swallow the whole room, handed me a bag full of gorilla. And I have to tell you that Mr. Theoretician has been having a ball with him. It's now gone slightly beyond just enjoying the games to feeling a slight bit of filial concern for my stuffie gorilla. I don't like when I don't know where he is. And when I hold him in my hand and my son holds one of his growing collection in his hand, we play together, surrendering ourselves to a goofy imaginary world that the virtual world connection makes more compelling in a way that I don't understand yet.
It's a vastly different context to the kinds of cyber-real connections I've been writing about for the past few days, but it is definitely related. Our ability to use technology to build virtual places and to make orderly connections between them and our real places is opening new possibilities for play as well as for more serious pursuits. I'd love to tell you more, but Koko needs another banana.
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