Sites invite children to set up accounts, and they become invested as they adopt pets or decorate homes or indulge in other such activities


If you’ve been noticing an increase in the number of smudgy fingerprints on your computer screen, it may be because your young children are spending more time online. With new services coming from companies such as Lego and Disney, that are aimed right at them, it might be wise to keep some glass cleaner nearby.
Engrossed: A file photograph of a boy typing on his laptop in Arahuay, an Andean hilltop village in Peru

These services are increasingly social in nature, places where your children can interact with other children, and they are becoming a central part of the business plans of the people who make TV programmes, toys and cereal.
Your child might get a plush toy bearing a code for a free gift on Neopets, or a gift card for a free month on Club Penguin. How can parents sort out the best options among these services? One trick is to think about how they make money.

Because of multimedia Web software and faster Internet access, there are lots of sites that mix habit-forming games with ads. One is even called Addicting Games (www.addictinggames.com), and it is run by Viacom Inc.’s Nickelodeon division, a company that has a clear interest in attracting the minds and mouse clicks of children.
As visitors play (and rate) games like Indestructo Tank or Drag Racer V3 , they see ads for Intel computers or other Nick sites. Clicking through and hopping from site to site will give a child a crash course in the latest Bratz movies or Hannah Montana concert.
Another group of sites mixes free content with paid access, using a technique known in the industry as the velvet rope approach. Children are invited to set up an account, and they become invested as they adopt pets or decorate homes. Then they are teased with features that cost money, real money.
Later this month, Mattel Inc.’s BarbieGirls will be retooled in this way. Last year the site required the purchase of a Barbie MP3 player for access to certain content, an idea that has been abandoned. In the new version, children will be able to get in free and chat with others, dress up their on-screen dolls and decorate a room. But a collection of some games and fashion items will be off limits unless they become a VIP player, which requires cash. VIPs are distinguished from the other Barbies by their sparkling tiaras.
For younger children of both genders, ZooKazoo (www.zookazoo.com), out this month, is similar to the popular Club Penguin but has an educational slant, with games that involve sorting objects and saving the environment.
As you play, you can add friends to your buddy list and earn money by playing games. With the money you can buy furniture for your home or clothing for your on-screen representation, known in the business as an avatar. But you need to come up with $6 a month for the premium games.

source-livemint.com

Well well things have changed in the children parks, what used to be the bustling grounds of joy and competition have turned to praying parks for the elderly....ther are just no children who wanna sweat it out in the outdors cauz they are too busy with there computers and games. The internet especially has made everyone stick to the screen and the outdoor activities have been waiting out of schedules probably now forever. This is taking its toll and the Metros in India and abroad are breeding grounds for many lifestyle diseases in children and adults alike.....Its time that we should act......its not necessary to shun the computer off or the internet for that matter but its time to go out and think about the body that we have been gifted with.