A research report says that virtual worlds can be important places where
children practice what they will do in real life. They are also a powerful and
attractive alternative to more passive adventures like watching TV. The
research was done with children using the BBC’s Adventure Rock virtual world,
aimed at those aged 6-12. It surveyed and interviewed children who were the
first to test the game.
The online world is a theme island built for the BBC’s children channel
by Belgian game maker Larian. Children explore the world alone but they use
message boards to share what they find and what they do in the different
creative studios they find around the virtual space.
At times children were explorers and at others they were social climbers
eager to connect with other players. Some were power users looking for more
information about how the virtual space really worked. The children could try
all kinds of things without having to be afraid of the consequences that would
follow if they tried them in the real world. They learned many useful social
skills and played around with their identity in ways that would be much more
difficult in real life. According to the study what children liked about
virtual worlds was the chance to create content such as music, cartoons and
videos.
The publishers of the report say that virtual worlds can be a powerful,
engaging and real interactive alternative to more passive media. They urged
creators of virtual spaces for children to get young people involved very early
on because they really do have good ideas to add and they are very good
critical friends.
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