SueB
27 Aug 2007, 06:18 AM
If you aren't familiar, Webkinz are sort of like Beanie Babies with the added feature of an individual computer code included with each animal. You enter this code on their website to "adopt" your new "pet", which creates an avatar-like figure of that pet that you can then play with online. The new "pet" gets "KinzCash", so that it can buy stuff for its "room", play games to "earn" more Cash, or visit common areas to interact with other "pets" (although the chatting ability is highly restricted).
It seems pretty addictive. And apparently, it's gotten quite big, with code stealing being a big problem - these things have to be kept behind glass in toy store, and once purchased, there can be no returns.
My 8yo daughter got one last Xmas but had only played with it once. Suddenly, this summer she got into it. I figured "cool, a computer thing for girls". But no ... her 6yo little brother instantly wanted one to play with, too. We went to a neighborhood picnic last night, and I casually asked the five other kids there (boys AND girls, all entering 1st thru 5th grades) if any of them had these things. Suddenly, the room was alive with screaming - "oo, I have 9!", etc etc and parents rolling their eyes ("30 minutes at a time is my rule") and horror stories about a kid at a birthday party stealing the code of one that had been given to her son as a present ("and he already had 20 of them!"). Once the code is used, it's impossible to re-use it or switch it to another account.
Yikes! Just wondering how widespread this is, and if it'll get even bigger now that school is starting up again.
It seems pretty addictive. And apparently, it's gotten quite big, with code stealing being a big problem - these things have to be kept behind glass in toy store, and once purchased, there can be no returns.
My 8yo daughter got one last Xmas but had only played with it once. Suddenly, this summer she got into it. I figured "cool, a computer thing for girls". But no ... her 6yo little brother instantly wanted one to play with, too. We went to a neighborhood picnic last night, and I casually asked the five other kids there (boys AND girls, all entering 1st thru 5th grades) if any of them had these things. Suddenly, the room was alive with screaming - "oo, I have 9!", etc etc and parents rolling their eyes ("30 minutes at a time is my rule") and horror stories about a kid at a birthday party stealing the code of one that had been given to her son as a present ("and he already had 20 of them!"). Once the code is used, it's impossible to re-use it or switch it to another account.
Yikes! Just wondering how widespread this is, and if it'll get even bigger now that school is starting up again.