BBC To Launch Virtual World For Kids
Second Life resident FlipperPA Peregrine sends news that the BBC’s kids’ channel, CBBC, will launch a virtual world for children that’s due to go live as soon as this summer. Details are few at the moment, but for safety’s sake the world will not feature an SL-like economy, nor “facilities for building new parts of the virtual world.” The BBC story does say, however, that users will “have an opportunity to make that world a more fascinating place with their own imaginations.” Just how they’ll split that difference and make the world more than a simple 3D chat room remains to be seen. Successful social networking sites fly not merely on the strength of social networking, but because they incorporate tools for self-expression. There’s no reason to think a 3D social space wouldn’t need to offer similar functionality.
Feeds
CBBC Virtual World…
We are getting to hear about some exciting kids based virtual worlds from the BBC
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Children’s World…
BBC announces children’s world. Read our analysis of the Pre-Teens space in Segments and LifeStyles.
Some raise the obvious security question. But clearly, the segment deserves attention, and BBC has decided to pay it.
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It looks like it’s a licensed version of Where.com, judging from the picture on the BBC News article. The Media Guardian have cause slight confusion by suggesting that it’s going to a be a version of Second Life.
Heh, yeah Koz, I just mentioned that exact article over in a comment over at Eightbar. Seems to me SL may have just reached ‘generic brand name’ status, like Hoover, Sellotape, Bluetack and others before it. I wonder whether LL will be delighted, upset, or a bit of both?