When I moved to Seattle a few months ago, I didn't have many friends here. So the solution seemed obvious: I would buy myself some friends. Specifically, I would buy myself a Webkinz, a furry and lovable plush toy that came with a one-year membership to an online gaming community where I could play games, earn points, and build and decorate a house for my virtual pet. Best of all, if I wanted to have three dozen cats and never change the litterbox, my landlord need never know.
The Webkinz plush animals are kind of funky-looking. They're cute, and their fur is very soft, but they're kind of hairy and have strange whiskers that make them less purely adorable and more slightly odd-looking. The bunny was the cutest one that they had at the store I went to, so I chose that one. The full-size Webkinz are about $12, and there are also Li'l Kinz (smaller in size, but they still come with access to the website) for about $8. Your Webkinz comes with a sealed plastic tag that contains the sign-up code for the website, so make sure your animal has an untampered tag when you buy it.
Once you sign on using your code, you'll go though a series of questions to set up your account, including naming your pet. This site is designed for kids, so they don't ask for any personal information. If you have multiple pets, you can add them to your account so you can maintain all your virtual friends at once (but you'll only get a one-year sign-up for each). Once your year is up, I believe the only option is to purchase another animal to continue your membership.
You start with a one-room dwelling, and a few items in your dock, a horizontal scrolling menu where your food, clothing, and accessories are stored. Everything must be purchased with "KinzCash," points that are earned by playing arcade games, "working" temp jobs at the employment office, or answering trivia questions at Quizzy's Question Corner. Some of the games have some educational value, like a typing game where points are given for accuracy, or a math game where you knock out blocks by clicking them to add up to a given number. Quizzy's questions are divided up by age group and topic, and while they seemed pretty easy to this adult, they probably would be informative to younger kids. But for the most part, the games are just for fun, and some are actually pretty addictive.
As you earn KinzCash, you can buy food and treats for your pet, appliances and furniture for extra rooms, and clothing and accessories. Each day, there are a handful of activities that will win you free KinzCash, like a spin on the "Wheel of Wow," or going mining for gems which can be sold or collected. You can also connect with friends online and play games together in the tournament section, though I've yet to make this work successfully. Once someone is your friend, you have limited contact with them through the site – you can send each other "mail," but only choosing from a pre-set menu of generic messages, so there is no chance for kids to reveal personal information, because they can't type their own text. So it seems like it's been pretty well safeguarded for kids.
Once the initial rush of expanding and decorating your home and purchasing clothes and furnishings is over, the novelty and excitement of Webkinz does fade a bit. I used to check in on my pet daily and spend many an unemployed hour playing arcade games and designing my virtual bunny home. Now I miss as many days as I sign on, and often don't have time for much more than a quick greeting and a pat on the head for my pet (who responds with sappy, pathetic gratitude, however neglectful you get). The whole thing is pretty blatantly set up to encourage commerce and materialism – periodically, your Webkinz will enthusiastically remind you how fun shopping is, or thank you for buying it things – and the point is obviously to convince kids that they should collect the whole set. Since they regularly release new animals and retire older ones, it adds an element of scarcity to fuel the fire.
Fortunately, I managed to make some real-life friends the old-fashioned way, so I no longer need to depend on a virtual avatar of a stuffed animal for companionship and conversation. But if you need one more way to waste time on the computer, or an addictive and slightly educational toy for a kid (these seem aimed mostly at the 8-12 set), Webkinz might just be your new best friend.
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