Whyville Review - Education and Learning Through Online Virtual Worlds

Whyville is a virtual world and networking site forfor others' virtual avatars, homes, and cars.
kids aged 6-16. Over 5 million people inhabit theClams can be spent on a wide variety of things -
Whyville virtual world, making it one of the mostfrom decals for cars, furniture, homes, to clothing
popular virtual worlds on the internet. Through aand face parts for virtual avatars. This buying and
series of games, discussions, sponsorships andselling of clams has helped create a thriving,
community efforts, Whyville seeks to educatevibrant virtual economy.
kids about topics ranging from science to art.The primary focus of Whyville is education and
As one of the very first virtual worlds on thelearning. Through a wide variety of games and
internet, Whyville has enjoyed an exceptionalrole playing actions, users can learn about topics
longetivity. In a field where user attrition is high,ranging from art and history to geography and
Whyville has managed to hold on to its user basephysics. The use of personalized avatars and a
over more than a decade. Key to the success ofhost of attractive characters has lent a mass
Whyville has been its exceptional focus on userappeal to Whyville's online learning and education
experience, learning, and building a sense ofcomponent.
community ownership.Other features include elections to select
Design'senators' that teach members about the electoral
Whyville feels decidedly ancient when comparedprocess, concerts by popular acts like Jonas
to the snazzier designs of modern day socialBrothers and the Cheetah Girls, and a weekly
networks and virtual worlds like Maple Story ornewspaper populated with user submitted stories.
Facebook. The colors and artwork look dated andSponsorships
can be a bit harsh to the eyes. Users accustomedSponsorships have been a prevalent feature of
to the Spartan design of Google, or the clean linesWhyville since its inception. A host of private and
of Twitter might feel bit of a shock at thepublic companies have sponsored certain games
abundant use of color on Whyville. In terms ofor activities in Whyville. These range from private
design, thus, Whyville is a letdown.sponsors like Toyota Scion (after which all cars in
Featuresthe Whyville world are named), Disney, and EMI,
Whyville describes itself as "A free websiteto public sponsors like NASA, Univ. of Texas
dedicated to learning through exploration andSystem, and US Centers for Disease Control and
communication". True to these words, WhyvillePrevention. These sponsorships have helped
offers a host of games and roleplay opportunitiesinculcate strong values in Whyville's audience of
to learn about a particular topic. As one of thepre-teens through various games and community
very first simulation based virtual worlds dedicatedfeatures.
to learning, Whyville was key to understandingWebsite Performance
and improving upon the concept of online learning,Whyville is rarely ever offline. Despite its
and has played a major role in molding ideas aboutpopularity and the large traffic it attracts, Whyville
how the internet can impact education.boots up fairly quickly and performs well on even
A main feature of Whyville is its "virtualolder systems.
economy". Whyville was among the first websitesConclusion
virtual worlds to incorporate an internal virtualWhyville might look and feel a bit dated compared
currency. This currency is called "clam" and ato its snazzier competition, but few can match its
thriving trade has built around it in Whyville.online education component. Parents might have
Users can earn 'clams' by participating in variousto be a bit vary of the amount of safety the site
activities - playing games, answering questions,offers to their kids, but with sponsors as
helping other members, etc. Once a user hasrespected as NASA onboard, your kids will only
enough clams saved up, he can start his ownpick up some good values through Whyville.
store to sell self-created "face parts" or graphics