Guest Posting on the Mighty Ypulse

Well, nearly a week has passed since 2008’s Virtual Worlds Expo in sunny Los Angeles. Two days of Virtual World insanity? Sweetness. As a fan girl of youth entertainment and virtual worlds, the Expo (or the “X’po” as I started calling it) was a good chance to visit with some noobs and regulars in the VW biz.

We’ve heard it over and over for the last few months – there are 150+ virtual worlds in existence or in creation-phase. Sure, kids are multi-taskers, and will play a handful of virtual worlds. But how do you ensure that yours is the virtual world that children, tweens, teens, etc., subscribe to?

I walked away from this conference with one happy realization – people in the industry are starting to get it! But what is “it”? Strategy! Thought! Depth! Meaning! Virtual Worlds are not defined solely by the gaming experience and socialization, but by the entire experience – from the minute a free user pops on the site, to the last second a paying member cancels their subscription (pray that day never comes).

Ypulse Guest Post: Virtual Worlds Expo Recap | Ypulse

Many thanks to Anastasia for allowing me to guest post on her rockstar blog.  It’s kinda funny – the post originally clocked in at 4+ pages of notes & rambles.  Sadly, you know how my rambles go – and I had to do a lot of editing/chopping/pasting, etc. 

If you’re interested for my “best parts o’ the X’po” check out ypulse.  I think all-in-all the Expo was great for meeting & greeting, and it was awesome to hear from a handful of the people offering up new VW content & content.  Downsides: the amount of times the Dinokids invaded my brain (they were a sponsor, and so held lots commercial time on the big screens… props to Dinokids, but man, they were everywhere-everywhere), and maybe it’s just me, but I’d like to see/hear from people/topics not always on the conference circuit, ya know?  Maybe I’m just spoiled because I’m on the front lines all the time, and elbow deep in RSS feeds of awesomeness.   That’s not really a X’po issue, but more of a conference-over-all issue. 

For the big dog that it is – I still say, Disney single handedly got me PSYCHED about our industry.  Something I didn’t mention in Anastasia’s post was the game-pattern of UGC clothing.  Instead of click & drago, or color swap creations, little girls can create fairy clothing- but they have to work at it (mini-games & palate/pattern choosing).  It seemed a bit more interactive than other places.  I totally dug it. 

Again, many thanks to Anastasia (and her patience for putting up with a slow-writing Izzy).  w00t w00t.

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ID to Ensure Kids are Kids Online?

A Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) white paper suggesting that children get digital identity cards to verify their age and better protect them online. But not everyone is convinced it’s the right approach.

“It’s not 100 percent clear to me that there’s a compelling reason to validate the age of kids going to a social networking site,” Larry Magid, a technology journalist, child safety advocate and member of the Internet Safety Task Force (ISTF), told InternetNews.com. “Is the solution going to be worse than the problem?”

Microsoft’s suggestion (available here in PDF format) came in July in response to the ISTF’s call for solutions. The plan would require that government, schools, or private companies certify children’s identities and ages based on personal documents like birth certificates.

That also does not sit well with security expert Tom Rusin, who is president of data security firm Affinion Security Center.

“I’m all for new technologies to protect children online, but the best thing we can do is ensure that as little information as possible about our children is exposed to the Internet,” Rusin told InternetNews.com. “We find that once identity thieves get a piece of information, they work back from that to another and to another.”

The white paper marks the latest turn of events as online experts and government authorities seek to find ways to better protect children on the Internet, particularly when it comes to social networking sites.

Microsoft told InternetNews.com that it has provided a copy of the white paper to the European Union as well.

Still, observers are skeptical.

“The only way to identify minors is through school and social security records and birth certificates,” the ISTF’s Magid said. “Birth certificates and social security records are off-limits by law.”

Microsoft spokespeople did not return requests for additional comment by press time.

Microsoft’s suggestion also may help to boost acceptance of its own digital identity offering, Windows CardSpace (define), and products from other vendors in the field.

Until recently, the market was deeply divided with a number of incompatible solutions. It began coming together only last year, through the Liberty Alliance’s Project Concordia. The alliance, a consortium of major technology players, is working on demonstrated compatibility with Project Concordia solutions earlier this year.

InternetNews Realtime IT News – Microsoft Pushes Digital IDs for Kids Online

Um.  Interesting, worrisome, interesting, best intentions, interesting, worrisome, withholding commentary until I hear more.  Click the link for further information.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?  I’m not one for placing any more information about kids online than necessary.  Having kids identified – even in the “best intentions” of IDs… I don’t know.  That seems like it could lead to loads of issues down the line (and freedom of usage = down the drain…). 

Thank goodness Larry Madrid is on the case.  That man is brilliant.  So is his ConnectSafely.org partner in crime, Anne Collier (NetFamilyNews)- who I had the EXTREME pleasure of FINALLY meeting last week at Virtual World Expo ‘08.  She is a VERY cool lady indeed!

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