You cannot invite people into a world, asking them to make it their home, and then with whatever notice shutter it up with no alternative. Disney - a virtual world is not a marketing campaign. It is a second life. An online home. A place to make friends. If you plan to build one, step up and take the responsibilities that go along with that.

Our recommendation is always always always offer a specific alternative. Not a general “we invite VMK members to explore other Disney offerings”. That is nonsense. And Disney owes their community better than that. Instead, they should have specifically set up something in another one of their communities and began a slow transition. The moderators would have been invaluable in assisting with that transition, perhaps by creating special tags, setting up forums to discuss, having a big party or event to celebrate and welcome the members of VMK. Of course, there would be screaming and crying in any event, but the most important thing would have been preserved… THE COMMUNITY.

Yeah, I agree KLG came off as a fear-mongering tsk-tsk-type which is a disservice to all who champion safety on the internet and embrace the positive power of moving beyond ‘twitch games’ to more meaningful content. About to post another one on Shaping Youth to wrap all the virtual world/digital discussion in a tidy little bow from last week’s conferences. ttyl, –a.

When it comes down to it, I’m amazed that so many people are passively accepting of marketing and advertsing in their lives (and media of all forms, I guess). I know I come across as a zealot, but it’s important for people to know that they do have a choice and that their worlds will not crumble — nor will they raise their kids to become social outcasts — if they choose not to participate.

So many people have “advised” me that if I don’t like something, I just shouldn’t buy it — this usually as a way to tell me to shut up and quit spoiling everyone’s fun — but I’ve come to realize that they are right. I’m still going to advocate for others to join me.

FWIW, I’d still rather pay a fee for a game/virtual world than play one for free with ads. That’s why most of our screen game time is spent with software we’ve purchased.

It WOULD be nice to see Youtube create a place where parents can trust that content is filtered appropriately to their youngin’s.

But I can’t help but sigh, because businesses have opportunities to make conscious efforts to provide quality for kiddies. And instead of nodding that kids are there, and instead of going with the flippant flow, they make upstanding decisions to avoid sketchy environments for youth. Ya know… trying to stop the problem before it happens.

But alas, it’s almost water up a cliff now. Kids are on it, parents are on it, and pop culture/the entertainment biz is on it.

I have to say… I did a bit of a hypocrite thing today. Usually I’m the one spouting about “teaching kids to filter” and so on. Empowering kids to make those decisions by having conversations with family members.

I dunno. There’s just something about youtube and everyone’s general “shrug” (which is hardly seen with parents & myspace in the news, ya know? Loads of peeps have been up in arms with that) about the content provided (by users and businesses) - regardless of the age barriers.

I do think that businesses have a certain amount of responsibility for the content they provide, and if they make straight forward decisions to entertain youngin’s on platforms NOT for youngin’s… I just, I’m disappointed.

Le sigh. I do appreciate your views though, Robert. Thanks

Children are going to YouTube, like it or not. Whether they are reaching it directly or through an embeddable link on an acceptable site. My kids are constantly coming home with yet another video they want to watch that their friends have mentioned as a got to see. My reaction is to help them find the video safely, while dodging the areas and content I deem as inappropriate. I don’t realistically expect this sort of behavior will continue forever however. Yet, I hope to instill a sense of self censoring within my kids so that they can develop their own filtering.

So, how about creating areas within these aggregators which represent a safe haven for kid content? Areas where parents can feel secure about the content being displayed. Now the advertising that goes along with it is another matter… If YouTube were smart, they would figure out a way to make the targeted advertising more age appropriate. Plus, this would drive up their own ability for generating revenue.

So, I guess I compare this to the cable business. I like to watch Discovery Channel channel with my kids at night. But, as part of the experience we are blessed with the Erectile Dysfunction commercials. Do we stop watching Discovery? No. It simply opens up another door for a lesson in personal filtering. My ideal of course would be a channel with the same sort of programming, but without the inappropriate noise.

A perfect example, no. But, hopefully it illuminates some of my thinking. As content continues to shift from broadcast to the internet, so will audience. Some might argue the reverse to be true…. But, hopefully wherever there are enough eyeballs, the business will figure out a way to make their money responsibly. And, I hope YouTube (or another child friendly video aggregator wannabe) can provide the environment to do so. I’m certain there is demand for it.

Oh no, I can hear the storm brewin’ already

I am in the promotional advertising business, but I am also a father of six , and I can understand the protective instinct to not have advertising messages constantly pounded into our children without parental knowledge or consent. But I don’t become upset or offended when these VW properties try to generate another stream of revenue, because these are commercial ventures and I knew that going in. Frankly, I think most parents that allow their children participation in these environments aren’t concerned about submersive advertising.

They are, however, concerned about the age appropriateness of the content. We have elected to substantially curtail the inbound, uncontrolled media in our home. We have no cable, dish or even rabbit ears, and most of our visual media comes on DVD which we have approved. Our children like VW experiences, particularly Millsberry (which is about as commercial as they come)and video games, but we limit it to just a couple times a week for limited periods.

I am totally with this author that this is ultimately a parental responsibility, and that there are dozens of other more holistic and real ways to give our children the types of knowledge that these VW worlds offer.

Interesting how even TPing has dialed down demographically with ‘age compression’…10th grade was my own TP experience, 8th grade was yours, and 6th grade was when my daughter told me the PARENTS of one of her pals drove them to ‘do the deed’…so clearly there’s been a shift from malice to mischief.

Ahem…the PARENTS? This is a telltale sign for a whole diff. blogpost! I draw the line on culpability. As I told her, “maybe the other parents want to be ‘friends’ in a retro kind of way, but count me out other than nostalgia…

In other words, “I get that this is your team’s playful ‘gotcha,’ but if you guys aren’t old enough to drive away on your own you’ll have to escape on foot like the rest of us did”

btw, the pullquote you have from Shaping Youth above, is from our Shaping Youth Body Image Pro, Dr. Robyn Silverman. I’ll e-introduce the two of you, as she’s great. Here’s a link to her blog…take a peek! best, Amy

http://kissmyassets.wordpress.com/