Digital Parenting and Safety Blog

Sort of a Tamagotchi-Pokémon hybrid, Neopets is an online game where players earn and spend virtual Neopoints to customize and care for up to 4 colorful cartoon animals.

Neopets launched in 1999 as a gaming site for bored college students, and today there are more teens and adults on Neopets than there are on comparable sites like Webkinz or Club Penguin.

After registering (kids under 13 must do so with a parent’s email), players can buy clothes, food, toys, and even houses for their Neopets. They can also track their Neopet’s stats as they train it to fight other virtual animals in the Battledome.

Many people can and do play Neopets for free (there is no fee for signing up), but a lot of the games and items can only be accessed by spending Neocash – which is bought via PayPal with real-life money. Gambling-esque games to win Neopoints (betting, scratch cards, spinning a wheel) are present, but are only open to kids over 13.

Parents sometimes complain about the overwhelming saturation of off-site ads on Neopets.com – ads are easy to click by mistake and hard for a young child to differentiate from the game. (You can get rid of the ads, but only with a Neopets Premium membership that costs $7.99 a month.)

Unlike other virtual world online games, Neopets doesn’t focus on social networking. In fact, there is minimal interaction among Neopets players. The main form of communication is through message boards, which are open to ages 13+ only. In the message boards, players are represented by Neopets avatars and can “friend” others, block users from contacting them, or send private messages to each other with NeoMail.

Neopets messages boards are automatically filtered for profanity and overseen by live moderators. Discussing dating and romance, religion, or politics can be grounds for getting your account “frozen.”

Though it might seem like a child-oriented site because of its cartoon graphics, Neopets is actually most appropriate for kids over the age of 12 or 13. Not only does it require fluent reading, but some of the concepts involved (such as investing in the stock market) are difficult for younger kids to grasp.

Jenny Evans is a mother of three and a freelance writer specializing in parenting, childhood, and family issues.

Surely you’ve seen those cuddly little stuffed animals called Webkinz. Maybe your child just received their very first Webkinz as a gift, or announced that he wants to collect them like so-and-so at school, or is already playing Webkinz but you aren’t sure that it’s totally safe. Here’s a fast Webkinz tutorial for parents.

What is Webkinz?

Webkinz is part online gaming site, part social network for kids ages 6 to 13. (Though usually, the fuzzy pets and cute graphics appeal more to girls and younger boys.)

Each Webkinz pet, which retails for about $10.99, comes with an online code that allows your child to “adopt” the pet online and take care of it in the virtual Webkinz world for one year. In order to continue past the one-year mark, you’ll need to buy a new Webkinz.

WebKinz as Online Gaming

With their virtual adoption papers in hand, kids play online games (divided into age-appropriate categories) and answer trivia questions to earn KinzCash.

Kids use their virtual earnings to customize their pet’s house, buy it toys, play with it, feed it, or dress it up. They monitor how happy, healthy, and hungry the pets are (but fortunately, even the most neglected Webkinz cannot die.)

WebKinz as Social Networking

Players can also invite friends to play with the KinzChat cell phone, or meet up in special chatrooms called “clubhouses.” There are two kinds of clubhouses:

KinzChat – kids can only speak by selecting pre-written phrases from a menu
KinzChat Plus – free typing is allowed but numbers, cuss words, and certain phrases like “boy friend” are blocked

Whether your child is old enough to participate in Webkinz is up to you. But if your child does start playing, keep tabs on how they’re using the site for social networking and establish some firm ground rules for the who, what, where, when, and why of chatting.

Jenny Evans is a mother of three and a freelance writer specializing in parenting, childhood, and family issues.