What’s the Fascination with Youth Virtual Worlds?
February 6th, 2009
Virtual Worlds are currently most popular within the younger generations. Why is that? According to the Virtual Worlds Management Report there are over 200 youth-oriented virtual worlds live, planned, or in active development. Wow! The booming youth market has seen the most growth among virtual world adoption and registered users across all ages with millions of active members and more virtual worlds targeted at kids launching every day. Within the ever growing virtual world sector, the younger age demographic is broken down into the following three classifications: Kids (Age 7 and under), Tweens (Ages 8-12), and Teens (Ages 13 and older). When you start to think about it most of the more well known virtual worlds existing today are targeted at the “younger generations:” Disney’s Club Penguin, McDonalds McWorld®, and Habbo® Virtual Hangout for teens featuring American Idol are just a few examples. Not to mention virtual pet sites where you can design your own dog, horse, fish and many other furry or creepy friends. I enjoy my real dog and horse, thank you. There also exists a variety of youth and young adult brands within the virtual world sector that are specifically target boys or girls as residents, Barbie® is just one example off the top of my head.
Kids today spend their time playing virtual world games online rather than watching TV, parents are adapting to the idea of allowing their children the freedom to play within a virtual world – as long as they know it is safe. Within the children’s market, virtual worlds are now mainstream, marketers are utilizing virtual worlds to reach their youth orientated audiences directly. The ever expanding market for kid-based virtual worlds will continue to see a rise in unique accounts. Virtual worlds are still a growth market across all age demographics, however they are most well-known among the kids, tween and teen virtual world sectors. No doubt, this targeted demographic will continue to expand usage of virtual worlds and perhaps sway parents to try their hand within a virtual world application…yes, parents are teachable.
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