By Sharon Duke EstroffAs with every children’s virtual world I’ve visited undercover, I found BarbieGirls.com to have both its crown jewels and its skeletons in the closet. Crown jewel: Socially acceptable doll play for tweensWhen I was growing up, girls played with Barbies well past their 12th birthdays. Today, in contrast, publicly admitting to owning a Barbie Dream House at the age of 12 would … [Read more...] about Undercover Mom in BarbieGirls.com, Part 1: Romance in the air
Undercover Mom
Undercover Mom in Poptropica, Part 2: The Apple Jacks of kids’ virtual worlds
By Sharon Duke EstroffLast week I detailed the good things I discovered in this popular kids' virtual world for 5-to-10-year-olds. This week...What I wasn't crazy about Video Game Overtones. Gallant educational effort aside, my suspicions were correct. Kids aren’t flocking to Poptropica.com by the tens of millions out of a quest for learning, they’re flocking there for the highly addictive video … [Read more...] about Undercover Mom in Poptropica, Part 2: The Apple Jacks of kids’ virtual worlds
Undercover Mom in Poptropica, Part 1: Virtual World with educational elements
By Sharon Duke EstroffI chose Poptropica.com as the site of my latest undercover mom investigation because of its first-place ranking in the 5-to-10-year-old bracket. With 20 million unique accounts and counting, it is indeed a heavy hitter in the burgeoning children’s virtual world market.But I was also intrigued by the Poptropica's educational spin. The site's parent company is Family Education … [Read more...] about Undercover Mom in Poptropica, Part 1: Virtual World with educational elements
Undercover Mom in Stardoll, Part 3: A+ for creativity
By Sharon Duke EstroffAs I’ve devoted my last two posts to illuminating the darker sides of Stardoll, I’m going to dedicate today’s entry to spotlighting what I consider to be the site’s crowning glory: its design center. A few weeks back, while investigating Club Penguin, I described my experience in the pizza parlor, where dozens of kids/penguins pretending to be waiters and waitresses took my … [Read more...] about Undercover Mom in Stardoll, Part 3: A+ for creativity
Undercover Mom in Stardoll, Part 2: The skinny on virtual paperdolls
By Sharon Duke EstroffIn case there’s any doubt over which is more fun - trying on real clothes at Bloomingdales or trying on virtual clothes at a Stardoll department store - there shouldn’t be. The latter is the hands-down winner.Having survived recent bathing suit shopping trauma, I found dressing up MattieLu, my Stardoll avatar, to be a little slice of shopping heaven. Every frock I slipped … [Read more...] about Undercover Mom in Stardoll, Part 2: The skinny on virtual paperdolls