Play Online Game | Having Fun In A Safe Environment Online
In the fast exploding world of online games, you’ll almost never hear the words “fun” and “safe” being mentioned in the same breath. This is a rapidly escalating problem as online games become so pervasive and unsuspecting kids are being targeted on a regular basis.
Just take a look at Norton’s latest Cybercrime Report which shows that 70% of Internet users in Singapore have fallen victim to cybercrimes, including computer viruses, online credit card fraud and identity theft, all of which gamers regularly fall prey to. This geek has witnessed many youths losing their game accounts which they have invested hundreds if not thousands of dollars on. Unfortunately that’s not where the problem ends, as kids often fall prey to cyber bullying and sexual predators.
According to the Norton report, 43% of cybercrime victims in Singapore have never fully resolved cybercrime. It takes an average of 24 days and an average cost of S$1,660 to come to a resolution for a cybercrime.
Which is why this geek was excited to learn more about Club Penguin, a free-to-play online game played by more than 12 million kids between the ages of 6 to 14 in more than 190 countries, and already having a substantial base in South East Asia.
Club Penguin just launched officially in Singapore this week after being acquired by Disney in 2007 for $700 million and from this geek’s experience, is probably one of the safest online games a child can ever play as they use advanced chat filtering techniques, an army of more than 170 game moderators, tools for parents to monitor their kids’ accounts, an egg timer option to manage game time to prevent addiction, and other features to keep your child very safe as they have fun and learn. Learn? Yes, according to Disney, many kids who playClub Penguin have developed literacy skills like story telling, typing and reading. Independent researcher Professor Jackie Marsh, Head of the Department of Educational Studies at the University of Sheffield in England, found out that “after game playing, the most popular activity on Club Penguin was reading.”
Besides literacy skills, Disney also strives to teach the kids money management and problem solving skills. They have evenimplemented a Coins for Change program where kids worked at the game to earn coins which they donated for real money to supported real world causes like relief for the Haiti Earthquake, for example.
Of course one can argue that if the kids are so protected, they will never learn how to protect themselves in the real online jungle. That takes time, and other efforts like the Cyber Safety Virtual Park are currently being developed to help kids learn to keep themselves safe online. And until they learn these skills, this geek think it’s best for the kids to be playing and learning in a safe online environment, as opposed to a totally unregulated one.
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