Virtual Worlds Forum

Another day, another virtual world focused at younger users. Dizzywood.com is aimed at 8-12 year-olds, and is pitching its story-driven environment as its main differentiator, which is wrapped around a collection of mini-games and activities, and the usual avatar creation and customisation. Users earn 'super powers' and other rewards the more they interact, and as you'd expect, there's a range of technology filters and moderation in place for security and privacy protection. "There are so many websites for kids, but we felt young people today deserved better," says co-founder Scott Arpajian in the press release. "We wanted to create an environment that would open up kids' imaginations and inspire them to create. As a parent of young children myself, safety was also a concern, so we have integrated advanced filtering technology with live moderators that provide for a safe online environment." At launch, Dizzywood is free to use, although it plans to introduce paid subscriptions in the future to access "premium content". It's got a nice 2D cartoon feel, with a range of avatars, but it'll face stiff competition from rival kidworlds, new and old, so it'll be interesting to see how it plans to attract users in the months ahead. Dizzyworld website