Virtual Worlds Forum

With pre-Christmas shopping reaching fever pitch, US retailers are seeing a war between competing ranges of soft toys which come with links to proprietary virtual worlds for kids. The latest is Kookeys, with a physical plush toy product that comes with a code to enter the world, in standard style. Once there, users pick a district and house to live in, with an emphasis on fairy-tale fantasy - gingerbread houses, giant pumpkins and so on. There are educational aspects, such as KooKollege where maths, reading skills and manners are on the curriculum (manners?!), while there's also a big gaming element, called KooKarnival. The world also has its own virtual currency, called KooKoins. The toys and world are the work of US firm 10Vox Entertainment, and the toys are in "selected" US stores for Christmas. They'll face stiff competition though: there'll surely be a shakeout in 2008 once it's clear which toys have sold well enough to generate thriving communities, and which haven't. Kookeys website