Virtual Worlds Forum

US broadcast network PBS is making its own play for the virtual worlds market with something called PBS Kids Play, which has just launched in beta. It's aimed at a younger age group than any of its rivals though, targeting 3-6 year-olds with games and activities designed to tie in with the early childhood curriculum. Included subjects are maths, science, language, literacy, creativity, healthy development and social studies. The world will be stocked by characters from popular PBS TV shows, including Curious George and The Berenstain Bears. Each user gets their own room to customise, while also saving and editing their creative projects. Parents are provided with a progress chart to see what their child has been up to in each core area, and there's a recommendations engine built in to constantly suggest new activities, based on what the child has been doing. Meanwhile, there's a Flash player built into the PBS Kids Play application, which streams selected episodes of PBS shows. It'll cost $9.95 a month when it launches officially, or $79.95 for a yearly subscription. PBS is working with libraries and its local TV stations to offer free access to non-broadband users too. It sounds like a big project with plenty of thought behind it, although you could question whether it's a virtual world in the generally accepted sense of the term - since there's no interaction between users (something PBS is presenting as a safety feature). That isn't a criticism of PBS: more food for thought about whether the term 'virtual world' includes this kind of application. Thoughts? PBS Kids Play website