Webkinz should officially be labeled as crack for kids.
While Webkinz have been around for some time now, my wife picked up one of the animals for each of our kids yesterday morning.
The remainder of the day was spent with our kids asking if they could play with their Webkinz online like a junkie trolling for their next hit.
If they had to spend more than an hour away from the computer and their new Webkinz, they would begin to shake and mumble as they craved their next fix. Okay, maybe it wasn’t quite that bad but it was insane!
Yesterday was a cool summer afternoon, the kind of day that is perfect for playing outside yet we literally had to force the kids out the door to play. While playing catch with my oldest son, he continually asked if he could run back inside for just a few minutes to play with his Webkinz. They were hooked on these Webkinz faster than Darryl Strawberry on the nose candy.
As they sat at the computer playing games to win more KinzCash, I found myself helping them play the silly little games trying to win as much as possible so they could buy their Webkinz a cupcake or a new shirt. It was pulling me in as well.
Our kids now have access to this account for one year and it will be interesting to see if their interest decreases the longer that they have owned their Webkinz or if they remain as excited as they are right now. My initial guess is that they will lose interest, as a few of the neighbor kids have their own Webkinz and never seemed to talk about them until they heard that our kids had them. Over the next few days they will all likely play online and talk about it together but then other interests will pull them back away and ease their temporary addiction.
But just in case that doesn’t happen, does anyone know of a Webkinz rehab program for children? 😉
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“They were hooked on these Webkinz faster than Darryl Strawberry on the nose candy.”…LOL!!!
Hey, if the WebKinz craze looses momentum at your house I could send you the Furby I just found while cleaning out my garage. Talk about a $50 trends. And it only gets worse…looks like were getting a Wii at the Gray household come December (although from what I have heard the Wii is well worth the $500 price tag).
Oh man, I remember the Furby and I am just glad our kids never knew about that thing.
My kids would love to get a Wii and it is really fun to play. Can you find them in the stores? I thought they were much cheaper than the $500 you mention so I wasn’t sure if that is the going price wherever you found them or if you are buying a bunch of accessories.
I think the base system is around $250…but after you outfit it with a few controllers and a game or two you end up close to $500. My wife was telling me that my brother-in-law spent close to $1000 (a bit much if you ask me — my kids are going to have to save up for games they want). From what I am hearing though the Wii is pretty awesome…didn’t you post on the subject a while back?
Yeah, I played for the first time a little more than a week ago and had posted about it. From what I played, I’d probably be happy with the Wii Sports that come with the console.
get them a tamagotchi and they can have their crack on the go instead of staying in all day 🙂
No chance…at least the Webkinz can be left behind. That thing they would want to take with us everywhere!
You’d think that, but our kid logs on at our friend’s houses too!
You need to see my website. It has a chat box so we can chat live online and EVERYTHING you need to know about Webkinz.
Can’t say I do as I only have teens. I’ll ask the mom of the little girl I watch. lol
If she hasn’t been introduced to Webkinz then I would recommend she keep it that way! 🙂
My daughter has been hooked the WebKinz for about two years know and just bought her fourth animal – has a father and a guy who knows all about the dirty side of the Internet, I’m happy to see her use this site! She also loves Stardoll.com – basically, it’s the electronic version of paper dolls!
Crack for kids? That’s bad.
@Saman :: It’s really a great business model on the part of Webkinz to keep kids buying the toys or otherwise paying for the site.
@Sam :: It is bad but my kids are certainly addicted right now.
It sure is – and that’s exactly what we do, when the year subscription is almost up, she buys another doll.
My son got ‘hooked’ on it from his cousins. It’s a little scary, actually. The funny thing is that as an addict myself (World of Warcraft – WOOT!), I found myself going online from work and playing the games just so I could rack up some Kinzcash for my son to play with. So who’s addicted?!
I actually put together all the stuff I’ve learned about how to make Kinzcash, etc., in a guide at http://webkinz-hints-tips.best-free-information.com
My son (who is just 5) still snuggles with his Webkinz plushy every night, but doesn’t play the game daily like he used to. So we’ve got it moderated now so that it’s a fun thing for the two of us to do together. And it’s cool to watch him get better and better at the games, considering that some of them are a bit advanced for a 5-yr-old.
Our kids have really cut back on their WebKinz time and I do not recall the last time they logged in to play.
Part of that is because school started and we do not allow the kids to play on the computer on school nights. On weekends, we are usually busy with activities as well so there isn’t nearly as much opportunity.
Thanks for sharing your feedback!
i love WebKinz!!
Kids love the pet concept, and instead of having two pets, it’s like having twice the petness of one pet. Who knows what goes through these kids’ heads, but it must be pretty fun for them to step into a virtual world and have the stuffed animals they love with them. I wasn’t much of a pet kid, but I definitely used to love computer games and also adored my stuffed animals. Combining them would have been great – no wonder Webkinz is doing so well.
Bad News. WebKinz sweetheart.
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I agree that combining the responsibilities of owning a pet, getting a stuffed animal, and being able to play all the fun games is a great concept. This Webkinz trend is also great learning for the kids playing. With the wide array of math and reading games, as well as logic, parents should welcome the new babysitter 😉
I am a huge webkinz fan and have created my own Webkinz site, they are just like the beanie babies.
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I made the mistake of buying my kid a Webkinz. Say goodbye to your computer because he is so addicted to these things.
Just like you, I had to literally force him to go play outside and experience some sunshine.
What ever happended to Voltron and Gi Joe, man all these toys and cartoons are like little girls today..
And they don’t even have much character to them either… Least voltron fought for good over evil.. You don’t even know what most the cartoons are talking about today..
Man, when i have kids I will remove any wii, playstation, television or computers till they are like 10..
Ohh well.. just my thoughts.
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Well, sad to say, a year later and my oldest is a Webkinz nut. I thought we were in the clear last year when I read your post…but alas…no. I think he’s up to 10 or so Webkiz at this point and there is always a stray Webkinz login screen left open on our laptop in the living room. I’m still trying to figure this stuff out….
Voltron, now your talking. Does anyone every remember MASK? Good stuff.
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The game is seriously like WoW, but for little kids. My daughter is 3, and she LOVES it.
I don’t think your kids will loose interest. Mine have been playing on the Webkinz site for a long time now. We probably own every animal! Its so silly to get wrapped up in this stuff but somehow I always do!
I didn’t see my kids losing interest but they eventually did after a few months and 50-60 webkinz. Thank goodness! Damned expensive.
My son absoloutley loves webkinz. Im sure he will never lose interest although im sure its becoming unhealthy now.
My son is huge into Webkinz and keeps track of them all for the most part (a few casualties along the way).
Grandparents love spoiling him with new ones whenever they see him. They don’t seem to realize that usually means losing my computer for several days while he “downloads” them.
I think there’s a lot of good things to be done on Webkinz – it totally shapes little children into consumers but the games are fun and I would rather he be on the internet on something like that than what else is out there.
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It all started with MMORPGs for adults, they’re just trying to move the business models to younger age groups, so they have the “addiction” grip since a tender age 🙂
I know because I’ve lost my share of teen hours playing role playing games
Hey my kids have just discovered Webkinz, so Im just getting the “let me see how my webkinz is going” every 10 mins. Its hard when they also have club penguin, and ubfunkeys as well. They actually want us to buy a second computer so they can check them when they want!! I think not!