Webkinz: The 100% Kid-Friendly But Highly Freakin' Addictive Website!
Written: Sep 29 '07 (Updated Sep 29 '07)
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It all started rather innocently. MaryTara, Category Lead at our lovely site started telling me about Webkinz and how Ihad to get one so our pets could play together online. Being a Neopet addict, the last thing I needed was another website to get hooked on. I'd seen them at the card stores but never came across one that I really liked until I saw the Cheeky Monkey; after that, it was all over. I mentioned that I thought the Cheeky Monkey was adorable but couldn't find them anywhere in my area. Either they were extremely popular or they weren't being shipped out. MT, being the true enabler that she is, packed up a Cheeky Monkey and sent it my way. That was the beginning of the end for me. While it took me a while to get my footing at the website and learn about all the cool things that you could do, about a month later I am knee deep in Webkinz paraphernalia and there is no sign of it stopping any time soon.
What Is Webkinz?
It's hard to sum it up in just a few words. It is the combination of slick marketing, cute critters, an extremely kid friendly website and lots of daily activities to keep you hooked. The stuffed animals are all pretty cute and there is a lot of variety to choose from. There are regular Webkinz and Lil Webkinz to choose from; I don’t have any experience with the smaller ones but MaryTara wrote a Lil Webkinz review that explains it all. Right now we only have one active pet, the Cheeky Monkey named Incubus. He will be getting a few playmates in the near future including a female friend that will aptly be named Succubus. Incubus went to the hospital with me and all the nurses flipped over him; several knew he was a Webkinz without even seeing the "W" on his paw. Needless to say, it was funny to see grown women freaking out over a stuffed animal; eventually they confessed that their kids were into Webkinz and that's how they got hooked on the site.
To get into the site you need to purchase or be gifted with one of the stuffed animals. There's no way around it. Sure, there are people that say that you can get codes online but they are all scams. Be sure to check the critter before you buy it to make sure that the tag is attached. From what I have heard, if you buy one without a tag you are pretty much out of luck. Once you buy one, you are ready to set up an account. You have to remember one thing; this is a site that is designed for kids. As an adult you might wonder why there are so many lags between games, when events are loading and when you are doing various things at the site. Kids will sit there and watch the animation after they have created a sandwich or something in the blender; adults will be pulling their hair out waiting for the shock and awe to run its course.
Setting up an account is easy; you will need to pick the sex and name of your pet. I bought Annabelle one several weeks ago and she still can't come up with a name for it so I can add it to the account. When you add and animal you have to go to the Adoption Agency and fill out the same information as when you registered. It is a painless process that takes less than a minute.
How easy is it to navigate? Once you learn where everything is and how to retrieve things from storage, it's a complete snap. I didn't bother to read the Webkinz Guide [a cyber book that you read at the site] so I missed out on some cool things when I first started. I have been there a little over a month now and feel completely 'at home' with things and how to get around. The graphics are a lot better than I expected; I really like the ability to zoom in on things. This makes it a lot easier to get through the gardening chores and to get a good look at the detail on some of the items. There are times when I get the 'please wait' message on my screen but that could be my connection, an overload of people doing something at the site or plain old internet congestion. One thing that I don't like is you have to log into the site each time you visit. When you hit the main screen and enter your username and password another window pops up. This window has no navigation bar [pertaining to your web browser] on it so you can open it for your child and not have to worry about them entering the name of another website.
The games are fun but some of them have lags between stages or in the case of the trivia questions you have to hit 'next' then you are asked if you are ready for your next question. The trivia is a great way to get kids into different subjects and there are different age groupings to choose from. I have only had a couple games freeze on me and I know it was the site that caused it. Since I have a wireless connection I don't start playing games that last more than a few minutes until I know that it isn't going to die on me. Even though this is classified as a kids site, it is well done, easy to use and safe.
Think of it as an interactive world where kids can buy rooms, furnish them, feed their pets, play with them, spoil them with toys and clothes and play games. But that's just the start. There are trading cards and charms that you can buy as well. The charms have codes that allow you to get into the Magical Charm Forest. Do not fall for the websites that say you can enter a generic code to gain access. If it is a public message board then chances are the people at Webkinz know about the codes and anyone that tries to use one will end up with a terminated account. At Webkinz there is no 'do over', once you are frozen, that is it.
There are a lot of daily events like the Wheel of Wow and Wishing Well 2 that can earn you points. These take only a few seconds to do and are a lot of fun. When you are accessing the pop up toolbar be sure to look for Today's Activities; there is a section for hourly and daily things to do. The Wheel of Yum is one of my favorites because I always get a Basket of Bananas and we all know that monkeys love bananas. Today was the first time I saw the Big Button of KinzCash. I only got 88 W from it but hey, that was 88 w that I didn't have before. All of these events are free meaning you don’t have to spend points in order to play or participate in them.
If you want to hang out with friends than the Clubhouse is the place for you. Since I only have two other people that are brave enough to admit being adult users of Webkinz, this is a section of the site that I don't use all that often. It is nice to go into the different rooms and see who is there as well as checking out some of the things that are in them. If you go into the sports rooms you can play some of the games that are there and you will get points for it. I heard that there was a bowling alley somewhere but I haven't been able to find it! The Webkinz Pool game in the Clubhouse is pretty fun but you can also play Linked, Checkers, Air Hockey and Bathtub Battles. Kinzchat Plus isn't operational at the moment but the message that pops up states that they are working hard to bring it back soon with better features and more security.
Where Can You Find The Freak?
I make sure I get my Daily KinzCare at my pet look up. This varies from day to day but it's usually some KinzCash and a piece of food. When I am online I hit the Curio Shop to see what Artie has on sale; this changes every hour and there are some sweet deals to be had. You do need to know the prices on things though; I have caught him trying to sell things for hundreds of points more than what you can get them for in the W Shop.
Do you read the Newspaper at the site? If so there are always some nice tips on events that you can do. One of them is the 50 pint survey. Some people say that this is only available on Monday and Friday but I did one today, a Saturday, so that information is incorrect. You can find this under the Contact Us section and it's only one question. I never paid attention to this portion of the site and I am sure I missed out on some great point making opportunities.
There are several games that I love and openly admit that I am addicted to. Quizzy's Word Challenge is one of them. I play this in the Tournament Arena so I can get some extra points if I place high enough on the scoreboard. Right now I have participated in 103 tournaments and have a ranking of 213. You do not have to pay to play in the tournaments but if you are playing games that no one else is [in tournament mode that is], you will have to wait until the required number of people have entered before you can jump in for another round.
The kitchen! My recently acquired blender, stove and sandwich maker have allowed me to start making some very interesting snacks and meals for my pet. You can also purchase grills and cauldrons to cook food but you have to know which recipe goes with which cooking item. There are also cookbooks but you will quickly grow out of them. The real fun comes when you start adding random things to see what happens. Some of my favorite Webkinz recipes include Nuggetdog Megaroni [Mac & Cheese, Hot Dog, Chicken Nuggets], Fire & Water Sandwich [Bread, Watermelon, Dragon Fruit] and Yogurt Twist Smoothie [Banana, Strawberry Yogurt, Kiwi].
KinzPost: From Mohawk King To Future Chef
What is KinzPost? It's how you can communicate with other players at the site, send them a note or even a gift. It costs 15 W to send one item and there is a limit of one gift package a day but you can send up t three items. Sending the canned text messages can be done as many times as you like. Alex sends me some of the coolest food I've ever seen at the site! It is a easy and safe way for people to stay in touch. This also brings up the KinzChat Interactive module. I can't figure it out but it does work. I was able to get into MT"s room, walk around and play with a few things. This interactive portion of the site was really interesting but I still have no idea how to find people using the different color zones. This is a cute and safe way for people to communicate but unlike Neopets, there is no 'age setting' so adults have to play by the same rules as the kids.
Webkinz Vs. Neopets
When MT started talking about Webkinz I sort of laughed. "Yeah, like it's going to even come close to being as fun as Neopets". Yes, I still hit Neo but it's usually to grab a scratchcard every four hours and then go back to restock when the Webkinz site goes down. This happens around 2 a.m. and usually when I am in the middle of playing a game and lose track of time. Since the interaction between players at Webkinz is limited to canned text, there's no scamming for items going on like at Neopets. In a way it can be considered a downside but for parents that want a safe place for their kids to play online, this is one of the coolest ones around.
There are a lot of similarities; earning points by playing games and doing daily features, feeding and caring for pets as well as the ability to adopt them, adding people to your friends list, both have the ability to 'cook' [change] food. Neopets has the FaerieLand Employment Agency, Webkinz has the Employment Office. The differences? Neopets is a free site unless you want to spring for the Premium Membership, Webkinz requires that you purchase a pet and enter the code for one year of access. Do the math; spending [at most] fifteen dollars on a Webkinz is a lot less brutal than spending $7.95 a month for NeoPremium. With Webkinz you can adopt [purchase] as many pets as you like, with Neopets there is a limit of four. You can play the games at Webkinz as many times as you want, at Neo you will only receive points for the first three times that you play a game and submit your score. Both sites have ways to cure your pets if they get sick, toys that they can play with to make them happy and things that you can buy them.
I doubt I will ever leave Neopets altogether, it's nice to be able to go there at night when Webkinz goes down for the night. There is a lot more cyber scamming going on at Neopets; I am sure that people do try to scam at Webkinz but I haven't seen it yet. Both have "cheat codes" listed online but I'd rather earn my points the honest way. If you are going to invest time into something why risk it by trying to get quick points? My Neo account is aged, has painted pets, a huge bank account and lots of gallery items, why would I want to risk losing it by using cheat codes? The same thing goes with Webkinz; I am sure that people say, "Send me some really rare food or expensive furniture and I will give you cheat codes" but that would require using email or a messenger program because you just can't have those types of conversations at the site.
The Bottom Line
So far the site seems to be completely child safe and appropriate for kids of all ages. There are a lot of fun things to do; games, buying things, making new foods, doing the daily routines, planting a garden, making room themes, collecting gems, tournaments and more. While some people may say that they don't think they should have to pay for a stuffed animal to gain access to the site, think about what you would spend at other site. Couple that with the fact that it is a fun place for kids to go online and the fact that they are learning responsibility for their pet and funds and being exposed to a lot of educational things through the trivia sections. While I might grumble about being addicted to another website, I do have to say that it is a nice change of pace from Neopets. Both sites have their pros and cons and sometimes the mood I am in greatly influences which site I go to and spend the most time at.
Webkinz is a fun site that can teach kids a lot; just Like Neopets there are a lot of adult players there and I am sure that this does throw the high player scores off a bit. Judging from what I have read on message boards and seen online, there are just as many posts about Webkinz as there is about Neopets. Maybe Neo will sit up and take notice of how a "kids" website should be run. Ganz doesn't have banner adverts [except for a few of their own products] on their site and they don't charge you a monthly feed but Neopets is always adding new money making things to the site - be it advertisements that slow down or freeze page loads, the NeoMall or Premium Membership. Let's face it, in one way or another you are going to end up paying in some form, at least with Webkinz you have a very cute and adorable critter to keep you company!
As always, thanks for the visit…
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2007 Freak369
A Freaky Webkinz Guide: Planting The Perfect Garden!
Thanks to Joubert for adding this to the database!
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