Here is an emotional bedtime rollercoaster brought to you by the evil programmers at Webkinz
When the timer went off for the computer and the kids would not get off webkinz I was irritated.
When they said we need to finish this one game I said fine, but just this last game, I became more irritated.
When the game was over and the kids said that the pet needed food before bed or it would die I said OK through gritted teeth and became more irritated at them.
When they said they needed to take their pet to the doctors before they could shut the machine off or their pet would die I became more irritated.
When they said that they had to buy medicine for their pet I became more aggrivated.
When they said they had to put their webkinz to bed or it would die I wanted to kill the developers of webkinz.
When they searched all 10 rooms in webkinz world and Tommy's tree frog could not find the bed I was furious.
When Lauren said she sold the bed for Webkinz cash I snapped.
Later I laughed.
2 comments:
My child received a Webkinz in the mail for a birthday gift last month. It was a simple stuffed animal dog, (made in China). It looked like any other stuffed toy on the market. Little did I realize this was the latest and largest craze since Pokemon and beanie babies...with a catch. Printed on the toy's tag is an "access" code that allows the owner access to the Webkinz website. Enter some of your child's (seemingly innocuous) information and he/she has access to the site for one year. Inside, your child is allowed to "nurture" their virtual pet. But to do so, you need Webkinz money. The Webkinz money is accumulated by playing games on the site. Then the child is rewarded by getting to "buy" stuff for his/her virtual pet. If the child doesn't visit the site enough to "care for" their virtual pet...the pet doesn't "die"...it just "gets sad". Brilliant really. This is genius marketing. The advertizer - Webkinz- doesn't have to figure out how to get to your kids...because the kids come back to them after their first "hit". Over and over. And they want more...more...MORE Webkinz.
I wish parents would clue into such advertising and their negative effects. Abject mindless consumerism. "Stuff" without meaning or use.
I googled two words. "Webkinz" and "gross" together. I landed on a chat site devoted to talking about how cool Webkinz are and how many kids can collect...etc..The kids ages appeared to be somewhere between 8 and 12 years old. But the site soon got rude, then nasty, then downright pornagraphic. I opted to throw out the "access code". I explained to my daughter that she could play with the stuffed dog, but the games and site were merely a very clever advertisment designed to make kids waste their money on more and more of what they all ready have.
A few days later we went out to visit a favorite cousin. She had a friend over. They were in the basement, each sitting in front of a computer screen...(you guessed it)...playing Webkinz online. Plugged in and tuned out.
How I shudder.
I think once you became attached on this one, you must continue this one to avoid the animal to die or from getting sad.
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