Experts and gaming insiders collaborated with Sony on its new pamphlet, "Let the Kids Game," a PDF pamphlet that's a crash course for parents about online gaming. The release is tied in to Sony's new game for the tween market, Free Realms, an online multiplayer game that offers kids aged 10 and older "eye-popping visuals, unique and quirky quests, entertaining mini-games, customizable avatars and social networking."
Free Realms is similar to popular online games (aka massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs) like EverQuest. But while games like EverQuest have a monthly subscription fee, Free Realms is mostly free; gamers can also subscribe for $4.99 a month for special features, like extra job options. Another difference between Free Realms and adult-targeted MMORPGS is that gamers have plenty of other things to do than just battle. Of course, there is the option to fight in-game critters or other players, but they can also raise pets, decorate their houses, race go-karts, learn to be a chef, take on jobs like mining or training animals, and network with other players.
Naturally, the pamphlet offers many reasons why parents should let their kids play video games, including information recent studies about the positive effects of gaming, such as "improvements in vision, social interaction and visuospatial cognition." There's also a small glossary explaining what avatars, platforms, NPCs, and even controllers are.
According to USA Today, "Many of the game's designers who worked on EverQuest and other Sony Online games including Star Wars Galaxy are women, [Sony Online president John] Smedley says, and they were asked to help create a game that would appeal to girls, as well as boys. 'Some of the minigames involve things like cooking... We have deliberately gone after women and girls. So we have a lot of different activities that appeal to boys and girls.'" Although we might disagree that young female gamers would prefer to cook than race go-karts, it is clear that Free Realms will offer much more kid-friendly options than other online fare.
Free Realms is currently in beta, which means the programmers and a select group of gamers are testing the game for bugs until it's released to the public. It will be open to the public in the second quarter of 2009.
