Laurence Scott of KNTV for NBC News Channel--
Virtual worlds and online gaming have reached the elementary-school set and there seem to be some benefits.
The Leapfrog generation is growing up, but they're not going straight to a brave new "World of Warcraft." There is a gateway.
Gazillion Entertainment, tapped by Lego and Marvel, created a massive multi-player of online games for kids of all ages.
Gazillion has just as many reasons to reward young gamers for thinking outside their virtual worlds: everywhere 'Smartycard' is accepted.
"Tweens don't have a way to get into and really explore these things without nagging their parents all the time, 'Hey can I do this, can I do that?'" said Chris Carvahol of Smartycard. "So we thought, what if we put a learning component in that?"
Kids enter a Website with an interface like a game show. Then they're hit with a variety of questions based on school subjects and if they answer at least seven out of ten correctly, they get points redeemable for books, DVDs, iTunes downloads, and subscriptions to their favorite virtual worlds like Club Penguin and Webkinz.
"A child is fickle. They'll dodge to different things," said Carvalho. "This gives them a chance to pick what they want but actually earn it. That's kind of the genesis of the idea."
It's something of a new approach to encourage kids to eat their veggies before they get their virtual dessert.
