A presentation by Adrienne Giuliano

“Flash is everywhere. …over

520 million unique installations of Flash have been

recorded, accounting for 96%+ of all Internet Users.”

Flash Games

• Flash games/Java games• Browser web-related games

that essentially run using Flash plugins on a webpage

• Often free-to-play, played more frequently, and shorter than commercial games

• Uses vector graphics to achieve great quality images within small file sizes

• Have placed the power to produce games and game art straight into the hands of the public

Art Style???• In general, Flash games have

varying art styles, though most feature either and/or:

• Simple or cartoon-like graphics

• Bright colours/flat colours• Uncomplicated environments

There are many Flash games emulating old ’80’s classics, such as Tetris Pac-Man, Frogger, etc etc etc.As these are simple games with likewise simple graphical styles, hence easy to duplicate

• In many ways, the visual styles of flash games are similar to those of children’s TV shows.Many such games aimed at audiences ranging from 6 – 16 already exist with an alarming number targeted at the youngest of that range.

• Club Penguin is an MMORPG aimed at an audience of children aged 6 – 14

• It was officially launched in 2005, and by 2007 had

700,000 PAID members

and

12,000,000 users

• The site offers the capability for children to chat to one another online.

• To regulate language use, it features “Safe Chat” and “Ultimate Safe Chat” modes, only the latter where commands can be picked from a menu, in order to prevent swearing and revealing personal information.

• Users using profane language will face an automatic 24-hour ban.

Similarly

• Habbo Hotel is yet another targeted at a young audience

• It began in 2000• 18 million avatars were been registered as of 2008 with the 100,000,000th being created in the same year

• There are an average 8 million unique visitors monthly

• 75,000 avatars are being created every day

So what’s the difference?

From this…

…to this?

There is growing concern that continuous exposure to the internet is doing more than making them target to internet predators…

Cheating and virtual theft are becoming major issues in the virtual world.

The issue of cheating has been raised in Club Penguin and members found doing such within or out of the game face a permanent ban…apparently.

As a fact…• A Dutch teenager has been arrested for

allegedly stealing virtual furniture from "rooms" in Habbo Hotel, accused of stealing 4,000 euros (£2,840) worth of virtual furniture, bought with real money.

• 2005 a Chinese gamer was stabbed to death in a row over a sword in a game.

Shanghai gamer Qiu Chengwei killed player Zhu Caoyuan when he discovered he had sold a "dragon sabre" he had been loaned.

“It’s certainly the safest way for unsupervised children to talk to potentially malevolent strangers”

The age old concern of child predators is not only enveloping the teenage age group, but now even under 10’s as well.

Conclusion

sources

• http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/flash-brief-history• http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/07/babes-in-

the-woods/5974/4/• http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/

chi0703080167mar08,0,7203137.story• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/

2007/08/02/AR2007080202351.html• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habbo• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7094764.stm• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Games• http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/flash-brief-history/2• http://news.bbgsite.com/content/2009-10-

19/20091019192543954.shtml• http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/09/virtual-great-1.html• http://www.big-boards.com/int.php?n=60• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19741740/ns/health-

kids_and_parenting/• http://interactive.dubitlimited.com/research