Whyville
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Type of site
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Virtual Reality virtual world serious games |
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| Owner | Numedeon |
| Created by | Numedeon |
| Launched | February 1999 |
| Written in | Java Flash HTML5 |
Whyville is an educational Internet site geared towards children from ages 8–14+ founded and managed by Numedeon, Inc. Whyville engages its users in learning about a broad range of topics, including science, business, art and geography. Whyville is extremely popular, and has a registered base of more than 7 million users. Whyville's users (Whyvillians) engage in virtual world simulation based games and role play sponsored by a wide range of governmental, non-profit, and corporate entities.
Whyville was launched in 1999, by Numedeon Inc, which was founded by Dr. James M. Bower, his students and collaborators at the California Institute of Technology, who were interested in whether simulation-based serious gaming could change education, and Whyville's purpose remains primarily educational.
Whyville is regarded as an innovation leader in digital learning and online engagement of children. Contributing to its educational influence, any of Whyville's citizens have stayed active users of the site for many years with significant impact on their lives and careers.
Whyville was one of the first virtual worlds built around learning games. Whyville was also one of the first virtual worlds which used an internal virtual currency. Users earn a 'clam' salary based on their educational activities on the site. With these clams they can buy face parts, projectiles, furniture, bricks, and other virtual goods and services that enhance their life in the Whyville virtual world. In 2007, Whyville partnered with the Spanish Bank Bankinterto build a virtual banking system for Whyville's users through which they manage their clam assets
Whyville was also one of the first sites to emphasize user created content. Tied directly to the clam economy, once a user has accumulated a large enough clam savings, they can start their own Whyville virtual business based on their own created content. Most of these businesses are built around the construction of 'face parts' from which users make their own avatars, using simple pixel by pixel drawing tools. Other businesses design and sell decals for users' virtual Scions (virtual automobiles in Whyville sponsored by Scion owned by Toyota). Players must draw their creations by hand. There is no copying and pasting, and all contributed content is reviewed by site staff for appropriateness. Since the site's launch, thousands of players have created millions of face parts.
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