Toys combine reality and cyber worlds

Keiko Morris

July 21, 2008 — These days, playing on a cyber playground requires a real-world toy.

Toy producers, aiming to replicate and expand on the success of Webkinz -- stuffed animals linked to an online world -- have unleashed a slew of items and are planning to debut a handful of other toys based on the seamless convergence of online and real-world play.

Everything from Nickelodeon's online world of Neopets to the more traditional Lego has been aggressively laying claim to both spaces, hoping to expand the audience of 8- to 12-year-old tweens and younger, who are still very much drawn to the physical toy. Typically, many of the toys -- like Hasbro's Littlest Pet Shop and Russ Berrie's Shining Stars and SeaPals -- are stuffed animals and characters that come with a code to enter a Web site and register the animal's character, or avatar, or unlock Web prizes.

Others, like the upcoming Disney Fairies Clickables, feature high-tech jewelry and attempt to continue real-world social networks into the virtual fairy land of Tinker Bell's Pixie Hollow. Some of the brands are also branching out into handheld games or books, which link back to the virtual world.

"It is the hottest trend out there in the business," said Jonathan Samet, publisher of the Toy Insider, an annual consumer guide to toys. "It expands play and takes them [children] from the basic bedroom to a fantasy environment with a lot more characters and things to collect and a way to share with other people in other houses."

Following success

Both the online and real-world aspects of these toys feed into the same play patterns of successful toys in the past, toy industry experts said. Children generally like to build collections and personalize their toys, creating, naming and decorating their own online characters, they said. But whether these new products can achieve the success recently seen with Webkinz -- which hit the market in 2005 and cost about $13 each -- remains to be determined, said Lynn Usher, owner of Einstein's Attic, a toy store in Northport. She figures that it will be difficult for any toy to surpass the popularity of Webkinz at the height of the craze.

"They started with Webkinz," she said. "Do the parents need to start collecting a whole other collection?"

Toymakers and toy industry experts, however, believe there is ample room for more of these products in the $22-billion toy industry. Nickelodeon has been launching several products connected with its online entertainment site, Neopets.com. Neopets' fantasy world of Neopia has drawn more than 40 million memberships with thousands of characters, stories and games. Nickelodeon began introducing Neopets to television viewers with animated shorts last summer. This fall and during the coming holiday season, the Neopets brand will be available as collectible stuffed animals, trading cards and a puzzle adventure game for Wii, Nintendo DS and PC formats -- all of which link back to the Neopets Web site.

The Neopets site -- which averages about 2 hours and 45 minutes per visitor per month, according to the company -- has targeted 9- to 17-year-olds in the past, but Nickelodeon has been expanding the site to draw younger users.

"Kids are always looking to aspire to things that are cool and new, and that's why we have been referring kids to the toy first and then the site," said Leigh Anne Brodsky, president of Nickelodeon and Viacom consumer products.

Children aren't making drastic shifts in their play patterns, said toy industry experts. Instead, more and more children are simply expanding the arenas in which they play.

Lego, which has always had themes behind its sets, launched an online comic for its Bioncle sets in 2001. In addition, its Web site offers games, message boards and various storylines for its other products. The company has seen its digital products boost sales of its building sets, said Julie Stern, a Lego spokeswoman.

Easing parental worries

The combination of physical play with online amusements can appease parental concerns that the digital world of computers and video games encourages too much sedentary and solitary play, toy experts said.

"Parents are really saying, 'Hey, I don't want my kid to be online all the time,'" said Reyne Rice, a toy trend specialist with the Manhattan-based Toy Industry Association. "If there were only an online component, sometimes parents balk at that. You give them an offline component, then they buy it."

Nancy Twomey, 43, of West Islip, prefers the toys with online elements to watching TV. She said her 6-year-old daughter was excited about buying and registering her Webkinz on the computer, but 75 percent of her time with Webkinz is spent playing with the stuffed toy.

"I like them for young kids because it teaches them budgeting and to care for something else," Twomey said. "She's caring for something she actually has in hand and loves. I think I like it more than she does."

Sheldon Weintraub, a clinical psychologist at Stony Brook University, said he worries about children playing video games to the exclusion of other forms of play. While Weintraub had not studied any of the toys discussed, he did say their descriptions reveal many positive aspects, like socialization and the stimulation of a child's imagination and fantasy.

"In the past we thought play was frivolous, but now we know it's important for brain development and socialization," Weintraub said. "If these toys get these kids socializing with each other, then there are some attractive elements."

Hasbro's Littlest Pet Shop offers a collection of stuffed pets that come with a tag and a secret code allowing its owner to enter the online world. Children play games to earn points and feed and accessorize their pets.

Blending worlds

"There's always going to be a big place for the analog world," said Duncan Billing, Hasbro's global development officer. "Clearly everybody wants to have the physical things to interact with, but the digital world gives you a fantastic opportunity to enhance the play and make the play more engaging than it has been in the past."

Disney's younger customers prefer to socialize with a real-world friend, said Steve Parkis, vice president of Disney Online Studios. Girls with Fairies Clickables jewelry can "click" charms with their friends' jewelry and exchange online gifts through sensors.

"Making online friends is not the most natural game-play style for the \[6- to 8-year-old\] group," Parkis said. "The most natural style for that group is, 'These are my real friends and I am playing with them online.' And we're trying to make it both a safer and more natural experience."