Cassandra A.

I was a huge Webkinz fan from the very beginning of the craze, starting an account in the fall of 2005 when I was 7 years old. I was there back when the plush had that distinct design where it looked like threads were hanging off of them to simulate fur. I remember when lil'kinz were introduced, when most of the games were introduced, when they opened the Curio Shop and KinzChat and the Kinzville Academy. Even when I eventually stopped logging on by 2008-2009, I had an immense amount of nostalgia that I carried with me through the years. When I started college a few years ago, my roommate and I wound up logging back into our old accounts while we were avoiding studying for a midterm. Over the next three years, we continued to occasionally log on to play the games together and avoid our school work. Over that time I've come to the very sad realization that it seems the website has turned into a microtransaction and cash-grab machine rather than a virtual world for kids to enjoy. Nearly everything seems to be locked behind a paywall now, with most games, clothes, locations, adventures, etc set up to remind you of what you are missing out on. There is not one but TWO levels of paid membership, being a 'full membership' and a 'deluxe membership' as well as an additional separate currency that is purchased with real-life money. Accounts are given access to the 'worst' versions of everything, giving kids just enough of a taste to make them want for what they don't have. Cruelly, almost, it seems that everything positive that is given to a player is just another manipulative ploy to sell them a membership. For example, there are two clothing shops within the site, one being a labelled as a 'shop' and the other an 'outlet'. The shop has a shopkeeper who is made to seem fashionable and sophisticated, and the clothes are all very stylish and trendy. This shop is only for deluxe members. The outlet, by contrast, has a less fashionable and more generic-looking shopkeeper, and clothes that are objectively much uglier. Even within the outlet, the nicer clothes are locked behind the deluxe and full memberships, and only the least desirable looking items are available for non-members to purchase. And these are clothing items that used to be open to everyone! Items that I still own from my childhood that I am no longer able to purchase! Additionally, the game seems particularly stingy with the kinzcash earned from games. I had earned over ******* in kinzcash during my time on webkinz as a kid, and I had a large house full of furniture and a closet full of clothes (I was not the saving type, is what I mean). I didn't have the patience to grind the arcade games, I only played them for fun when I wanted to, and yet I was still able to earn kinzcash in excess of what I was able to spend. Now when I play a game when I log on with my college roommate, I am lucky to make 10 kinzcash from a single game, making it nearly impossible to earn enough to afford buying anything at all in the game. The last thing that really bothers me is how much the game goes out of its way to make users know that deluxe and full members are more valued users than users without a paid membership. They have special highlighted events on the activity page, their own rewards and prize systems on the main page of the arcade and directory, and the game is constantly pestering you to 'Go Deluxe'. This past week, they offered a seven day free trial of the deluxe membership, and what I found made me genuinely sick to my stomach. All of the non-playable characters have specific dialogue for deluxe members that go out of their way to highlight how special you are when you have a deluxe membership. If you enter the Curio Shop, Arty remarks how happy he is that one of his most special customers returned. If you go to the deluxe items for sale, he tells you how he offers those items only to his most special and valued customers. As an adult experiencing all of this, I can see this for what it is: a ploy to earn a quick buck off of the guise of exclusivity and social clout. But for a child playing this game? I can't imagine how this manipulation would make them feel. To be constantly shown fun and exciting things that they are not special enough to partake in. To be made to feel inferior for not being able to convince their parents to shell out money for a membership. It is clear to me that the intent on this website has changed and it is no longer designed to be a fun and interactive world for kids to explore. It is a thinly veiled cash-grab relentlessly targeting children. I was on this site as a child, and I can confidently say that is not the way the site made me feel as a child. I'm disappointed to see that this is what it has become.