Mediaboss Marketing

The massively-multiplayer online (MMO) gaming industry has proven itself to be a powerful vector for pulling people together to play video games and for the enterprise to capably make money. Families have always been a large consumer of entertainment and MMOs may prove to be no obstacle to this factor of everyday life, as a result, this will be a topic of note at the 6th annual Digital Kids Conference in Los Angeles, California.

Running from April 25-26, 2012, they have invited online gaming industry veterans and Wizard101 creators Todd Coleman and Josef Hall of KingsIsle Entertainment to speak about their experience in bringing the MMO world successfully into the realm of the family. Their keynote presentation will be held at 9:30 a.m. PT, on April 25.

Wizard101 launched September 2, 2008 in the United States and reached the E.U. by 2011. Since then it has received much acclaim as a cartoony, interesting, and family-friendly 3D MMORPG. Players are thrust into a wizarding world facing a dire threat and are asked to help save the world of the Spiral; much like Harry Potter they choose between schools of magic and set off for adventure. It holds an ESRB rating of E for Everyone 10+ although it has notable mild fantasy violence and some crude humor (no doubt the writers of the game knew that parents would be alongand what child can resist crude jokes?) Much of the game revolves around a collectable card game element that provides spells to the players from their deck for use in combat and a simple user interface.

The game recently exceeded 25 million players in the U.S. and receives almost 13 million monthly visitors. While it targets mostly preteens, the game is actually quite appealing to all agesalthough much of the gameplay is designed to address children 8-12, the functionality and expanse of the game world is made to also interest adult family members who might come along with them without generating boredom. While the game currently operates across the U.S. and the E.U. they are looking to expand into the China market later this year with the expectation of a huge pool of potential customers.

Todd and Josef are pioneers in the MMO genre and visionary in their ability to tap both extreme and mainstream concepts and create immersive experiences with truly mass appeal, says Chris Sherman, founder and CEO of Engage Digital. Theyll open our Digital Kids Conference by sharing their winning formula for successfully transitioning from the brutal world of open combat in online gaming to an enchanting childrens title thats enjoying unprecedented growth the world over.

A press release on the subject of Wizard101 noted that it also shows a benefit for education.

According to a recent Trinity University survey of more than 30,000 Wizard101 players, 55 percent of respondents said the game aided their learning of reading, math, and time and financial management skills, the release explained. Additionally, one out of every five respondents said they play the game with their parents or grandparents.

Virtual worlds and MMOs have been sought by educators for some time now and weve seen Fantage step into that role as well with the virtual-world game Fantastic Age. While Wizard101 is not primarily educational, its focus on pre-teens certainly makes it important for its edutainment characteristics.

While its a functionally worthwhile game, and touted as partially free-to-play, Wizard101 delivers a very limited world for freesort of a trial experience in the first world only. Non-member players are trapped in a very small section of the game world and lack access to much of the content. They can unlock all of the content through a small subscription fee ($10/mo. or $7/mo. per family member) or they can permanently open sections by buying into them.

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Creators of Wizard101 to the 2012 Keynote Digital Kids Conference in April