Feeling Out Of It - the Fooi Factor

The Setting….
Sitting at the dinning room table I listened closely to my granddaughter. I had asked her a question, “Emma, What is a Webkin?”

She looked at me and paused. Then she started, “It is a stuffed animal doll that comes with a special code on its tag. You go on the Internet and put in a code to register it. You adopt it. Then you can do all kinds of things on the computer.” Then she said, “In my class all my friends have them, some people have nine. I am the only one that doesn’t have one.”

“How do you spell it Emma?” She paused and answered in a clear, eight year old – soon to be nine – way… “I think it is ‘w-e-b’ like a spider and then – ‘k-i-n’ – like ‘kid’ without a ‘d’. You know… ‘web-kin’.

She spoke kindly to me, her old grandpa. Then she added, “My friends said that I might get one for my birthday. Michelle has nine and she was going to get me one.”

That birthday is in the next few weeks. Oh boy… I need to know more. What is a Webkin?

Doing what all 2008 grandfathers do when they don’t know something – I went to Internet…. And punched in ‘w-e-b-k-i-n’. Immediately the smart machine gave me the following from my favorite source…. Wikipedia…

“Webkinz are stuffed animals that were originally released by the Ganz company on April 29, 2005. The toys are similar to many other small plush toys, however they come with a special code on their labels that allows access to the "Webkinz World" which is a website to "adopt" a virtual version of the pet for virtual interaction. There are also smaller, less expensive versions of the toys called Lil' Kinz.”

Not only did I not know what it was – I couldn’t spell it right. My computer looked at me gently, the same way that my granddaughter did… and gave me the answer.

Then I read on…

Comparison
The toys have been compared to Beanie Babies with some being retired after some time, which encourages high secondary selling prices. The style of the stuffed animals are similar to Ty Punkies. Webkinz have also been compared to other virtual pet virtual worlds such as Shining Stars or Neopets. Webkinz have been extremely popular, with Ganz claiming more than 2 million units sold to retailers and 1 million registered users of the Webkinz website. At the height of the toys' popularity, shortages of supply at some stores have been reported. NPD Group reports that the product brought in more than $45 million (USD) in United States retail sales in 2006.

OKAY…okay… I am out of it! I have suddenly woken to the fact that I am feeling out of it… way out of it. I have a granddaughter that needs a second breath, a pause as she considers, and then hesitation to explain something to her “old grandpa”.

I have a computer that is telling me the correct spelling and gives me enough information to help me catch up…but doesn’t want to burry me… OH BOY.

Memories…
Along time ago I walked into my Grandpa Kirkpatrick’s home. At that stage my grandparents were living on the north end of Regina – having moved into the city from their farm life of many years south of the city.

I had arrived by airplane the night before from Toronto, where I had been training as a Computer Technician. Grandpa Kirk asked me what I was doing in Toronto and what I was studying in school. I looked at him and took a long breath…then paused as I tried to form some words for him to understand, then after the hesitation I started to describe to him the wonders of the machines that I worked on. I told him how much data the machine could handle. I explained how much they cost and who bought them.

Grandpa Kirk didn’t say much. He just looked at me for a while. I tried to go further with the wonders of what I knew…but none of it made much sense to the old fellow sitting with me. What did impress me was that he was interested enough to ask.

Long ago…
I wasn’t there the day it happened… but my imagination is alive today… He sat with his grandpa and then tried to explain all that he had just heard about in the local country store when he was in town. “Grandpa, did you know that they have put a gasoline motor in a horse carriage… and you don’t need any more horses!? And they now have a Kite with a motor that will fly on its own! Isn’t that great!?”

His own grandpa took a long sip of coffee and breathed deeply… “What is this world coming to….?”

When Grandpa Kirk was a boy, they flew the first airplane. They built some of the first automobiles and later he would buy the first gasoline powered tractor that people in his parts would own.

Oh boy… I feel a little out of it today…where can I buy a Webkin?

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~

More about Webkinz…
Each Webkinz stuffed animal and Webkinz accessory comes with an 8-character code. By registering this code on the Webkinz website, you "adopt" this pet in the virtual Webkinz World, which is an online play area with its own economy. The user receives money (called KinzCash) by adopting new pets, playing online games, answering general knowledge questions, and through daily activities like clicking "I love my Webkinz!", spinning the Wheel of WOW, playing Wishing Well 2, or completing jobs (minigames) available once every 8 hours. Each day, there is a Game of the Day which can be played for bonus KinzCash, and other bonuses are available each hour.

Users can spend their KinzCash to purchase food and clothing for their pet, items for their pet's room or to build additional rooms onto their house, or outdoors areas etc. Users can decorate a room for their pet with pre-made themes, or mix and match their own furniture.

The online world also contains many rare or exclusive items. Some of these items require developing a friendship with the Curio Shop owner to purchase, while others you get for registering other Webkinz accessories you purchase in the real world. Each type of pet gets a special food available exclusively for them. Also, a Pet of the Month is announced at the beginning of each month. If a person registers the announced pet in that month, they will receive other exclusive items.

Many of the tasks in Webkinz World involve collecting items. For example, recipes are released for the players through cookbooks you can purchase or one of the TV Shows called The Secret Chef. Gems can be mined once a day at the Curio Shop, with a full set of gems being turned into the Webkinz Crown of Wonder.

Another feature of Webkinz includes the ability for players to create their own shows with the Webkinz Studio, and enter to be chosen to appear on the Webkinz television.

See…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webkinz