The presentation discusses the widespread use of Flash, particularly in flash games that are often free-to-play and target children aged 6-16, showcasing simple and colorful graphics. It highlights both popular platforms like Club Penguin and Habbo Hotel, which focus on child safety but also face issues including cheating and virtual theft. The document concludes with concerns regarding the risks of online interactions for children, including exposure to predators and the consequences of virtual crimes.

1. A presentation by Adrienne Giuliano

2. “Flash is everywhere. …over 520 million unique installations of Flash have been recorded, accounting for 96%+ of all Internet Users.”

3. Flash Games Flash games/Java games Browser web-related games that essentially run using Flash plugins on a webpage Often free-to-play, played more frequently, and shorter than commercial games Uses vector graphics to achieve great quality images within small file sizes Have placed the power to produce games and game art straight into the hands of the public

4. Art Style??? In general, Flash games have varying art styles, though most feature either and/or: Simple or cartoon-like graphics Bright colours/flat colours Uncomplicated environments There are many Flash games emulating old ’80’s classics, such as Tetris  Pac-Man, Frogger, etc etc etc. As these are simple games with likewise simple graphical styles, hence easy to duplicate

5. In many ways, the visual styles of flash games are similar to those of children’s TV shows. Many such games aimed at audiences ranging from 6 – 16 already exist with an alarming number targeted at the youngest of that range.

7. Club Penguin is an MMORPG aimed at an audience of children aged 6 – 14 It was officially launched in 2005, and by 2007 had 700,000 PAID members and 12,000,000 users

8. The site offers the capability for children to chat to one another online. To regulate language use, it features “Safe Chat” and “Ultimate Safe Chat” modes, only the latter where commands can be picked from a menu, in order to prevent swearing and revealing personal information. Users using profane language will face an automatic 24-hour ban.

9. Similarly Habbo Hotel is yet another targeted at a young audience It began in 2000 18 million avatars were been registered as of 2008 with the 100,000,000 th being created in the same year There are an average 8 million unique visitors monthly 75,000 avatars are being created every day

11. So what’s the difference?

12. From this…

13. … to this?

14. There is growing concern that continuous exposure to the internet is doing more than making them target to internet predators… Cheating and virtual theft are becoming major issues in the virtual world. The issue of cheating has been raised in Club Penguin and members found doing such within or out of the game face a permanent ban…apparently.

15. As a fact… A Dutch teenager has been arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from "rooms" in Habbo Hotel, accused of stealing 4,000 euros (£2,840) worth of virtual furniture, bought with real money. 2005 a Chinese gamer was stabbed to death in a row over a sword in a game. Shanghai gamer Qiu Chengwei killed player Zhu Caoyuan when he discovered he had sold a "dragon sabre" he had been loaned.

16. “ It’s certainly the safest way for unsupervised children to talk to potentially malevolent strangers” The age old concern of child predators is not only enveloping the teenage age group, but now even under 10’s as well.

17. Conclusion

18. sources http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/flash-brief-history http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/07/babes-in-the-woods/5974/4/ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi0703080167mar08,0,7203137.story http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/08/02/AR2007080202351.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habbo http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7094764.stm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Games http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/flash-brief-history/2 http://news.bbgsite.com/content/2009-10-19/20091019192543954.shtml http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/09/virtual-great-1.html http://www.big-boards.com/int.php?n=60 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19741740/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/ http://interactive.dubitlimited.com/research