FAO Schwarz Worried About Safety in Virtual Worlds

Normally we report on who's new to virtual worlds, not who's avoiding them. But like Yahoo, it' just odd to see FAO Schwarz without a virtual worlds play. With toy companies like MGA Entertainment, Mattel, Ty, and Hasbro making pushes for toy-based tie-ins, not to mention the recently successful Build-a-Bearville, you'd expect one of the largest toy brands in the world to be leading the pack. However, Internet Retailer reports that while FAO is big on expanding its website, "[CEO Edward] Schmults says he has considered community features for kids, including adding a virtual world feature, but is concerned about the potential for abuse by predators." He says, though, that he has plans to meet with an interactive marketing firm to hash out community features, so the concerns might be only a temporary delay. [via Internet Retailer via Virtual Economic Forum]