Today, Collin Caneva will take his Kid Command virtual world live. The world, targeted to kids and tweens, hopes to instill an appreciation of the environment and world's fragile eco-system. As the growth of virtual worlds, social networks and web-based entertainment explodes, Omaha-based Caneva hopes to carve out a special place in that digital eco-system that will taps kids' curiosity and innate intelligence, talking up to their intellect rather than down.
"We live in an age with two of the greatest teaching devices -- the TV and the computer. Unfortunately, they're not used to their potential (most of the time). Instead of an 'experience,' kids are fed brain-mush," says Caneva. "That's where we want to differentiate ourselves," he says of Kid Command.
Virtual Worlds News had a chance to speak with Caneva, founder of Green Bein' Productions, Inc., just prior to the full launch this evening.
Virtual Worlds News: Just how close to launching Kid Command are you?
Collin Caneva: We've completed our beta testing and will host a full launch the night of November 10th.
VWN: With all the heavily promoted virtual world properties available to kids, how can the smaller efforts stand out? What are your marketing and promotional plans for Kid Command?
CC: The goal with Kid Command has always been to offer kids something different than what was and is currently available. You can go to free gaming sites and see a ton of stand-alone games and virtual world options that look interchangeable. Many other online experiences take kids out of the real world and into a make believe world that is simplistic, not to mention materialistic. Instead, Kid Command brings the world to each child's fingertips and aims to create an excitement about places and things that really exist. Some of the most amazing art forms, the most wonderful medicinal advances, the most awesome projects in the history of the world that have been inspired by beautiful places around the globe. While it is certainly a priority to be fantastically entertaining, we want that entertainment to inspire kids to go out into the world and do great things.
VWN: How do you stand out?
CC: We are working on aligning ourselves with organizations that share our goal of empowering kids. Schools, after-school programs, scouts, etc. are groups we are targeting through ad campaigns, participation in conferences, and word of mouth buzz. In addition, we are actively reaching out to environmental, non-profit, and educational organizations to create mutually beneficial cross-marketing relationships.
VWN: What are your goals when it comes to registered and active users and what are Kid Command's stats now?
CC: I read that currently there are approximately 15 million kids online. My goal for our partnering companies and ours is to have 14.9 million of them learning from and experiencing Kid Command. Seriously, as of today, we have a significant number of pre-registrations, which is great! We've also received great feedback/interest from educators and potential partnering companies.
VWN: You mention the team that created Kid Command as one drawing on skills from an entrepreneur, a musician, a business analyst, a computer programmer, an after-school enrichment program director, a medical physician, an attorney, a banker, a script writer and two award-winning programming and design teams. That's quite an assortment of skill sets which created the world. How did you integrate specialties?
CC: The great thing about our team is that we all came to this project with a unique set of skills and creative experiences; and that has been very helpful. If we had all seen things the same way, I don't think our project would have turned out nearly as interesting. Was it a challenge to unify the vision? In the beginning, sure. But the bumpy moments were worth it. When one of us didn’t think of a cool idea, another one on our team did, so our differences have actually helped unify our team because we tend to compliment one another.
Integrating the specialties was not as big a challenge as you might think. In the beginning, we all wore different hats and as time went on, we kept the hats that fit us as individuals; and curriculums were assigned to team members who needed to grow in specific areas. We worked remotely from our different geographic regions, using voice over IP, and looked at our situation as if we had virtual cubicles -- we couldn’t see one another, but we could talk to a team member at will. Our project management system was also a valuable tool in keeping us unified and accountable. It was rather smooth, all things considered. The great thing about our team, is that everyone is pushing with the same passion -- our kids and their future.
VWN: The Kid Command story isn't such a tough one to sell to moms and dads, but how do you get kids to try out content that has a message, especially with so much branded content and existing (and popular) worlds already online.
CC: The bottom line is this: if kids think it's lame they won't play it. So, while our mission has always been to raise the bar in terms of purposeful content, we knew that first and foremost we had to give kids fun. The way we get kids to try it is by making it such a blast that friends tell their friends about it. We've always said that we don’t want kids to learn about Kid Command from grown-ups but from their peers. With that in mind, we have designed our world to appeal to kids before parents.
VWN: Do you have any partners lined up?
CC: We've reached out to many organizations just to make them aware of what we are setting out to do. Kid Command is not a tough sell so we have gotten plenty of great feedback and interest. But organizations want to see more and who could blame them? We are excited to go back to these groups after launch with a fully functioning world. Currently we are working with the Boy Scouts of America, Orangutan Outreach, Forest 101, a number of children's zoos, Tree Pals, and we will be at the Green Festival in San Francisco in mid-November (which is a huge eco-event that will put us in front of companies and organizations that share our vision for a healthier planet).
VWN: As the kids manage their avatars, what sorts of activities will they have the opportunity to do?
CC: They'll be able to customize their avatar, travel to multiple terrains while playing and learning about multiple eco-systems. They'll be able to watch high-def videos with entertaining content pertinent to the regions, play entertaining min-games built around those regions, build a virtual passport that will enable the players to monitor where they've been in the world, who their "friends" are, any game assets they've accumulated, and also check their "world health" system. They'll also be able to socialize with other children around the world, and decide whether or not they want to accept region-specific challenges that will take the players through platform-style/multi-level games depicting the areas they're visiting.
VWN: What is the intellectual takeaway you are aiming the players to experience?
CC: Quite a few, such as increase their knowledge about worldwide environmental issues, learn positive eco-habits and build 21st century skills, gain an appreciation for world geography and literacy, become more responsible and proactive in the areas of: Environmental conservation, wildlife protection, and diversity, develop an excitement for travel and adventure, learn to give back in the form of compassion and philanthropy, and see how working together on a small scale can make a big difference.
VWN: What's the revenue model behind the game?
CC: Monthly, bi-annual, and annual memberships. However, all educational content provided to us by our partnering companies will be able to be accessed by a free account. A substantial portion of the revenue generated by paid memberships will be used to fund our "Grant Program" that can be applied for by our partnering companies.
VWN: How did you fund Kid Command?
CC: Private investors.
VWN: What's the best advice you can give an aspiring entrepreneur who is considering starting a virtual world?
CC: Don't be a follower, put the customers' -- in our case, the kids -- best interest before yours; you may not be the most popular at first, but stick to your mission no matter what, but be able to adapt along the way; and above all -- have a great team (legal, financial, design etc.) and a plan in place before anything. We spent months planning and organizing our team before any programming was done.
VWN: Do you have kids of your own? If so, are they involved in the product? Did they offer any inspiration?
CC: Yes. A son, 9, and a daughter, 7. And yes, after homework and outside activities, they get to offer their advice and opinions. It's the most honest feedback I get. If games or content sucks, believe me, they tell me.
Yes. After seeing what was available for the kids, I was disappointed and challenged them to design something they would play. I thought they would ignore me like they do when I ask them to clean up after themselves. They surprised me in a way that changed my life -- my son even drew and colored the world's interface. That picture is still in my office.
VWN: Is there anything for parents or grandparents to do on the site?
CC: Parent Command is a free supplement to the Kid Command virtual world that offers parents, grandparents, and educators a consolidated view of information on their kids accounts. Parent Command allows grown-ups to: review the conversations kids have in the world, oversee and control the time spent playing in the world, follow the learning that kids are absorbing while playing, have access to site enhancements and events, receive news and coupons from partnering companies/groups, and have access to their environmental and educational concerns, and learn easy eco-tips and family activities.
VWN: What is it you want Kid Command to teach?
CC: What we want kids to learn from Kid Command is a greater sense of awareness and compassion for other cultures and our planet. We hope kids take action together so that our planet is great place to live for years to come. We also want to provide experiences for kids that they may not otherwise get.
VWN: On the area of virtual worlds, is there a creator or product out there you especially admire? If so, who/what is it and why do you admire them?
CC: I admire companies that break the mold and are creative in their games and content. I don't have any one person or company in specific, I'm just tired of the same old "frilly" sites that undermine the intelligence of kids and pre-teens. I guess if there was a company that I truly admired, I would've contacted them for a job. Simply put, we feel that the youth of the world, needs Kid Command.
I guess of anyone, I admire our team. They have taken my vision and surpassed my expectations. I feel truly blessed to be affiliated with these people.
VWN: What platform is the world built on?
CC: We are using flex 3 framework, playing on flash player, and using smart-fox to send info between client and server. Our world is platform independent or web-based. All logic is performed on the server side, not the client -- for security purposes
VWN: Thanks Collin for your time. Best of luck.
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