No, not all the characters of the mass-production that reside in the club around the corner, but the real Mattel's Barbies. They have their own world as I've just learned at Terra Nova:

Girls can create their own, personalized online space–everything from designing a "room" to creating a character–where they can then play games, chat with gal pals, watch videos and even shop with earned virtual money.

That's what girls were doing with barbies since long before Barbie was born (whether they were made out of cloth, rubber or pixels). Ok, except the last two: videos are natural extension of the tea parties in the 21st century and shopping is the result of capitalism educating kids into nice consumers. 

What could I do than to put my anti-pink shields and go into the world of Barbie Girls.

I am writing this while the server is sending me my parents an e-mail to check if it is ok for their little Kimban (dammit! I hate when dandellion is already taken!) to play in the barbie world. Before I rezz there I'll check tips for girls and rules to follow. 

  1. Get your parent's permission
  2. Don't use your real name in your screen name Ok, nice. We are learning the basics of internet security,
    Instead, make up something new and creative!

    And we are even learning that can be fun. Much better than a freakin' FaceBook.

  3. Don't share your password with anyone - basics of the internet security, lesson 2. Though it says that it's ok to share your password with "your mom, dad, or guardian". Weird. Inviting mom, dad or guardian to be around while kid is playing sounds much healthier for kid's development and is a nice opportunity to spend some time in personal communication with your offspring.
  4. Be careful making new friends and best friends A nice warning and a short howto. And a good separation of best friends who are actually RL friends and have access to "Secret B ChatTM in your room".
  5. Talk to your parents about allowing friends to visit your room Also a short howto ban "ask to leave" somebody and to report the offender. Which will probably make AR (abuse report) service spammed with all the daily girl's fights.
  6. Be safe when chatting
    • There are two kinds of chat in the Barbie GirlTM world — B ChatTM and Secret B ChatTM.
    • With a regular B ChatTM, you can talk to anybody about fun girl stuff. You can use any words we’ve already selected for you and added to our huge list, but naughty words and personal info get blocked.
    • If you have best friends, invite them to your online room for a private chat.
    • You can talk about more stuff than a regular B ChatTM allows. But a Secret B ChatTM still blocks anything naughty or not nice.

    Nice things those filters. Let's state this clear: I am not against filters and blockers, in kid's or grownup's worlds. But I am for the open and voluntary use of them. Can parents see which words are blocked? And beside that, "you can use any words we've already selected for you" sounds too Orwellian for my taste.

  7. Report someone who's misbehaveing.
  8. Block someone who's misbehaveing
    barbie girls

    9. image is courtesy of Mattel Inc.

  9. Always be nice to others Golden rule and a disclaimer:
    We sometimes review chatting to make sure people are being friendly and safe and are following the rules. But because we don’t constantly monitor the site, you should “report” users to us who are misbehaving.

    And two more "follow the rules" in next couple of sentences. And is being nice of any worth if you have to be nice because there is someone watching you from the dark?

  10. Play by the rules or don't play at all! Again? The word rules appears five more times, twice as "our rules", and it sounds as a basic show off of mere force and power.

Then some fun tips goes:

  1. Design, play and shop on BarbieGirls.comSM

    2. There are so many fun things you can do! You will be able to create a virtual character, design your own room, earn and shop with B Bucks (pretend "money")…

    I thought it is illegal for kids to earn and to work for the money! And one more thing, do you feel there is too much those TM's and SM's in uppercase, too? They trademarked even chat! What's so fuckin' special about trademarked B chat? But they haven't forgot to mention the rules one more time.

  2. Find your friends online This has one interesting part:
    we’ve created several copies of our stores and hangouts. For that reason, you and a friend might be in the same place at the same time but still not see each other.

    This is called a bug, right?

  3. Print these tips Yup, that must be a huge fun

Ok, in the meanwhile, my parent I got a polite e-mail form my "friends at BarbieGirls.com" and activated an account. Stay tuned….

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