Moshi Monsters: a Growing, Educational Virtual World for Kids
One part educational, one part social, and two parts pet-caring game, virtual world Moshi Monsters, from Mind Candy, has been seeing solid growth since launching in 2008. It now has more than 12 million total registered users, with especially strong numbers in the last 9 months, chief executive Michael Smith tells us.
Here’s a closer look.
The basic play of Moshi Monsters is familiar enough. Players create an avatar based on half a dozen templates, customize their coloring, and are tasked with caring for their new monstrous companion. Like in Playfish’s Pet Society, the user must feed and keep their monster healthy and happy. Of course, since these are “monsters” and not “pets,” they are treated a bit differently, and as it seems, lack of bathing is one such difference.
Hygiene aside, players improve said stats by feeding it various monster-themed foods and, well, buying it stuff. In tandem with this, the critter’s mood will change as well, resulting in different demeanors and random commentary that is spoken in a Sims-like gibberish.
This leads to the core point of Moshi Monsters, which is the decoration of your own virtual house. The space is a simple 2D flat that is more or less the same as that in Pet Society style games, and like said games, it can be viewed and visited by other players.
When other players visit you, they are capable of leaving friendly messages on a little post board for viewing whenever a user next logs in. Players can also send each other gifts as well, which, as you’d expect, can consist of decorative furniture, food, etc. Unfortunately, in order to send anything, one has to sign up for membership.
Luckily, there was still enough to see and do to get a good idea of what was going on in this virtual monster town. Among the various streets are a myriad of shops to see and visit. Most sell foods or furniture for your house, but what is most noticeable is the level of detail that went into everything.
Tthis level of polish is worth noting. Most everything you see in Moshi Monsters adds to the believability of this digital world. Whether it is your avatar commenting on something you pass by, startling an construction worker by clicking on them, or watching a little creature fly up and eat your mouse pointer during the loading screen, there is something that most everyone will remember seeing after a few minutes of play.
Of course, should players play longer than a few minutes, they will begin to level up via a handful of means. Experience towards each level is gained primarily by buying stuff for your home, but players get the largest boost from a range of mini-games from what is called the “Puzzle Palace.” Each of these games can be played as much as you like, and consist of simple educational games that vary from math to spelling. However, the one that earns the most reward – in both experience and the in-game currency, Rox – is the Daily Challenge that sticks together a random assortment of all the puzzle games.
The game has also recently introduced a couple new features to take advantage of its community. One is printable trading cards, showing users stats — this is an offline way to make the game more relevant to kid’s lives. Another new feature is a “Games Starcade” shop, where users can by virtual arcade games to put in their rooms. Friends who visit the room can then play the arcade game.
For a kids game, Moshi Monsters is a wonderful creation. Frankly, the only complaint is that it really does push the membership in the fact that about half the content is limited to a $6.00 a month membership. Obviously, it’s not really the cost that raises a question but the fact that players don’t really have the full picture regarding what they are purchasing (in the locked areas).
Frankly, if you’re looking for a good kids game that’s both fun, and might even teach them something, than Moshi Monsters is certainly one worth a look.
We have used Moshi Monsters in schools in Scotland. Great educational tool in itself but even better when used as a contextula learning hub by a thoughtful teacher. Have a look at what we did…
http://bit.ly/lb5AD
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Great Review. I’d love to see a review of another educational virtual world for kids – BinWeevils.com. Thanks!
Parents, be wary of Moshi Monsters terms and conditions! The ‘one month’ membership will “automatically renew” on your credit card on an ongoing basis until you work out who “Click and Buy” on your credit card statements are! I will be taking this up with the office of fair trading and other consumer bodies as I pretty sure their sign up procedure is not within terms of fairness required by consumer contract law.
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adorable
You can’t send furniture and things like that, just gifts that you can see like an animated “You’re my best friend”. Hope it helps. =]
There is a good list of virtual world games for kids like Mosh- monsters here http://www.thecoolwebsites.com/cool-kids-websites.html
hai my name is rodalyn /what your name
My son strated with Moshimonsters about 2 monts ago…I’m windering what could be “good” when we become a memeber rather than buying more gifts and changing clothes …. Is there any educational games ? I want him to have fun but also learning as a part of it would be better ….thank you for your answers
This is the best game ever!
BTW my owner name is raini9
I love moshi monsters because it’s fun and kids love it<3 . Thanks moshi monsters
you are so cool
can i adopt a monster
i hate stuiped moshi monsters
they r so cute, i just wanna scoop them up in my cofee just so amazing
i love moshimonsters its better than clubpenguin
and panfu beacause you can buy cloths and funiture
but on panfu and clubpenguin you cant
I love moshi monsters its the best and if u dont have it i think u should cuz if u like club penguin(like megah said) u will LOVE moshi monsters . . . if u want to add me i am devilina2010 and my pet is SweetiePie
hi your soooo cool
your so stupid
i have one but i 4got my password and the only 1 that i think is cute is the heart thing. i want to find the username and the password oh wait i think i got it ok bye. if you get a monster then good luck.
this webssite is great but i dont agree to paying
i like games
i like it so mush
how do i get on the game???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
watchout incase you buy a membership and they suddenly diside to renevate the game they do that to me every time
kl kl sounds really good
how do u get on the game?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????///////////////////////?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? please reply back
I do not know much about the game but I signed up one month thinking it was ok.
Suprise! Paypal told me that I paid for another month. When I asked, I was told that I have signed up forever unless I tell them not to renew. Is it the meaning of “one month sign up.”
I did not want my daughter play another month but they refused the refund saying somewhere it said “All one month and six month Moshimonsters.com membership packages purchased online at Moshimonsters.com automatically renew to ensure uninterrupted service.” Well, they care so much about customers’ money.
What can you expect from children game makers. That made me doubt the value of their game too. Watch out for their term. Maybe monsters are feating in your account.
cool
Hi I am new to Moshi Monsters what and how do u buy for your monster when they r ill?
I’m spythomas6 on moshimonsters and am a furi!!!:D:D
Iam on levl 2
Thank you very much. My kid would to have a moshi monster and she loves them so much. Thank you very much.
I want to thank you for creating the moshi world my child is learning responsibility by having her own monster.She loves her pet she wishes to have a real one not a virtual one. I hope you come up with more interesting games for my and any other child in the world.My child has many friends on moshimonsters and I wish more kids will make an account. Once again thank you for the web-site.
I have bean trying to put in my code from the moshi monsters magazine
it will not work at all
MoshiMonsters (MM) is run by a crafty, conniving bunch of crooks.
As others have pointed out the “one-month membership” is sneakily designed. There is an automatic renewal that will charge your credit card on a recurring basis every month… forever and ever.
Nothing illegal in that! It says in the signup screens that it’s recurring so where’s the problem? Here’s where it is: you cannot, repeat CANNOT cancel a credit card payment if the company concerned (MoshiMonsters) doesn’t cooperate. Strange but true. There’s no point calling your credit card company or even cancelling your credit card … MM can still charge you and you’re still liable! I know it sounds unbelievable, but that’s how it works. A CC company can’t cancel a recurring payment you’ve agreed to with a merchant, only the merchant can cancel that.
It’s not by accident that MM appears on your CC statement as “Click and Buy”. The idea is that you won’t identify the source of the charge and therefore not know where to complain/cancel.
I discovered that MM also offered the option of payment via Paypal which is great because cancelling a Paypal recurring payment is easier than cancelling a credit card one. But don’t hurry off just yet to make your payment! When signing up to a Paypal recurring payment MM won’t let you proceed till you ALSO provide your creditcard details.
Did I say they’re a bunch of crooks?
While my Grandchildren and I love the game there are LOTS of problems. Tons of glitches within the game.5 year old has had messages left for her that had really awful content. They aren’t filtering it like they should be. I report the comments just as I’m told too but then I still see the same accounts. I think when you leave a message for a 5 year old that says ‘I want to…you’ Seems to me that should be an automatic ban from the site.
We have had constant problems with the membership payment by credit/debt card. They keep trying to bill a number that is NOT my card number. Good Luck trying to talk with a real human. I hate trying to deal with the issues via email. After being treated like I was stupid and it was all my problem I got an email with this bit of info….
We have recently become aware of a technical issue affecting a small number of our customers, whereby they are unable to update the nominated card being used for payment in our payment provider’s system.
I’m afraid that the issue which has prevented you from updating your billing details in our system is still being investigated by our technical payments team. At present, if you attempt to purchase a Membership using a new card, the system will take the first month’s payment from that, and then default back to billing your previous card instead. Our technical team believe they should be able to resolve this problem but they have no estimate at present for a time frame. (I have only ever used one card but they keep going back to some number that I have no idea who it belongs too.)
While it’s a very fun game to play there are LOTS and LOTS of issues.