Webkinz
 

Okay, fess up. Who's addicted?

Everybody in my office has them, which led to a company-wide banning of Webkinz (although I harbor a suspicion that the HR director had the computer guy override the ban on her computer).

Most of my adult friends now have Webkinz as well.

In case you don't know, Webkinz are cute little stuffed animals that have cute little online existences, cute little virtual houses, cute little virtual clothes, cute little virtual jobs, and you play cute little flash games to earn "KinzCash" to buy other cute little virtual accessories.

Anybody want to be on my buddy list so I can invite you over to play in my KinzHouse or meet in the Clubhouse?

Well, I have one . . . kinda by accident, because I wanted a stuffed Siamese Kitty.

I don't know anything about their "virtual" lives though. Am I missing out? Am I better off not knowing, LOL!

and . . . office-wide banning? What's the rationale for that? Banning those cute little plushy furry animals, awwwww, what meanies! Meanies! I say!

I'm addicted to killing the damned things. It bugs me to no end that my daughter wastes her money on these things. Yes, I understand that a) wasting your money is a necessary learning process. (I certainly did it.) and b) my children will likely always spend their money on things I don't like and/or understand. (I remember when I got my HP-15C calculator, my dad said, "I can't believe you spent $100 and it's so small.") But these things seem useless even by standards of useless childhood purchases.

The only thing I can say for them is, they're better than Shining Stars, which are similar in concept, but are run by the International Star Registry.

But you work at The Nuthouse. QED.


That's just sad on every level. The perceived need to ban certain web sites, the misuse of authority to make arbitrary personal exceptions, etc. etc.


In a perhaps inevitable development, I understand that when you buy an animal at Build A Bear, they now have a web site where you can create a parallel online character.


EDIT: Cloud, I'm assuming she means the web site was banned.

My daughter has 4 or 5.

My nieces like them, but don't have dozens like some kids.

OK, I have one: they had a cute cow (I love cows) here in our bookstore I had to have. I registered him as Cow Webkin (not clever except that it sounds like Cal Ripkin.) This was months ago. I guess he's dead, as I've never fed him. Do they start to smell? Do they attract flies?

Anyway, the cute little stuffed guy is sitting on shelf in my office. Today, I walked by the bookstore and saw the Siamese kitty that Cloud mentioned. Yeah, I want him, but will refrain. :)

If I had interwebz at home I might get involved. It has some of the aspects I loved about Toontown: buying clothes (I think?) and furniture for your house, etc. It would be fun to meet up with wolf in the clubhouse! :)

I used to work at a store that sold these and had one little girl boast that she had collected forty-nine of them, and had come to the store to buy her fiftieth. I saw quite a few children -- and adults -- go into fits over these things, so I decided never to buy one because I know I'd get sucked in, too!

Heehee...remember those damn beanie babies? I hated those things!

When I was a kid all we had were pet rocks. And we had to make up names for them ourselves. And they only came in a crappy cardboard house. And you had to walk to the store in the snow to buy them. 17 miles uphill. And 23 miles uphill to get home.

I had a pet rock that already had googly-eyes glued to it, and a pin so you could clip it to your shirt.

You got to buy a legit pet rock? I asked for one and my brother picked up a rock off the ground and chucked it at me. I named it Fluffy, it lived in a shoe.

so, it's only you Wolf. Lonely in your obsession?

(clutches her stuffed kitty to her breast-ignores virtual meows of smotherification)

are you not supposed to remove the tags?

It had so many pebbles it didn't know what to do?

I will call the pebble Dare...

I haven't heard of this yet here.
I am worried.
I was majorly into Animal Crossing Wild World until I got the biggest house and had my mortgage paid off.

I need to steer clear.
I mustn't Google this.
I won't take part.

I'll let you know.

:D

The only webkinz related purchase I ever made was for a dog. (A real one)

My cousin got one of those designer dog puppies last fall but it was TINY. Kitten-sized. (We call her Rat, but her name is Gracie.)
Aaaaanywho, my cousin still lives at home with my uncle and he complains about the dog, so of course being as catlike as it is, it looooves him. It runs up and falls asleep on his shoulder when he's laying in his chair, it follows him all around, and goes crazy excited when he gets home...so for christmas I was looking for some clothes for it (yes, my cousin even feels the need to dress it) but it was so small, none of the normal dog clothes fit it...till I found a little camo dress on the webkinz rack at Hallmark.

I packaged it up and gave it to my uncle instead. "A present for your hunting hound." *snicker*

Too bad I didn't know you were into the webkinz, I got all kinds of free crap for their website when I bought that skirt, but we threw the codes away cause none of us play webkinz.

They got confiscated by PPS (Pebble Protection Services).

OMG! The Clydesdale is soooo cute!

I like the snake, though it looks like a pile of doo in this pic. I thought about getting the snake because I like to wear a snake around my neck on St Patrick's day and see who even gets it.

... and see if anyone attacks you!

Webkinz, eh?


/reaches for virtual BB gun/


What's the bounty on them things?

I still have mine.

His name is Prentis.

I have the box and instructions.

Some day I will get over the sentimentality of it all, and sell him on ebay.

I can't do this right now, because the market seems glutted and you can only get $10 or so for them.

My kids have them. In fact my daughter is online upstairs playing with hers right now. Let's see...she's got a chihuahua, a black lab, and...a third I can't remember. My son has a German Shepherd Dog but never gets on there, the poor thing is probably starving to death and dying from neglect. He prefers Runescape.

I can see getting addicted to these things. I was into the Sims for a while, and Zoo Tycoon...but I have more productive things to do online these days. Like message boards. :D

Ummm.
I succumbed.

I have a charcoal cat called Mr Keats. Registered him today.
I'm still learning, but any hints would be appreciated.

To correct earlier list:
Daughter has a leopard, black lab, chihuahua, and koala.
Son has a bullfrog, monkey, collie, and german shepherd, and his friend just gave him an iguana for his birthday.

DD is now down one...guess we need to go to the toy store again. (sigh)

My son is so excited because the bullfrog is next month's pet of the month!

As a newbie, I have a shamefully small house at present. I'd love to see how it's done by the experts!

My username is colneygirl.

Rabbit?

whoo hoo!

My manatee, Lorelei, has an ambulance.

I should probably seek professional help.

Oops, missed your post Shawnee. Indeed, I have a gorgeous rabbit called Ursula.
And she's a lovely American rabbit, need I say more...?

I can't play at the mo - have to wait til I'm online at home again. For the record, Webkinz being all about the children, doesn't let them experience death online. Pets don't die and decay if you leave them!

Wolf, I'll PM you when I'm back in the world of Webkinz...

I can't wait to be online at home, and play with Cow Webkinz. He definitely will need a baseball bat.

Then I'll go back to ToonTown.

Maybe look into Spore.

Then I'll forget to go to work and lose my job.

Ahhhh, dreams.

So... my stepdaughter showed my son some of the stupid little flash games you can play on the webkinz website. And now he desperately wants to play them. Of course, you can't play them unless you log in, and you can't do that unless you buy a plush and use a code. Ugh.


So, ah... anyone have a code they don't care about? I actually looked on ebay for a cheaper one, but I don't want to have to wait 6 days for an auction to end, then wait for the stupid thing to get shipped. Minifob couldn't care less about the plush or the online character, he just wants to play the games.

Clod, incoming PM :)

my sis in law gave me a bat webkinz for some gift type event. i did nothing with it, but ippy found it and has it registered now....

i see dag has come to your aid, i hope.... if not. lemme know and i'll get you some code.

Dagney is a lovely, lovely lady. Of course everyone already knew that, but I figured I'd reiterate. Thanks, Dagney!

again, the cellar rocks.