Webkinz
- Kind
- Online world of virtual pets tied to plush toys
- Company named in the files
- Ganz
- Website
- webkinz.com
Webkinz is an online world at webkinz.com in which the owner of a plush toy adopts it as a virtual pet. Its own name for the online part is "Webkinz World".[1] Everything in this article comes from the files of the site that the Flashpoint Archive preserved (see Game files), most of them games from its Arcade; the official website has not yet been read, so the company's own account of Webkinz, its dates and its history are missing here.
What the site said it was
One preserved file set, a tour for newcomers (see Webkinz Site Tour 2008), describes the world in the site's own words. It calls Webkinz World "The exciting online experience where your plush pet comes to life" and, at its close, "a friendly, educational and fun online community".[1][1] These are the site's claims about itself.
According to the tour, everything starts with a toy: "It all begins when you bring home your Webkinz or Lil'Kinz plush toy", and each toy comes with a Secret Code that lets its owner adopt the pet online.[1][1] See Pets and Adoption Center.
Parts of the world named in the files
- The pet's room
- After the adoption the owner is shown the pet's room, and starts with 2000 KinzCash to redecorate it.[1]
- W Shop
- The shop where furniture, clothes and food for the pet are bought.[1]
- Quizzy's Question Corner
- A quiz with "questions for all age groups" that pays KinzCash.[1]
- The Arcade
- Games that pay KinzCash; see Arcade and the list of games.[1]
- The Tournament Arena
- Where friends are challenged to a game; see Tournament Arena.[1]
- KinzChat
- The chat program. The tour says it "is constructed, so no personal information can be shared".[1]
- Friends
- Friends can be invited over to see a room.[1]
- Adventure Park
- Named once, in the Arcade's program, in a message asking whether a player who has finished a task wants to go back there.[2] The files say nothing more about it.
- The dock
- Where prizes from games were put; see Dock.
- Webkinz Studio
- A program for making short animated shows; see Webkinz Studio.
- Music videos
- Thirty-four animated songs are preserved; see Music Starz Showcase.
The tour also promises "daily activities, weekly contests, and all kinds of surprises" and says the world "is constantly expanding, so there's always something new every month".[1][1] One part of the tour is named after "Webkinz Newz", and a jigsaw game is named after "Breaking News"; the files do not describe the news itself.[3][4]
A waiting screen is preserved whose placeholder text tells a visitor "You are currently in line to get into Webkinz World!"; see Webkinz Queue Interface Animation.[5] A file named for a "Deluxe Membership" is preserved without readable text; see Webkinz Deluxe Membership Ad.
Ganz
The company named in the files is Ganz. A typing game's certificate says that "Lunch Letters and the Webkinz Magic W Symbol are Trademarks of Ganz".[6] The lettering used across the games is a typeface named "Webkinz Med" that carries the notice "Copyright (c) Ganz, 2005. All rights reserved."[7] That year is the typeface's; it is not a date for the site or for any game. One game opens with the words "Webkinz Studios Presents".[8]
What the files do not say
The preserved files give no date on which Webkinz opened, no account of who at Ganz made it, no prices, and nothing about how the world changed over time. They show what certain games and programs contained, not when those were online. The official website has not yet been fetched for this wiki; see Project:Sources.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 The game file
Webkinz Site Tour 2008/content/www.webkinz.com/XML/L10N/US_EN/siteTour.xml, as kept in the Flashpoint Archive (Flashpoint Ultimate 14). - ↑ The game file
www.webkinz.com/SWF/ARCADE/arcade.swf, as kept in the Flashpoint Archive (Flashpoint Ultimate 14). - ↑ The game file
Webkinz Site Tour 2008/content/www.webkinz.com/SWF/TOUR/8_webkinz_newz.swf, as kept in the Flashpoint Archive (Flashpoint Ultimate 14). - ↑ The game file
Webkinz Breaking Newz Jigsaw Puzzle/content/assets.webkinz.com/swf/item/1587/sfunction.swf, as kept in the Flashpoint Archive (Flashpoint Ultimate 14). - ↑ The game file
Webkinz Queue Interface Animation/content/www.webkinz.com/SWF/QueueInterface_hack.swf, as kept in the Flashpoint Archive (Flashpoint Ultimate 14). - ↑ The game file
Lunch Letters/content/www.webkinz.com/SWF/ARCADE/GAMES/lunchLetters_hack.swf, as kept in the Flashpoint Archive (Flashpoint Ultimate 14). - ↑ The game file
www.webkinz.com/shared.swf, as kept in the Flashpoint Archive (Flashpoint Ultimate 14). - ↑ The game file
Dex Dangerous and the Lunar Lugbotz!/content/www.webkinz.com/SWF/ARCADE/GAMES/lunarLugbotz_hack.swf, as kept in the Flashpoint Archive (Flashpoint Ultimate 14).