With the touch of a keyboard, and the click of a mouse, you’re on your way into a new virtual cyberworld: Zwinktopia.
Http://zwinky.com is a virtual world in which you, the player, have the opportunity to communicate and play with people around the globe from behind your computer screen.
Zwinky is a huge chatroom website. Players chose which server they want to be in (a full or less full one). Within each server, the player choses a chat area, such as “the park” or “the splash.” This way, the player has a variety of places to chose between. There are two different “Zwinktopias” for people under 18, and people above 18. Zwinky is a good way to make friends, and chat with people you would most likely never meet in the real world, according to Paula Sobotko, junior and long time Zwinky player.
When meeting a new person, you can check out his or her profile. The profile that Zwinky offers is much like the 2006 MySpace. You can enter codes for layouts, boxes, text, and font.
“[Zwinky] is a time passer that lets you socialize. It’s fun if you have people to play with from real life. When you’re bored, it’s cool to have a go-to place that is easily accessible,” Sobotko said.
Zwinky also has over ten stores for clothing and furniture. The stores are all unique to fit players’ preferences in style. Zwinky stays on top of things by introducing new items, as well as new stores regularly.
Although Zwinky is a good website for socializing, others find some negative aspects within Zwinky.
“Zwinky is fun, there is good clothing and hair [for your avatar], but there is a bad lag, and not enough people play,” Bodie Baker, sophomore, said. “I think [blocking words] is stupid because you can’t have a normal conversation, and [Zwinky] shouldn’t be blocking words like fluffy because some people think it’s an insulting word.”
When having a conversation with someone, words such as “night” and “speed” are blocked. “Night” is blocked because of a racial slur directed towards African Americans within the word, and “speed” because of it’s reference to drugs. Words that are found offensive are starred out by the Zwinky’s security system.
Alongside starring inappropriate words, the lag in Zwinktopia is also a problem. It’s understandable to have a lag, freezing or slow performance of a gaming system, in a full chatroom with a full server, however sometimes, users get a lag within their own room, with only a few people inside of it. According to Sobotko, the best thing to do is to leave the chat and enter a more empty room.
New users should not only be prepared for slow performance, but also payment methods.
When creating a Zwinky account, one first makes an avatar. After creating it, one has to buy more clothing, aside from what is in the standard wardrobe. The methods of payment consist of two things: “Zbucks” and “Zcard.” “Zbucks” are easily accessible; they are earned after playing games on Zwinky. Zcard, on the other hand, is either bought (using real money) or earned through offers from Zwinky’s sponsors. Up until about a year ago, the majority of items were required to be bought with Zcard, making the virtual experience a bit pricey, according to Sobotko.
“Before, everything was free. You made your avatar and all the clothing was there. Now, you have to actually pay for [items]. I usually just earn [Zcard],” Sobotko said.
Although many things must be paid for, every day there is a “Daily Keepsake.” In other words, a free item every day of the year. The items rotate between furniture for the player’s virtual room and clothing or hair for your avatar. If one misses a day of the “Daily Keepsake,” he or she can purchase the item with Zcard, but it is not mandatory.
“[The Daily Keepsake] is a way to make people go log-on every day, but they do have cute things,” Sobotko said.
Instead of sitting at home watching TV on a boring day, jump out of reality and into a cyberworld to meet new people and pass the time.