SecretBuilders - Smart can be fun

Renaissance 2.0 Media

I love to see kids enthusiastic about learning, and I think any parent or educator feels the same way. Learning, in our culture, has been turned into something viewed as boring, rote, and droll, and kids feel like school is forced and a waste of their time. They'd rather stay at home playing games all day, and sometimes, I can't blame them.

There's no reason that learning and education cannot be embraced in video games. SecretBuilders is an online community and game world in which learning is encouraged, fun, and rewarding for kids - that's right, it's a game that your kids will spend hours in front of, exercising and building their brains. Once you take a look inside SecretBuilders, you'll see clearly why the game won a prestigious 2009 NAPPA (National Parenting Publications Awards) Honors Award.

What is SecretBuilders?

SecretBuilders is a free-to-play (with optional subscription) MMO/virtual game world by Renaissance 2.0 Media. Designed for kids and tweens aged 6 to 14, the game allows players to pick an avatar, and go into a virtual world where they can not only interact with other people, but play games, own a pet, decorate their house, exercise their creative muscles - and much more. Because SecretBuilders was designed by teachers and parents, it's got a lot of substance, and a lot of rewards for kids.

SecretBuilder's vision says it best:

...our uncompromising vision for SecretBuilders is a positive, wholesome online outlet for children where they are actively engaged.  Internet engagement is inevitable for this generation; turning into passive zombies is not.  SecretBuilders will stimulate, educate and entertain through subtle immersion in cultural literacy.

Games

Let's face it; the first thing a kid is going to come to SecretBuilders looking for is games, so we'll cut to the heart of the matter here for the kids first. There are four basic types of games that kids can play - Action, Activity, Puzzle, and Multiplayer. Many games are based on familiar big name counterparts such as tower defense games, Pong, or Zuma; others are based on classics like Mancala, Tower of Hanoi, and Connect 4.

What's more impressive is that if you take a look at the games from an educator's point of view, every game develops critical thinking skills. Some games are strategy based; many rely on an understanding of basic physics. Some involve word or math skills; some test memory. So even while kids are playing games and earning money in the form of "shills," they're learning and developing more.

SecretBuilders School

Another 'game' available through SecretBuilders is the trivia based SecretBuilders School. This is a special area where kids can pick a subject, and play games or trivia to earn shills and "supershills." This is a special area where parents and teachers can give special rewards to kids who learn and take these quizzes. Here, adults can buy "super shills,"  a paid form of currency on SecretBuilders that allows players to buy special rewards. They bank this currency, and then can reward kids for completing the games.

Subjects in the SecretBuilders School include:

• Art
• Language
• Geography (US and World)
• Math & Logic
• Chemistry
• Sports History (US and World)
• Typing

Creative Outlets

SecretBuilders offers a large variety of ways for kids and tweens to express their creative side in game - and get rewarded for it!

Kids love writing? Try "The Crooked Pencil," an in-game magazine where all the stories are written by kids - and rated and commented on by kids too. Also available is "Story Builders," where players pick a story that's already been started, and finish writing it. "Picasso!" encourages children to color some classic paintings. There are even some contests that kids, teachers, and parents can participate in.

Even more special than these great ways of highlighting content is "Build It!", a section of the site where kids submit their idea for making SecretBuilders better. Not only are suggestions publicly posted and rated, kids can see each other's ideas come to life in game. If any suggestion gets used in game, the player's suggestion ends up in the "Hall of Fame," along with comments from the Council (developers). What better way to show kids that they matter?

Fund Raising

Think trivia's just for earning in-game coin? Think again. SecretBuilder's fund raising site, OneForAll, allows kids to answer trivia questions to earn money for non-profit organizations. Funded by advertisements on the page, every question answered contributes a small amount that adds up quickly.

So who benefits? OneForAll's current list includes:

• Arbor Day Foundation – www.arborday.org
• Art in Action – www.artinaction.org
• Developments in Literacy – www.dil.org
• Monterey Bay Aquarium – www.mbayaq.org  
• Trees for the Future – www.treesftf.org
• Participating schools

Think about the impact of such a benefit: kids are having fun, learning, and contributing to causes that matter to them. Education, social awareness, fund raising, and fun - all rolled into a happy package.

Safety and Privacy

Of course, every parent's concern should be about the safety of their kids on an online site, and SecretBuilders has worked hard to provide a safe environment for kids. The first step in a safe environment is offering no personal information of the kid's at all - none. There is no personally identifying information on a SecretBuilders account, unless a parent chooses to link their own information to purchase a subscription - even SecretBuilders doesn't know your child's name, age, or location.

All chat and postings, even free chat, are all strictly monitored to ensure no personal information is shared or given, in addition to enforcing rules against bullying, harassment, and inappropriate chat. Everything but free chat is manually checked before posting, and all free chat is monitored and filtered carefully.

Fun, Safe, and Smart

There's at least half a dozen other features I could delve into to highlight the great things that SecretBuilders has built and the way the community interacts and evolves, from clubs and parties, to homes and quests. The short of it is, however, that SecretBuilders is not only fun for kids, it's mentally nutritional for them too, and it possesses and encourages social awareness. It's been used by teachers, schools, and parents; it supports education and charity.

You really can't find a bad point about SecretBuilders. If you're looking for an educational online game for your kids - or for your classroom - SecretBuilders can deliver on its promises.

SecretBuilders can be found at http://www.secretbuilders.com.