The kids in the lab have been mad-keen on Moshi Monsters lately. I can only describe the lab as a Moshi pit at break times!
[I am using Moshi Monsters as a stimulus for descriptive writing with our K2's, so will blog about how that goes when I am finished.]

Moshi Monsters is a neat little game, really engaging, with a great variety of activities and things to do that can keep kids engaged for hours – literally!

I thought their interest would be a good opportunity to have a chat to them about the ways in which the website aims to hook them in, and get them to sign up as paid members.

At the end of last term, I called a Moshi Meeting for all those interested in playing Moshi Monsters in the lab. Turn-out was predictably high!

I got Moshi Monsters up on the IWB, and asked the assembled group two main questions.

1. How does the Moshi Monsters site try to encourage you to spend more time playing the game?

Here are some student responses:

They show you things you can buy with your Rox that are the level above you, so you want to increase your level to be able to buy those things.

They unlock different games when you increase your level.

In the beginning, you can increase your level really quickly, but then it slows down and it takes longer to increase the levels, meaning you have to stay on the computer longer.

They have messages when you walk down the street like, “I wish my owner would redecorate,” meaning you start thinking about improving your room and buying more things. To buy more things, you need more Rox, which means you have to stay on longer and earn them.

How does Moshi Monsters try to encourage you to become a paid member?

Here are some student responses:

You can see that there are other areas that you can access if you are a member.

You can do more things – you can send gift etc.

It allows you to choose your own house – you get more choices.

The vast majority of the kids had no idea they were being ‘encouraged’ to spend more time online, but once it was pointed out to them, they realized that they had choices to make, and that of course the website wanted to make it engaging for them to want to pay money for it.

The bottom line is that they became more informed consumers, and I’m pretty happy with that.

Images captured using Jing.