vSide, Blue Mars, and Twinity

Today we examine vSide, Blue Mars, and Twinity.

vSide
First impressions:  Seeing the word "party" on the main page did not seem like a promising start, at least for my educational purposes.  Once again, we find a site that is free to join, but has premium add-ons available for purchase.
Age range:  Intended for ages 13 and up.
Pros:  I found it quite challenging to find any positive aspects to this site, other than the fact that it clearly meets teens where they are.
Cons:  The environments have many bars and clubs, not the ideal situation to put young students in.  Overall it seems very shallow; based on appearance, partying, and consumerism.  This consumerism is further perpetuated by the abundance of ads peppering the site.
Overall rating:  2 out of 10

Blue Mars
First impressions:  Blue Mars has some aspects of vSide with its avatar-based world and chat, but seems to run a bit deeper.  The site seems fairly small, and not very current - the copyright dates the last update as 2010.
Age range:  Blue Mars appears to be targeted at adults.
Pros:  Seems similar to Second Life in its customisability of "cities," not unlike islands.  I find the fact that it is set in the future on a different planet particularly intriguing.
Cons:  The lack of currency is a bit of a concern.  In addition, since I primarily work with younger students, an adult environment does not seem like the best fit for my purposes.
Overall rating:  4 out of 10

Twinity
First impressions:  Twinity's main page shows pictures of hot tubs, cocktails, and parties.  Once again, I'm not sure if that's the sort of environment I want to be bringing students into for educational purposes.
Age range:  It is not explicitly stated, but I would guess ages 13 and up.
Pros:  My understanding is that in Twinity, they are recreating major world cities for users to explore, which seems like an exciting and fun feature for teachers and students.  There is also a big emphasis on user-generated content.
Cons:  On the whole, it seems to be fairly average for a site of this kind - nothing all that new or unique that other platforms are not doing.
Overall rating:  6 out of 10

Reflections
Yesterday remains my strongest day for sites that I can see a viable use for.  I think with many of these sites, I would really need to go in and see for myself what else they have to offer beyond avatars and customisable spaces.

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Currently reading:  same!
Current high:  chatting with my sweet G5 girls on duty this morning
Current low:  the sheer exhaustion that hits on a Friday night after a full week of work