A California-based company called Handipoints has launched an eponymous online community and "parenting tool," claiming over 140,000 users. It lets parents track and organize various tasks like chore charts and kids' weekly allowances -- and has an online avatar-based game component for kids to play that corresponds to the tasks parents set for them.

Kids can adopt and care for a cartoon cat in a virtual world, called HandiLand, and they can earn points to use in the game as they complete the real-world chores their parents can set. They can also save up their points to redeem with their parents for real-world rewards the parents have chosen.

The company says it'll continue evolving HandiLand, adding new content weekly, always with the goal of "making chores fun" and encouraging parent involvement. Currently it's free to play, but Handipoints says that eventually it will migrate to a tiered subscription model.

Handipoints CEO Viva Chu commented, "Club Penguin and Webkinz are great games and very fun to play, but these games provide no value to the parents and teach kids the wrong lessons about consumerism. Kids end up spending hours in these worlds playing mindless games in order to earn enough coins to buy clothing. Handipoints is completely different. In our game kids earn points by staying healthy and active in the real world."
. There will always be a free version of the Web site available but families will need to subscribe in order to buy certain clothing and play premium games on the site.