Interview: Victoria Pearson, Asylum Entertainment
Asylum Entertainment launched an open beta for online world for children aged 5-11, GardenParty, a couple of months ago, and so we thought it was high time we talked to Asylum Entertainment's Victoria Pearson, about what the world does to differentiate itself in the ever-more-crowded space of child-orientated virtual worlds.
Introduce Asylum Entertainment.
Victoria Pearson: Asylum Entertainment is an award winning video game developer based primarily in the major brand name children's market. Since starting up in 1998, Asylum has completed a range of titles on multiple platforms for publishers and license holders including EA, Riverdeep, Vivendi, BBCW and Cartoon Network.
The founders of Asylum Entertainment, with young kids themselves, felt that they had the inspiration, creativity and the means to design and develop games for children. It was only back in 2007 that they considered moving into the MMO domain. Asylum wanted to create something which was both safe and fun for their kids, themselves, as well as others from all over the world.
The kid-orientated virtual world space is really crowded now though, no?
VP: GardenParty has been in development for nearly two years. Back then, there was a huge gap in the market. Now however, although the children’s virtual world space is becoming fairly crowded, it is Asylum’s belief that what GardenParty has meets the needs of players in a unique and special way. The feedback that we have received from kids and parents since being in beta has been incredibly positive.
Previous development projects of Asylum have almost entirely centered on the children’s market, and this experience with games for kids is, we feel, very evident in GardenParty.
So what is it that sets GardenParty apart?
VP: GardenParty is not only incredibly visually appealing to both children and their parents, it is also extremely compelling. Children absolutely love to buy and grow seeds in their garden, and the element of surprise that this brings along with it. The desire and excitement that growing your own seeds creates, encourages them to take part and enjoy all the various activities that the world has to offer, which in return gives them Orbs (GardenParty currency).
Beyond the play aspects of GardenParty, another feature which we feel sets the game apart from others is the role that our moderator team plays. They are not only highly active within the world—creating strong and friendly relationships with our players—we have also created a variety of in-game activities, initiated by the moderators, with our imagination as the only limitation. There are fancy-dress competitions, hide n' seek, along with a whole variety of other activities including quizzes and races. They are incredibly popular, and we have even spotted children initiating their own games amongst themselves.
Children have also found the ability to give and receive gifts from their friends a great way to increase their enjoyment in GardenParty. This has aided us in creating a great friendly and incredibly positive community for our users.
Why go with the gardening theme?
One of the fun factors here is that, when planting and tending their seeds, there is always that element of surprise involved: what will the plant produce when it’s fully grown? Buying a wig seed for instance could produce one of many different wigs, it is then down to the children to either continue growing wig seeds till they get their desired wig, or they can even trade or sell it in the Buzz Market to the other users.
The varieties of seeds which can be grown are already extensive and will continually be added to. The fun is potentially never ending: decorate your tree-house; accessorize your avatar; give or sell to your friends; or more allow players to take control of their gardens and the fun that they have with them.
Is there the potential for user-generated content?
VP: Most definitely –that’s what’s planned after user-customizable content like avatars and painting.
What is the educational worth of GardenParty?
VP: Although it has been argued that video games have a negative effect on children, it has to be said that we have found GardenParty, and the collaborative fun that the game allows, to be incredibly positive for school kids. Even children who are not as technologically minded as their friends, or even those who find it hard to sit in one place for a long time, have absolutely loved engaging with GardenParty and interacting with their school friends in there.
Their imagination has had the opportunity to be nurtured by playing GardenParty: they become inspired and imagine incredibly inventive ways to expand what the game already has to offer. They have also managed to develop strategic thinking and planning skills, by creating in-game goals for themselves. Contrary to popular belief (that video games promote solitary behavior) we found that the children very much preferred and benefited from working in pairs and interacting with other users within GardenParty. Team work proved very important for the children and the school and is essentially a large part of the mini-game aspect of GardenParty.
How has the response been otherwise?
VP: We have a general weekly upward curve growth rate of approximately 30%. The most popular age groups are 8 plus. We already know of 20 fansites and blogs that have been set up which have been absolutely great to read. The majority of interest in GardenParty originates from the USA, UK, Canada and Australia.
How are you balancing the abilities on offer between free-to-play and subscription users?
VP: We want to make GardenParty fun for everyone, not just the subscribers. Free-to-play members will have access to almost all of the areas and games, have their own gardens and homes and change the color of their clothes and hair.
Of course, we have to keep some features just for the subscribers. Members are rewarded with a second level of depth in the game, and are able to grow a huge variety of costumes, furniture, pets and more in their garden, allowing for more customizability. Some of the suits they can grow also give them access to special areas.
