And what do you think is sort of the next thing in virtual worlds? And to sort of add on to that - this is sort of a personal thing of mine - do you see any alternatives to the earn-points-buy-stuff model of -
Oh yeah. I think there is… so I can't really share exactly where I think virtual worlds are going because I want to be part of helping get them there. And as we all know there's a lot of competition out there -
Philosophically, maybe?
Well, I mean I talked a little bit about it philosophically, internally. Again, I mean, when we looked for a parent [company] we wanted to find someone who had expertise in all of these other areas. A lot of people don't realize this because of how much has come along after Disney. But like I said every one of those things was deliberate and we joined Disney because we wanted to accomplish some of those different things. And I think that's one where this one element of... historically you would watch the story or experience the story and then you would replay it in the game and then you replay it on DVD and then you replay it - I think a lot of where we're going is again this kind of connected story line that kind of flows through all these different experiences.
So it's not going to be an identical experience on every platform but it is going to be a continuous story that happens. We may experience one part of it on this device and then another part on this device but it's all going to be one consistent story line. So in terms of kind of getting beyond all of the [earning] points and the redemption and all of that, I think absolutely. And I think that's a play pattern that kids like right now because it's very empowering; it gives them a lot of choice. I like it as a parent because at least even in the currency thing, kids need to save up their coins to buy some of the larger items.
They need to - if they small-spend all day then they're not going to be able to afford the new whatever else. And there's a lot of parenting metaphors that go into that as well. If you save your money, you can buy a bigger toy, if you spend it in small amounts now you're not going to be able to afford a bigger toy. So there are a lot of those types of things. But in terms of when we start getting into the future of learning and the future of, I mean again, it's like the iceberg is this big and there's so much potential in there.
So my audience at About.com is primarily parents. But whenever I put the name of a virtual world in an article the kids show up. So is there anything that you just want to share - if you could put out there one thing to a kid or parent who's reading your words of wisdom. Maybe that's a little bit of pressure!
Yeah, I was going to say a word of wisdom. If you're looking for wisdom I would say… I always talk to kids (even my own kids) about not limiting who they are or what they want to be based on just what they've experienced. Even if you look at the business world, the majority of the economy today takes place in businesses that didn't even exist 20 years ago. So when you look at that, for me as a kid I grew up not being that great in school, not having that great of an experience and feeling like I was somehow going to be missing out on life… where you're kind of left to the side because I wasn't able to jump in to the mainstream of the education system.
It wasn't until I got older that I realized, well I wasn't deficient; I just saw the world a different way. And I think that's something that I want my kids to learn. I think from the context of myself and Disney and our experience and all of this, I always tell kids that they have a voice. Like they have a bigger voice than what they realize and that we are listening. And it's so funny to me to see the amount of emails and things that come in sometimes from kids who go, "Yeah, you actually listened to our idea, you actually did this, you actually responded. You actually read my email and you responded."
That's empowering.
Yeah, and it's something that it's a shame that more companies aren't doing it. And I think -
And schools and -
Yeah. I think it's something again from our perspective; I want both parents and kids to know that we are listening and we're in the business of responding, not trying to dictate or demand where the experience is coming from.
I want to thank you for the work that you're doing.
Thanks, it's a lot of fun. That's for sure.