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In 2006, CEO Umair Khan hatched a concept for a virtual world that would expose kids to literature, music and fine art by encouraging them to explore their own creativity through drawing, writing, publishing and community participation. The result is SecretBuilders, a browser-based MMO where players have a direct impact on how the world evolves, looks and plays.
Teaching kids about culture is a noble concept, but how does one do it in a way that doesn’t come off as crusty and boring “edutainment?” For SecretBuilders, the key is in an impressive series of creation tools that allows players to literally shape the world around them, from designer their own furniture to publishing stories and poems for others to read, and even sharing ideas with the game’s developers about what content to include in the game.
“It’s a classic Web 2.0 rule that if you just have something for players to consume that’s good, it’s not necessarily something that will keep them there forever, but if you give them a platform to create, and to see others consume what they have created, that’s when people get hooked and become part of a community,” explained Khan.
Quests, games, contests and more
At its core, SecretBuilders seems like a pretty standard MMO. Players start by creating an avatar and customizing its appearance with a variety of outfits, hairstyles and facial features. Each player has a home base in the form of an impressive, multi-level treehouse that they can fill with furniture purchased with “Shills” – the game’s currency. There are different areas to travel to and explore (currently, there are three: Haunted Valley, Treasure Island and Enchanted Woods), a slew of mini-games to play either alone or with friends, and ways to add and keep track of friends via buddylists and in-game chat.
If players wish, they can also embark on a series of quests that center around a main storyline involving the retrieval of the Seven Treasures to prevent them from falling into the hands of the evil Gargoloth, a villain who wants to rid the world of creativity and plunge it into darkness.
The first big departure, however, is that players get to interact with famous figures like playwright William Shakespeare, King Arthur’s legendary advisor Merlin the Magician and “Alice in Wonderland” author Lewis Carroll. Fittingly, it was in the Mellow Drama theatre that I encountered Shakespeare. I could click on his character to read a bio of his life, and even travel to his house and check out his snazzy pair of beanbag chairs.
The Mellow Drama theatre was also the home of Ask President Obama, one of several contests currently running in SecretBuilders that players are encouraged to participate in. Another contest is a coloring competition to decorate Frank & Stein’s art gallery, which is currently just a black and white sketch. Players can color in the sketch however they wish, then submit their entry for judging. The winner’s picture will actually be used to fill in the colors of the art gallery – in other words, one lucky player will be chosen to create the color scheme for that particular room in the virtual world for everyone else to see.
Encouraging your inner artist
This is just one example of players’ ability to shape SecretBuilders. Players can also design their own furniture (which other players can then purchase), or use Story Builder! to hone creative writing skills – the game provides the first sentence, and the player writes the rest of the story. There are a few different templates to choose from, such as The Stinker, which begins “The smell was really strong and gross and we could see…”
Players can also submit jokes, poems, stories and reviews to the virtual world’s online magazine, The Crooked Pencil.
“When kids write something in school, no one outside their teacher and maybe their mom reads it and offers feedback. In this case, there are hundreds of people reading, and dozens of people comment,” said Khan. “Kids become more confident and more positive about writing and drawing and so on.”
The Build It! feature is a forum where players can submit their ideas for new content they’d like to see implemented in SecretBuilders. The community can vote and comment on each idea, and if an idea actually comes to fruition through the game’s developers, players earn a place in the Build It! Hall of Fame.
The best idea we’ve seen so far? “Give us more money when we play because I can’t afford furniture!”
Thrills and shills
Like many MMOs, SecretBuilder is free to play. Later this month, the creators plan to roll out a premium membership that affords players additional luxuries like the ability to add new rooms onto their treehouse, new pets and costumes, and a certain number of “Super Shills” per month to buy other premium items.
Players who don’t want to pay by monthly subscription will still be able to top up their account by buying a certain number of Super Shills for real-world cash.
Items in the shops range from 45 Shills for a throw-pillow to 30,000 Shills for a flat-screen TV. Limited edition items are also marked way up. The adorable limited-edition Doggy Pillow, for example, cost as much as the TV.
Check out SecretBuilders now, and stay tuned for Jan. 10 when the game’s creators are planning the next major roll-out of new items, costumes and premium memberships.
