So, I subscribed my kids to the new Disney Toon Town online service. In case you are wondering what that is, here's a blurb:

"Toontown is the massively multiplayer Internet game that lets you live the life of a Toon. Create your own Toon character, furnish your estate, play games with friends, and explore amazing lands. The best part is it's always growing, always changing, and as wild as your imagination!"

OK, so it's an online community for Kids to play Kids-theme games. It's all about Kids.

I must say that it is a very entertaining and adventurous community - plus they totally blow Funbrain, CleverIsland and the likes away.

However, Toon Town has a potentially socially-disruptive and VERY UNFAIR reward system that makes me cringe and rue the day I subscribed to the service. It's called "Top Toon", and it's a ranking system that highlights the "Top" player on the system daily. "Top" is decided by "HOW LONG" you play the games in one day. Wake up in the morning, turn on your computer, stay hunched over your keyboard the whole day until midnight, and you've assured yourself of being on the "Top Toon" list the next day.

So, what happens if you've instituted a "time-limit" computer usage system in your household whereby your kids only get to use the computer for a set period of time daily? Well, best case scenario, your kid doesn't get on "Top Toon" and doesn't care. On the other spectrum of that scenario is the possibility that there is now a lot of tension and aggravation in your household because your kid feels that you are holding him/her back and not letting him/her "have fun" and be rewarded.

I did not sign up for that. So, I fired up an email to Disney Online service today. We shall see..... stay tuned.

>>>

Letter to Disney is reproduced below:

To Whom It May Concern,

I recently subscribed my child to the ToonTown online service. ToonTown is one of the numerous online educational services to which I have subscribed my child over the years.

Unfortunately, there is one aspect of the ToonTown service that I find dangerously unsuitable for the target audience, and I'd be very glad if you could look into this and remedy the situation for the benefit of all your users.

The Daily "Top Toon" ranking system is a reward system that actively promotes and encourages a decidedly inappropriate computer usage by your young and impressionable audience.

Here’s how you promote Top Toon prominently on your website:

"These Toons went above and beyond the Toon call-of-duty! We salute you! Do you want to be a Top Toon? Go play your heart out and check back tomorrow to see if you made the list! "

From the above, it is apparent that the only way any of your young audience can make it to the Top Toon is by indulging in excessive computer usage at the expense of any other obligation. This encourages your audience to be tethered to their computers for an inordinately abnormal period of time; otherwise they risk not being rewarded.

As a concerned parent, I would like to request that you please discontinue this unsafe practice of encouraging your young audience to misuse their computer privileges in such unsafe manners.

A reward system is a good incentive. But making the reward/recognition contingent upon the unsafe practices is irresponsible. Another way to look at the unintended consequences of your reward system is to imagine what happens to your young and responsible members who take time off to do chores at home, do their homework, exercise and generally do other things a child is supposed to do in the course of his/her daily existence? Well, of course you penalize such a child by not ranking him/her on your "Top Toon" list. Given the prominence you gave to the "Top Toon" ranking and the integral role it plays in your online community, the only way for that child to be rewarded (and to "belong") is to resort to the anti-social behavior of shunning his/her social responsibilities and spending all his/her time only on Toon Town.

This is not what I signed up for. I am sure that this is not what a majority of the parents signed up for. I want to believe that this is NOT what you intended to do with "Top Toon". Please remedy this situation, as a socially responsible business entity. Make ToonTown safe, enjoyable and socially responsible for all your users.

Thank you very much for listening,

Deji Akomolafe

Concerned ToonTown Parent

>>>

UPDATE I: I got a response from Disney. OK, it's only a canned auto-responder, but at least I know that my server spoke to their server :)

Here's the text:

Auto-Submitted: auto-replied
Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 20:50:58 -0800
To: Deji < myinbox@readymaids.com >
Subject: General
From: Disney's Toontown Online <Toontown@disneyonline.com>
Reply-To: Disney's Toontown Online <Toontown@disneyonline.com>

http://play.toontown.com/faq.php.