Mundo Gaturro (2010)

Mundo Gaturro is a virtual world for children specially designed so that they can play and interact with each other, in a safe environment controlled by moderators. In it, children can disguise their gaturros in an original way, tour the city and contact other children through chats or sending messages in safe mode. They can also have fun with individual and group games, earn coins and decorate their virtual houses

Storyline

Mundo Gaturro is the result of the combination of two powerful desires: on the one hand there was Nik's fantasy of taking his popular character to the Web and on the other, from Compañía de Medios Digitales (CMD, a Grupo Clarín company) they had imagined the creation of a virtual world among the smallest fans of Gaturro where they could interact. The two parts came together and Mundo Gaturro almost naturally emerged: the project was in beta from 2009 until its official launch in March 2010 when the people at QB9 finished developing the game's engine and skeleton. The game and its central component: moderation Basically Mundo Gaturro is a virtual world for users between 4 and 12 years old who enter with a free registration under the tutelage of their parents, who are the account administrators. The user can choose an avatar (Gaturro or his girlfriend Agatha) with the name they want and from that moment they are immersed in a fantastic virtual world where they visit different spaces that propose varied activities such as mini flash games, trivia, quizzes, etc. . In this type of action, the user will get coins that can then be exchanged for existing products in catalogs to dress their avatar or decorate their home, the most important and valued setting in the game and where users spend most of their adventures. But in addition to advancing on the challenges proposed by Mundo Gaturro game designers, children can interact with other users. Corsini says: “Children can enjoy Mundo Gaturro only by playing or collecting coins and exchanging them with other users or for things. In this sense, avatars organize parties in their homes: for example, they exchange coins for living accessories and turn their room into an airplane or a cinema or a pirate ship. It is not something that comes pre-assembled: we give them the chips, like a rasti, and they go on doing what they want ”. The issue of moderation is essential for parents and that is why Mundo Gaturro pays the main attention to the issue. The first great moderator is the user himself immersed in a virtual world where he must recognize others to gain their trust. “First of all, the boys have to be good and supportive within the network because the promoted parties are attended only if those host users are recognized by the guests. This makes the community self-control: what they like the most is inviting other kids to their homes and for the house to be modified for special events ”, Corsini explains. But there are also the traditional methods of parental control. “The parents, who control the account, determine if the navigation is done by high security moderation, where the Gaturros cannot see what other children say and only respond to preset phrases, or medium moderation, where they receive and send messages in the rooms chat ”. To guarantee the safety of its users, Mundo Gaturro works with a double moderation system: an automatic platform that semantically corrects what the boys say to avoid bad words and misuse of language and a 7 × 24 manual control with online moderators . Los Gaturros, as the players are called, cannot exchange personal data of any kind, neither real names, nor telephone numbers. "Our main focus on security matters is moderation, no problem has been leaked since Mundo Gaturro exists and we hope to continue like this," says the person in charge of the project, which currently has more than 2 million registered users in Latin America. How did the product have such a strong impact on neighboring countries? “The key is Gaturro”, Corsini assures and adds: “Particularly the character in Argentina has enormous strength for the boys and that we were able to replicate in other countries such as Spain, Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia. The game itself is fun and has a graphics intended for the audience we are looking for. We differentiated products from other virtual worlds and we noticed that our aesthetic line is very clear. That's why we cover a wide audience: for each one we have a specific game ”. Users who want to have a Premium service can buy a Passport in Mundo Gaturro that allows limited access for time (it can be three days, a week, a month or whatever the user wants to pay) to all the features of the catalog that are not appear in the free version. The high demand of the little ones For Guido Corsini, the main challenge behind Mundo Gaturro is to satisfy the incessant demand of its little users who are always looking for new things and updates. “Week by week users wait for news at Mundo Gaturro and if they don't find them they get angry and complain to us. The site works almost as a dictatorial mandate of their wishes, they are very demanding players. We are working in new chiches