Will Dolls Follow Paper The Trend And Join Paper Dolls Online?
Paper dolls have gone online in a big way, with sites like www.stardoll.com where you can play with celebrity paper dolls or a paper doll that looks like you! So, the question is, will dolls, overall, follow the trend towards having an interactive web component? And, if they do, are we, as doll consumers, ready for "Dolls 2.0?"
The Positive and the Negative
There are things that are wonderful about plush and dolls that come to life online. If you or a child has dressed, fed, housed, and otherwise enjoyed an online Webkinz, you know what I am talking about. Webkinz has both its traditional components (an actual plush toy and online play that mirrors both paper dolls play and dollhouses) and its technological ones (a "safe MySpace" flavor for the younger set and the online Internet address and interface). On the positive side, it has created a huge interest in plush toys that hasn't been seen since the days of Beanie Babies. On the negative side, do we (and our children) really need anything else to suck us into spending additional time online, however creative, fun and engrossing that online time may be?
Collectible Dolls With Online Components May Not Be Far Behind
Pro or con, I think that Ty Girls will not be the first Doll 2.0 that we will see. I wouldn't be surprised if there are design artists at both Mattel and MGM furiously creating plans for dolls with interactive online components as we speak. I'm not sure who will introduce the first online component for a collectible doll, but I'm sure it's coming. Whether or not it will be embraced or successful will depend on how the integration is done, and how good the web site is.Dolls With Interactive Web Sites Will Sink or Swim Based On The Quality of the Web Site
Webkinz succeeds because www.webkinz.com is a great web site. The plush is nice, too, but its the web site that sells the plush and keeps customers coming back for more pets to "adopt." Webkinz is an intricate site which is engaging on multiple levels--care of your pet, virtual consumerism and virtual economy as you earn KinzCash to dress, feed and house your pet (and decorate its house!) as well as games, interaction with the pets of real-life friends and more. For any doll 2.0 to succeed, its web site will have to be just as engaging. I hate to break it to the creators/designers of Ty Girlz, but if they don't get their web site right, the dolls won't sell. And, the future success of later Doll 2.0 projects may well lay on their pioneering shoulders.
Are you ready for Dolls 2.0? E-mail me at collectdolls.guide@about.com and let me know!
