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''Adventure Rock'' (previously known as ''CBBC World'') was a virtual online world for children based on Ketnetkick,''Adventure Rock'' Credits, found within the game interface and created by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
in association with
Ketnet Ketnet is a Flemish public children's television channel in Belgium owned and operated by the Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie, VRT, Flemish public broadcaster. It broadcasts a mix of locally produced and imported productions on the VR ...
, owned and operated by the
Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie ("Flemish Radio and Television broadcasting organisation"), shortened to VRT (), is one of the national public broadcasting, public service broadcasters for the Flemish Community of Belgium. Its c ...
(VRT), Flanders' public broadcaster. The game was originally aimed at the Belgian market, but was redeveloped for a UK audience of children aged between 6–12 years old. The emphasis on the system was on safety and responsibility, with no
chatrooms The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from r ...
or the financial aspects available in other online worlds such as
Linden Lab Linden Research, Inc., doing business as Linden Lab, is an American technology company that is best known as the developer of ''Second Life''. The company's head office is in San Francisco, California, with additional offices in Boston, Massach ...
's ''
Second Life ''Second Life'' is a multiplayer virtual world that allows people to create an Avatar (computing), avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user-created content within a multi-user online environment. Developed for person ...
''. Controller of
CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...
Richard Deverell said: Adventure Rock was shut down in 2009 due to lack of popularity, updates and repairs.


Gameplay

''Adventure Rock'' consists of a large virtual world which players explore using customised avatars. They are accompanied by Cody, a floating robot who guides and helps the player. The game starts with a tutorial in which Cody teaches the player how to control the avatar. Following that, the player is 'dropped' onto Adventure Rock, and is free to explore. There are a number of continuous tasks to do, such as collecting the hundreds of cog-shaped tokens, or pages torn from a book, the purpose of which was still unknown at the time of the game's closure. In doing these, the player gains points. There are also a number of different 'studios', including an art studio, a music studio and an animation studio, in which the player can create their own animations etc. which can then be submitted to
CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...
. There are a number of areas which were closed off, such as a
roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...
. Some of these were released over time but the game was taken down with many areas still locked.


Story

The game was based around a story narrated on the ''Adventure Rock'' website. The story section of the website states that: The website then continues in the style of a blog written by the hosts sent to explore the world, detailing various discoveries made by the hosts. The blog goes on to detail how the hosts are returning to the studio to examine the pages found, and that they need more help, and will hence be sending in CBBC users to investigate further.


Research

''Adventure Rock'' was the subject of a year-long joint research project between
CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...
and the
University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...
, funded by BBC Future Media and Technology, and the
Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts a ...
which began in July 2007, and aims to look at how children engage with virtual worlds. It is the first time the BBC has run a structured commissioning round calling for research in partnership with academia. ''Adventure Rock'' will be studied from both an audience and producer's point of view, with the hope of finding out how children create imaginary places and spaces in the real world, how children wish ''Adventure Rock'' to develop, how producers should adapt the way they engage with children around the ''Adventure Rock'' 'brand' (which includes the service, website, message boards etc.) and what parents think of ''Adventure Rock'' (specifically whether the service changes their perception of ''Adventure Rock'' and/or virtual worlds in general). The project will also study why the BBC chose to make ''Adventure Rock'' a closed world where users' avatars cannot meet or communicate, and what children think of this. Research workshops have already taken place in December 2007 and January 2008, with 75 participants aged 7–11 years, in five mixed socio-economic and ethnic groups located in Scotland, Wales, N Ireland, and England. At this workshop the children were asked to talk about imaginary spaces and places, and suggest what they would like to see in a virtual world. Six weeks later, during which the children were asked to explore ''Adventure Rock'', a second workshop was held in which the children made creative suggestions about what they would add or remove from this virtual place. Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their feelings about their children participating in this virtual world. In addition, a researcher spent time observing the producers and hosts of CBBC, completing a detailed research diary, which was then used to note congruencies and disparities between producers' expectations and children's own responses. The findings have been presented at the Conference on Virtual Worlds for Children, on 23 May 2008.


Reception

''Adventure Rock'' received many complaints from its users. For example, on th
CBBC Games Messageboards
many stated that they had problems downloading, opening or playing the game. Lack of support for these issues led to many players abandoning the game and to its eventual shutdown.


References


External links

{{portal, Video games
''Adventure Rock'' Homepage''Adventure Rock'' FAQs
2008 video games Adventure games Fantasy video games Larian Studios games Windows-only games Windows games Video games developed in Belgium