Imaginary

OK... so I must be hopelessly old-fashioned.

“There’s an ‘e-store’ on the Webkinz site that sells stuff.” said my daughter, the sixteen year old who’s still in touch with her inner six year old. “There’s a Kinz Store where you use Kinz Cash (pretend money), and then there’s the ‘e-store’ which only takes credit cards.”

“So... what can you buy in the ‘e-store?’” I asked, puzzled. “Stuffed animals or something? And then they mail them to you?” I asked.

“No.” she said, “Virtual stuff. Like an exclusive Webkinz pet.”

“A virtual pet for real money?” I laughed, “My dear, that would be like me saying that I have an imaginary friend I want to sell to you!” I laughed harder, “An Exclusive Imaginary Friend, of course. What a scam!”

Next time I hopped on-line I opened up her folder & summoned the Webkinz site. It’s true. They sell virtual accessories for the world of virtual pets. For real money.

So... that got me examining my gut reaction that ‘it’s silly to spend money on something that’s not real.’

Got me to thinking that the money itself used to buy the ‘items’ in question is no more real than the ‘items’ themselves... after all, cash itself is rather old fashioned these days... it’s all virtual cash, if you will. Virtual merchandise for virtual money seems fitting, doesn’t it?

Got me to thinking that other things we buy for entertainment (a trip to the cinema, music downloads) are no more ‘real’ than a virtual pet... and in some cases don’t last as long...

So, yeah... time to reconsider...

But I’m still not letting her use my credit card! I’ll lend her one of my imaginary friends instead. ;P
.