Millsberry is an online virtual world game created by General Mills, the food giant. However, the virtual world is 2D and not 3D. Millsberry can be played online and is completely free. Once a player registers and creates an account, they have a variety of options to choose from: the outer appearance of the avatar, clothing, etc. These things can be purchased using Millsbucks, the game’s form of currency. Initially, each player receives a certain sum of money, but later, players have to earn this money by playing different mini-games.
The performance of each player in the game is judged by the following 5 factors: health, fitness, intelligence, civics and hunger. In fact, Millsberry is a very educational game: children learn to open a bank account, or send mail to the post office and many other things, which are useful in life.
However, what excites the kids are the options available for avatar customization and all the goodies they can buy once they have enough millsbucks. They can buy their own house, decorate it, make friends and visit their homes. Having said that, the virtual world lacks the X factor as it is two dimensional. You never have a holistic idea of what the place is like. The navigation is a bit rough and there are other technical issues as well. Because of this, children sometimes get discouraged – they create their perfect house but somehow. It just doesn’t look that good in-game. This problem is compounded by the fact that there is no preview option.
The Millsberry minigames intended for the Millsbucks collection are interesting. Games like Archery and Solver keep kids hooked on Millsberry. They place great emphasis on creative pursuits such as music and photography. Thus, they promote these interests in children and children can develop their skills here.
But then again, they come with their own set of problems. The instructions for these games are not very clear and children are confused about the rules. Also, the games tend to get repetitive and boring after a while.
The game’s plot has weekly stories that are also related to the mini-games. These are updated regularly, but still, there is no central story that runs through Millsberry. However, the weekly aspect manages to keep the children curious.
One area that is impeccable at Millsberry is the security aspect. Parents have absolutely no reason to worry about their children playing Millsberry. No offensive language, no obscenity at all. But this is a direct implication of the fact that there is no communication in the game. Millsberry lacks any interactive qualities and only has educational books. This makes the game a bit monotonous. After all, children love to interact and make friends.
Millsberry also falls short when it comes to the community aspect. There is no sense of social bond. One would expect it to have a strong community, being an online game. But there are no chat forums or any platform that facilitates conversations between other players. There are only a few selected default phrases that cannot support normal conversation.
General Mills has also used the virtual world of Millsberry to advertise its own products. All purchasable food items in the game bear their logos. These products are ridiculously overpriced and this reportedly annoys parents. They believe that because everything is so expensive, children tend to become obsessed with collecting money. They are driven solely by consumerist trends. However, this is one of the minor problems.
Therefore, Millsberry is cute and fun for children. But it has its share of technical and thematic issues that need to be examined.
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