By Marisa Pjerrou
My initial reaction to this site (as well as upon repeat visits),
was that of
visual inundation. The graphics were top-notch and beautifully done,
as was
the 3-D animation. But there were so many buttons from which to choose
arranged all over the screen (some redundant)that it was confusing
to pick out
where to begin. An annoying little movie screen that continuously
played
animated sequences with a visual pulsating strobe rollover feature,
and a
booming male voice announcing "NICK" every 5 seconds was
irritating enough to
make me want to click out of the website entirely; fortunately the
miniscule
(in fact, nearly invisible) "sound off" feature provided
some relief. If I
were a parent of an ADD/ADHD child, however, I would have some concerns
and
watch out for this one: that dynamic little movie screen could be
enough to
trigger some sudden dysfunctional behavior. But then again, if the
graphics
weren't cool and overwhelming, would kids regularly use the site?
The
animation features and games seem hip enough to be able to do that.
Try as nick.com might to salvage some educational merit out of its
content -
i.e., a weather page, links to teacher lessons for Nickelodeon programming,
or
a science-y sounding section called "Web Lab" that had nothing
to do with
science at all - where this website succeeds is in its online games.
Not all
the games are great, and many were just plain advertisements for shows
on the
Nickelodeon channel. But the games are entertaining and admirably
avoid
violence (which Nickelodeon clearly states as being one of its main
goals in
the creation of entertainment for children). I found the 3D graphics
very
well done on games such as "Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius" (Jimmy
has to avoid a
dinosaur chasing him for his remote control by throwing cookies and
rocks at
it) and "Rocket Power" (a snowboarding game). I tried one
multi-player game
called "Water Rave" and was totally creamed by my anonymous,
undoubtedly much
younger opponent who obliterated me with his/her water soaker - final
score:
17 to 100!
Kids who are already fans of the Nickelodeon channel would, I suspect,
really
like this site: they can find out more about their favorite shows,
and do
interactive activities that link the shows to the website. The games
are a
special feature that make the site even more appealing.