How an Online Game Plans to Reward Kids for Playing Outside

Charged with teaching a dozen 7-year-old little league players the finer points of baseball, David Jacobs and Steven Lerner decided to start with a simple warm-up. They explained that they would yell out the name of a base, and the kids would run to it. When they started with second base, however, children scattered to four different bases.Several little league practices and bus-stop discussions later, Jacobs and Lerner decided to fill the need they had discovered for a compelling way to teach kids about sports.What they came up with, FunGoPlay, combines an online sports game world with physical sporting equipment that registers physical play and rewards it with special access codes. The online sports theme park will launch this Spring.The model hits a sweet spot on several levels. Almost 20% of children in the United States are obese, and video games an increasingly favored activity have long been blamed for increasing this percentage. Paradoxically, at the same time, childhood participation in sports is at an all-time high.If FunGoPlay catches on, it will be both a video game that effectively encourages outdoor, active play and a way to teach sports basics that is compelling to young children both factors that are likely to entice parents to open their wallets.A World of Sports That Speaks to KidsWhen Jacobs and Lerner first had the idea, they took a trip to the sports section of Barnes and Noble to check out their competition for teaching kids between 6 and 11 years old about sports. They didnt really find any.Its a huge business to teach coaches how to coach, but there was nothing that really spoke to kids, Lerner says.In order to create that appeal, the team went to work on a sports theme park. The park has multiple games involving soccer, basketball, baseball, and extreme sports that are populated by a cast of 15 characters.One of the co-founders, Fabian Nicieza, has a rich background in comic books that includes writing every major character in the Marvel Universe. Presumably, his storytelling capability will help build a narrative that runs through the games. The games will also be tied together by a unified reward system, and a customizable locker or club house.A Ball With a BrainVirtual worlds for children have long been identified as a ripe business opportunity. Disneys Club Penguin (a $700 million purchase), Mattels BarbieGirls.com, and SecretBuilders are among the most successful. What distinguishes FunGoPlays game from these sites is its physical component.When parents buy a subscription to the online sports theme park, theyll be able to pick out the physical sporting equipment to accompany it. When kids play with it, a screen on the ball or Frisbee will give them access codes that they can use to unlock special features in the game.But what counts as play depends on the sports equipment. FunGoPlay has researched the way that kids use different sports equipment and will measure activity according to their findings.Frisbee turns into lets all go and catch the Frisbee once it drops on the ground because nobody can catch the Frisbee, Chief Technology Officer Chris Romero says. What weve done is build a map of that into to code that basically says, OK if this Frisbee is activated over such and such a time period, kids are playing with it.But Will It Win With Kids?Co-Founders Fabian Nicieza, Steve Lerner and David JacobsIf you were to put together a dream team for digital childrens entertainment, it would look a lot like FunGoPlay. Huge players like Nickelodeon, Disney, Sesame Workshop, and Marvel are all well represented in team members resumes. But will the dream team make a dream product?The company isnt the first to run with the idea of merging online and offline play. Anyone who knows a child under the age of 12 has likely heard of Webkinz stuffed animals with avatar components that live on the companys website. Ganz Corporation, which manufactures the stuffed animals, is privately held and doesnt release sales data. But the site had about six million unique visitors per month at its peak in 2007. Post-craze, however, compete.com now puts Webkinz.com traffic at about 3 million unique visitors every month still an impressive amount, but a line that goes in the wrong direction.In order to become an integral component of childrens sports education, FunGoPlay will need to prove that its smart soccer balls and frisbees are more than just gimmicks. The plan is to market the physical components as sporting equipment rather than toys, and this plan is reflected in the companys choice of manufacturer and distributor, EB Brands, which has a reputation for the former.But no matter how FunGoPlay is marketed, kids needless to say an unpredictable group (remember Tickle Me Elmo?) will eventually decide how seriously to take both FunGoPlays physical equipment and online world.More Startup Resources from Mashable: - 5 Masterminds Redefining Social Media Marketing - 24 Professional Events & Organizations for Social Media Strategists - The Future of the Social Media Strategist - 7 Tips for Succeeding as a Social Media Strategist - HOW TO: Define the Role of Your Social Media TeamMore About: Childhood obesity, FunGoPlay, Kids, Kids Games, Online Game World, sportsFor more Startups coverage:Follow Mashable Startups on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Startups channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad Read More ...