Bella Sara: Virtual Horses
New Online Game Combines Collectible Cards; Inspirational Quotes
The field of virtual pet games that can be played from a web browser has become somewhat crowded. Neopets led the trend off, and Webkinz gives the opportunity for players to bring their stuffed animals to life, but another game has entered this competitive virtual pet arena.
Every parent of a little girl knows that the one thing most daughters want is a pony or a horse of their own. Zoning or space considerations often make giving an urban or suburban home difficult, but the Bella Sara web site and the accompanying collectible cards may be the next best thing to actually owning a horse. While the cards and the virtual horses are useless for transportation, the Bella Sara horses only make virtual messes that are much easier to clean up than the kind left by real equine animals.
Bella Sara: Collectible Cards Meet the Web
A person enters the virtual world of these horses by entering the codes found on the cards on the official web site. Entering a code on a Bella Sara card brings a hore into the virtual world of game. Each card has a picture on it. Much of the artwork on the cards is high quality although a few of the pictures are almost cartoonish in nature. Each card comes with an inspirational quote.
Bella Sara's online game is similar to Webkinz and Neopets, but without many of the extra equipment needed to get money to feed the virtual horses. Bella Sara's video game designers have not had enough time to build up all the games that its competitors possess, but the video game designers paid careful attention to the targeted audience. Bella Sara's web sites offer parental controls that allow them to monitor a child's play time, control who they can talk to, and block the child from accessing the account, if necessary.
Bella Sara Cards: A New Twist on an Old Idea
Collecting baseball cards has been a hobby since the early twentieth century. The idea of collectible cards has extended into other sports and even into collectible card games, such as Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh. The Bella Sara cards cannot be used to play a card game. The online game only involves taking care of a virtual horse. Parents who disapprove of card games do not need to worry about anything more than the price and the possibility that their child will want more.
The company that makes Bella Sara has done parents a service by allowing children to own virtual horses and ponies. The Bella Sara Card packs, at a little over $3.00 U.S. per pack are certainly cheaper than buying a real animal.
Resources:
Webkinz Online Virtual Pet Game
