BBC plans children's MMO

The BBC is planning to launch a virtual world suitable for children between 7 and 12 years old to muck about it.

Called "CBBC World", it will allow "digitally literate children" to create an online avatar and then create and share content, a bit like Second Life.

"It will give children a chance to move around a safe, secure world where they can not only interact with familiar characters but have an opportunity to make that world a more fascinating place with their own imaginations," a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, BBC children's controller Richard Deverell said that CBBC World was "a good example of the way we need to go".

"The thing that interests me is that children are at the vanguard. And that is where we are taking Children's BBC," he said.

Details of how the world will work and what it's likely to cost were not immediately available. Much as with the life children face in general.