Virtual worlds have become the new playground for millions of tweens but we know little what it takes to become a player in a virtual community. This paper focuses on one virtual world, called Whyville.net, which at the time of our study hosted over 1.2 million players ages 8 to16 years, with the average player 12.3 years old. Girls represent over 68% of all players. A guided tour to the various places in Whyville, the different types of science games, and the range of players’ activities provides insights into what players talk about, with whom they socialize, what they like to play, and how they engage in investigations. In 2005, a group of researchers set out to study Whyville by recruiting hundreds of participants online and offline in classrooms and after school clubs and by conducting observations, surveys, and interviews about their online activities. In addition, we collected log files that captured their online movements and chat interaction during a six month period. We discuss ethical issues of conducting research as adults in tween virtual communities and limitations of capturing the complexities of interactions simultaneously in online and offline spaces. The paper concludes with an overview of following papers in the special issue that cover players’ avatar designs, representation of race, cheating practices, learning how to throw virtual mudballs, and participation in virtual epidemic.
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