Millsberry
3.74
RATE IT:
.: Style
Millsberry is a BBMMO that Neopets.com was contracted to build on behalf of General Mills, (the food company). As such, the art is nothing short of top notch, from the maps, to the characters, it all looks highly polished, clean, and uniquely stylized.
While Millsberry won't win any awards for "Originality", the midwest angle they aimed for hits the nail right on the head. Your experience takes place in a small town with the majorly notable 'fantasy' element being a lake monster named Sylvie reminiscent of the "Loch Ness Monster".
The site design and interfaces are all clean and standardized, and nothing stands out that can be remarked upon negatively.
.: Plot
Plot is interesting on Millsberry. They have weekly stories, but they don't necessarily reveal any over-arching plot as much as individual small messages to the users, and the occasional mini-story that ties in with a site activity.
They have recurring characters throughout the site but they are more functional than story/plot equity characters, such as "Coach Danner", the school coach, or lunch ladies and what have you. It creates a pleasing environment, but not so much of a feeling of being part of a story or plot.
Nonetheless, when compared to many many BBMMO's of a similar style, since they manage to keep up weekly updates AND they manage to tie it into the site content upon occasion, it is noteworthy of some points.
.: Safety
In terms of Safety, once would be hard pressed to find anything comparable to the high level of safety and security you find on Millsberry. There simply is nothing like it... Granted this comes at a price (see community), but the fact remains that I feel confident in stating that anybody, be they paranoid or parents of children, can feel safe to enjoy Millsberry with zero risk in any way safe the occasional advertisement leading one offsite.
Millsberry starts with the assumption that everyone is under 13, and applies C.O.P.P.A. "rules of thumb" at pretty much 100% throttle. Communication is basically non existant, they do not collect, let alone display, any personal information, and unless you frequent off site communities, there isn't really any worry over scammers.
.: Gameplay
Games on Millsberry are pretty good. They are your standard flash games, many seemingly repurposed from existing neopets games.
While on the one hand Millsberry seems to be very slow in the releasing of games (they have a handful of games updated infrequently at best), that could be because they seem to have a strong emphasis on "activities"... from music creation activities, to photograph sessions.
Every player has an avatar, a boy or girl who can be tweaked out with clothing, accessories, costumes, hair do's, you name it. There must be millions of possible combinations, allowing everyone a highly customized experience, and (as seen in the screen shots) often resulting in some hilarious results!
Millsberry is a great way for kids to express themselves artistically, due to their heavy focus on art/creativity related activities. Had Millsberry incorporated some sort of multiplayer experience, they would easily have earned the highest possible score.
.: Community
Alas, for all the great qualities of Millsberry, due to their hardline approach to security, there is no commmunity. Pretty much none. All other players on Millsberry are only one step above computer characters, the only differentiating factor being that they have characters/homes/garage sales you can observe or interact with.
There are no forums, there is no chat. There is no messaging system save pre-written messages that are basically meaningless such as "Happy Valentines Day". You can write a description of your character in a pseudo 'mad libs' style, but all this really translates to drop down menu with pre-populated lists of words. There is a certain charm to seeing the end result (as with any mad-libs-esque experience), and for young kids I think this is great. But it just doesn't help grow the non-existant community at all.
I think this is a good example of how extreme approaches in any direction can negatively affect others... while Millsberry is safe beyond comparison, that is at a very obvious cost... the community.
5.00
While Millsberry won't win any awards for "Originality", the midwest angle they aimed for hits the nail right on the head. Your experience takes place in a small town with the majorly notable 'fantasy' element being a lake monster named Sylvie reminiscent of the "Loch Ness Monster".
The site design and interfaces are all clean and standardized, and nothing stands out that can be remarked upon negatively.
.: Plot
4.00
They have recurring characters throughout the site but they are more functional than story/plot equity characters, such as "Coach Danner", the school coach, or lunch ladies and what have you. It creates a pleasing environment, but not so much of a feeling of being part of a story or plot.
Nonetheless, when compared to many many BBMMO's of a similar style, since they manage to keep up weekly updates AND they manage to tie it into the site content upon occasion, it is noteworthy of some points.
.: Safety
5.00
Millsberry starts with the assumption that everyone is under 13, and applies C.O.P.P.A. "rules of thumb" at pretty much 100% throttle. Communication is basically non existant, they do not collect, let alone display, any personal information, and unless you frequent off site communities, there isn't really any worry over scammers.
.: Gameplay
4.00
While on the one hand Millsberry seems to be very slow in the releasing of games (they have a handful of games updated infrequently at best), that could be because they seem to have a strong emphasis on "activities"... from music creation activities, to photograph sessions.
Every player has an avatar, a boy or girl who can be tweaked out with clothing, accessories, costumes, hair do's, you name it. There must be millions of possible combinations, allowing everyone a highly customized experience, and (as seen in the screen shots) often resulting in some hilarious results!
Millsberry is a great way for kids to express themselves artistically, due to their heavy focus on art/creativity related activities. Had Millsberry incorporated some sort of multiplayer experience, they would easily have earned the highest possible score.
.: Community
1.00
There are no forums, there is no chat. There is no messaging system save pre-written messages that are basically meaningless such as "Happy Valentines Day". You can write a description of your character in a pseudo 'mad libs' style, but all this really translates to drop down menu with pre-populated lists of words. There is a certain charm to seeing the end result (as with any mad-libs-esque experience), and for young kids I think this is great. But it just doesn't help grow the non-existant community at all.
I think this is a good example of how extreme approaches in any direction can negatively affect others... while Millsberry is safe beyond comparison, that is at a very obvious cost... the community.
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