Larry Andreini thinks he can take on Pixar. The founder and CEO of Ridemakerz, a
rapidly growing chain of stores where boys can custom-build their own toy cars, is building a
virtual world for his 6-to-12-year-old customers and their cars. This virtual world is in
closed beta right
now, and will launch early next year. So will Pixar’s World of
Cars and startup Webcarzz (here’s
some good
background).
There is a gap on the Web between Webkinz and Club Penguin and the more adult social networks of
MySpace, Facebook and beyond, particularly for boys. Other than Pirates of the
Carribean Online, there is not much out there yet. Andreini wants to parlay the loyalty of
his customers into a virtual world where they can design and play with the exact same cars they
can buy in his stores. Making that connection between the virtual and the real, even if
it’s just a toy, is where he thinks he’ll have a leg up on the competition. The
virtual world he is building is also pretty advanced and goes way beyond being a slick brochure
for his products, although it is that as well. Kids don’t have to buy a car to play in the
virtual world, but the experience is better if they do.
The Ridemakerz virtual world is being designed by the Electric Sheep Company, which has a lot of
experience designing virtual experiences for corporate clients in Second Life. But this virtual
world will be entirely browser-based, built on top of its Webflock
technology platform (which I wrote about in
July). I was given a preview of the virtual world last week.
Before I get into the virtual world, it helps to understand the experience in a Ridemakerz retail
store. Boys come in and pick one of 70 different car body types and paint schemes. These are
scale plastic-mold replicas of real-world cars that Ridemakerz licenses from GM, Ford, BMW, and
other car companies. Then the boy tricks out his ride by picking the wheels, hubcaps, a chassis,
sounds, and other options. He takes all the parts to a pit and then builds his car right there in
the store, and then his mom or dad pays for it. A basic model costs only $27.50, but the options
add up and a single car with radio control can cost $120.
Andreini opened his first store in June, 2007, and now there are a dozen across the country. His
first store in Myrtle Beach, SC hit $1 million in sales 87 days after it launched. This year,
that same store hit $1 million in sales 53 days after June 1. He’s raised $23 million to
date from Norm Pozez, whose father founded Payless Shoes, and Build-A-Bear Workshop.
Build-A-Bear, which operates a retail chain with a similar concept around building teddy bears,
is also a strategic operational partner.
Ridemakerz offers online sales on its Website right now, but they are pretty minimal. Andrieni
estimates the e-commerce business will bring in about $250,000 this year. But he plans to invest
$3 million to $4 million a year in his new virtual world. He predicts:
I think the virtual experience is going to dwarf our real-world experience.
The virtual world is a combination of a social network, video games, and a complex inventory
system. Boys can design their own virtual cars online just like they can in the store. Electric
Sheep took CAD files of all the body designs and measured all the parts with micrometers to
render how each car looks. Then they converted that into Flash using 3D Studio Max and
Papervision3D. There are 649 million different combinations, and each one can be made into a real
car and bought, so Electric Sheep had to figure out a way to make sure that only parts that
really fit together could be created virtually. Depending on what parts a boy picks, it will
affect the performance of his ride.
Alternatively, a child who buys a car at a store can enter the unique Ridez Identification Number
(RIN) number printed on each one at checkout and he will get a virtual replica of that exact
design. So he can play with the same car at home and online.
Inside the virtual world, each child’s avatar is his car. He can drive around and see the
cars of other members who are online. There is no text chatting (for child safety reasons), but
each car has different “Zmotes” that get cooler the more points that are acquired.
The Zmotes start with things like puffs and smiley faces and graduate to explosions and
lightening bolts. The roads in the virtual world lead to different activities, including a
junkyard crane video game and a pitstop crew game that teaches time management.
Sibley Verbeck, CEO of Electric Sheep says:
We are trying to take the best parts of virtual worlds, MMOs, kids worlds , and bring that
out on the Web.
Once Ridemkarz launches this basic version, it can keep adding activities and destinations inside
the virtual world. There are already plans for user-generated content, such as letting boys
design their own race courses and then race their virtual cars on them. In the future, boys also
may be able to create their own outlandish designs that won’t necessarily be buildable.
It is an ambitious effort from an unlikely startup. Can they go up against the Pixars of the
world and win the race to create the first truly successful virtual world for boys? Or will this
be seen as nothing more than a way to hook kids on buying and upgrading their Ridemakerz cars?
![](="http://www.techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/enter_rin_screen.png"/)
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard
because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Recommandations
)
and reject those that you are not interested in
(
)
