Power-couple Craig & Liz Kronenberger in June 2007 launched Elf Island from Good Egg Studio’s cool turn-of-century King Plow brick loft offices in Midtown Atlanta. Elf was bootstrapped to get to prototype, raised a first round of seed funding from Atlanta Technology Angels (ATA) and others to get to Beta, and is in the midst of a second round with ATA, New York sources, and others on its way to official launch. They expect to be profitable in 4-5 months after closing this round. Elf Island is the only virtual world in the the 8-to-12 year old Tween market space empowering children directly to contribute to specific charitable causes. Elf Island pairs entertainment with doing good, combines storytelling and social interaction with social responsibility and redeeming value. “Gaming for Good” was trademarked by Good Egg.
Some other virtual worlds targeting Tweens donate a percentage of revenue to assorted charitable causes, but the Kronenbergers, parents of twin 4 year-old boys, are convinced children are not highly-motivated by donating “percentages of revenue” to anything. Elf Island showcases real people on its site — people needing housing from Habitat, polar bear protectors, and park wardens on a shark preservation mission on Galapagos, and this builds social responsibility in children. Elf Island respects and empowers children to help others while they play in the EIf virtual world.
Elf Island has 12 moderatorswho make sure the site stays clean, has 12 fan sites, and 25 test schools. Its revenue model is 1) micro-transactions 2) retail 3) advertising (off-site) and 4) subscriptions at $5.95 per month with 6-month and family plan discounts. The Kronenbergers said Elf Island members actually span a wider demographic of 6-15 year-olds with even a few parents and grandparents playing.
I signed up today and played as GoodDog and spent 15 minutes customizing my avatar’s skin color, hair color, eye color, clothing and shoes. I bought a big screen TV for my pad and a modern sofa. Let’s hope I provided some “stimulus” for the Elf Island economy, but I probably need to spend more on customizations and upgrades to get there.
No strangers to digital media targeted at children, the savvy Kronenbergers previously owned Spunky Productions and created Claus.com which garnered 10 million visitors in one month in 2001. Elf Island presented at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and will be at the upcoming Toy Fair in New York City. Although competing with approximately 400 other virtual worlds, the Kronenbergers wield their strong backgrounds in marketing and a genuine entrepreneurial passion for Elf Island and its underlying mission of Gaming for Good. We expect to be reporting more great progress from their Island.
