Wired has an interesting story on Neopets, the online fantasy world that kids can’t get enough of. My daughter was seriously into this community for a long time, though she’s since graduated to more mature things. What always impressed me about Neopets is that it’s a pure grass-roots phenomenon. Without benefit of a TV show, comic book or any “traditional” media support, Neopets has grown to 2.2 billion page views a month and more than 20 million users. Neopets-branded merchandise sells in Target stores. This is a complete Web phenomenon, Web 2.0 before there was a term for Web 2.0.

What’s particularly amazing is that the average user spends 6.5 hours per month on Neopets. It is the ultimate sticky site.

The Wired piece does find controversy in a concept the Neopets makers call “immersive advertising.” Activity areas on the site are increasingly designed by sponsors who pepper the scenery with product placements. There’s debate over whether kids who are already coping with obesity should earn points by watching cereal commercials but I suspect this is no different than the infomercials kids watch on TV these days.