Whyville: the Virtual World for Learning and the WhyTops T-Shirts
Whyville is a virtual world for children, run by Numedeon, Inc., where players learn through simulations and games and design their own avatars. In April 2012 Numedeon and the clothing maker Topsville announced WhyTops, a T-shirt line based on avatars that players had created.
Updated
What Whyville is
Whyville is an online world for children that blends play with simulation-based learning. Its parent company, Numedeon, Inc., was founded by scientists from the California Institute of Technology who combined research on learning with simulation and virtual-world technology. Players, called citizens, build an avatar, chat, play games, earn in-world currency called clams and join scheduled events.
Avatar design is the feature behind the clothing story. Dr. James Bower, a founder and the CEO of Numedeon, said in April 2012 that the world had introduced user-generated content thirteen years earlier by giving young players tools to draw face parts, and that children had made millions of them. In the same announcement the company reported more than 7.5 million registered accounts.
The announcement also listed a Gold Award from the National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) among Whyville's honors.
The WhyTops T-shirt line
WhyTops came from a partnership between Numedeon and Topsville, a New York children's apparel maker that is a division of Jaclyn Inc. The first products were T-shirts printed with Whyville-style avatars inspired by designs from players. Each shirt carried a QR code. Scanning it let a child wear the same avatar back inside Whyville.
The line was sold on Whyville.net and in select Peebles department stores. Mark Nitzberg, the chief executive of Topsville, said his company spends a good part of each year guessing what children want to wear and that Whyville players simply create it. Jennifer Sun, Numedeon's president, called the shirts a tribute to the players' imagination.
Both companies set the project against virtual worlds built around selling virtual goods of little use offline, and presented WhyTops as a way to carry player creativity into real products.
What is true today
In November 2026, whyville.net showed a welcome page offering login, free registration and a limited-chat trial. The footer carries a copyright line running from 1999 to 2026 for Numedeon, Inc., and the page lists scheduled events such as Wilson City Rescue and Letter Squash in the Greek Theater.
The homepage does not mention WhyTops or T-shirts. Whether the clothing line is still sold was not confirmed from any page opened for this article.
Questions about Whyville and WhyTops
Is Whyville still online?
Yes. In November 2026, whyville.net loaded a welcome page with login and free registration, and a copyright line that runs to 2026.
What were the WhyTops shirts?
They were T-shirts printed with avatars inspired by player designs, each with a QR code that unlocked the same avatar in Whyville. Numedeon and Topsville announced them in April 2012.
Who runs Whyville?
Numedeon, Inc. runs it. The company describes itself as founded by scientists from the California Institute of Technology.