More online diversion for children, courtesy of the UK’s public broadcaster: yesterday at Mipcom in Cannes the BBC unveiled details of its new virtual world for kids called Adventure Rock.

The key feature of the site will be interactivity, according to Marc Goodchild, head of children’s on-demand and interactive programming for the BBC. Kids “don’t want passive viewing experiences any more. They want to recreate their playground experiences at home.” (quoted by AFP)

In contrast to some of the other virtual worlds being peddled at children today, Adventure Rock is putting a heavy emphasis on being not-for-profit and child protection in general: unlike Zwinktopia and Stardoll, for example, it will not sell virtual currencies to let users buy items for their avatars; it will not have advertising; it will not have chat rooms; and it won’t charge for premium content, as Disney’s (NYSE: DIS) Club Penguin does. Adventure Rock is scheduled to launch by the end of 2007.