Since today Dutch speaking children can chat again with Saint Nicholas - known locally as Sinterklaas - by adding his address to their Live Messenger. A chatbot that has been programmed to act like the real Saint, responds to children with witty remarks and a sense of humor. Kids can play games with him, listen and sing-a-long to his songs, and even find recipes to make candy which is associated with the popular holiday, celebrated each year on the 5th of December. Boys and girls can even report naughty friends to the Saint! Since his “resurrection” in 2006, over 200,000 people had a chat with Sinterklaas. Additionally, as Santa Claus will make an appearance again on Live Messenger in December. This chatterbot is speaking English and has a similar range of useful Christmas related functionalities. “Each year the Sinterklaas and Santa chatbots are a huge success, ” says Sjoerd van Dijk of Ecreation, developer of these chatbots. “It enables children to have a fun time chatting and interacting with their favorite holiday characters, each year they are having a fun time using all the possible activities and functionalities.”
It’s that time of the year again: children writing up their wishlists for the upcoming holidays. Ecreation once again enables kids to chat with their favorite holiday characters: Saint Nicholas who is a local custom on the 5th of December in the Netherlands and Belgium, and Santa Claus who visits most children worldwide during Christmas.
