Club Penguin

Club Penguin
Information
Full Name	Club Penguin
Founded	October 24, 2005
Type	Online game
Famed For	A lot

Club Penguin is a fun virtual world where tons of players from around the globe can play for free, or buy a Membership to gain more options to play. It was launched on October 24, 2005, by RocketSnail.INC. Club Penguin soon became the location where Snowball Fights between Armies occur.

History

Before Club Penguin, there was a game created by Rocketsnail.INC called Penguin Chat. Penguin Chat was the game that Club Penguin was based on. Penguin Chat started with Experimental Penguins, which turned into Penguin Chat 2, and then Penguin Chat 3. Penguin Chat was RocketSnail's most popular game at the time, and would be the game most alike with Club Penguin. In 2005 Club Penguin finished beta testing, and launched. Penguin Chat 3 was soon closed, and the players were told to register for Club Penguin. Ever since beta testing Club Penguin has grown to one of the most popular online games, and has over 35 million users worldwide.

In 2007, the Walt Disney bought Club Penguin. Rsnail (Lance Priebe) really liked this, but most users of the game hated Disney buying Club Penguin. Today players still hate the fact that Disney owns Club Penguin, because Disney is advertising CP for younger kids (5-8). However, armies still thrive, and players continue to play the game.

Gameplay

Users

After registering an account, users can create their own penguin avatar and igloo, initially only choosing their color. Each penguin also owns an igloo (igloos are not located in Club Penguin proper, and can only be entered through a buddy list or the house button on a player card; if on map), and users that have paid for a membership can further decorate this igloo. Pets known as puffles can also be purchased, and they can be kept in the owner's igloo or taken for walks.

The gameplay input of Club Penguin uses the mouse and the keyboard, players click where they want to waddle to within a room. Although the whole can room can hear what one penguin says, players often waddle near their friends or to people they want to talk to.

Chatting

All penguins have the privilege to chat to one another, however filters have been introduced by New Horizon Interactive to prevent messages being sent that include certain blocked words. Messages appear in speech bubbles and a history of messages within a room can be seen by clicking on a drop-down at the top of the screen. Whenever someone swears or uses a swearing acronym, the message does not show up (asterik or direct censoring is absent in Club Penguin, in order for it to not suggest spoken swear words within the game) and pop-up message indicates that you have been banned for a certain amount of time. Safe Chat uses a variety of preset messages so players can communicate safely. Safe Chat is also available for players with Normal Chat. Numbers do not show up when chatting. This move ensured that players could not reveal their age or phone number to other players. When Club Penguin originally launched, there were no filters. The moderators would stay on most of the time to monitor. When they were offline, people could say inappropriate things freely. However, when the moderators logged back on, they would look at the chat history during the time they were offline. If they saw that a user said something inappropriate, they would ban them. In early 2006, the chat filters were introduced, making it easier on moderators. The moderators still look at the history to make sure there are no filter errors.

Emotes can be used to show expression. There are several emotes to easily choose from, and some are hidden. To say a hidden emote players have to hit certain keys on their keyboard.

Economy

The Economy of Club Penguin revolves around mini games and the coin system. Money can be earned via playing mini-games, which can be both single-player, and multiplayer. Items such as: clothing, furniture or pets, can be bought to accommodate the lifestyle of a character in Club Penguin.

Reception

Although it has attracted some criticism, Club Penguin is for the most part well received. The Better Business Bureau gave it the “Kids' privacy seal of approval”. It has been praised for teaching children to "practice safe money-management skills". Club Penguin's userbase is rapidly growing showing that it continues to be successful.

However, concerns about the safety of Club Penguin have been raised. Caitlin Flanagan from The Atlantic Monthly said Club Penguin was “certainly the safest way for unsupervised children to talk to potentially malevolent strangers — but why would you want them to do that in the first place?". Lynsey Kiely from the Sunday Independent said: “we cannot guarantee that every person who visits the site is a child.". Club Penguin has also been called "childish" on numerous occasions.

Club Penguin has also been criticized for the “member’s only part of the game”. Non-members cannot acquire certain clothing items, furniture for their igloos, new igloos or many types of puffles. Most non-member items are found in parties and given out as free items, but most of them are head items.

Gallery

The logo during the 2012 Puffle Party.

The Snowforts, a room in between the Town and Plaza. This is where most Snowball Fights occur.

A penguin avatar waving. This penguin is a Member.

A Puffle, little creatures that can be bought as pets.

Trivia

• You can see their website at: http://www.clubpenguin.com/.

Trivia

• List of Armies