About Club Penguin:
Club Penguin is an online role-play game that can be played and enjoyed by many players at the same time. It all began as the brainchild of developers Horizon Interactive and was purchased by the Walt Disney Company in 2003. It was rereleased to the public in 2005 and now bears the Disney logo. Its core target audience of users is young people between the ages of six to fourteen. Club Penguin now boasts a huge online community of approximately twelve million users who like to play this virtual reality game.
It began in Canadian British Columbia where Horizon Interactive staff Lance Priebe and Lane Merrifield saw a gap in the market for social networking sites for young people. They wanted to meet this demand and develop something safe that would not leave children vulnerable to the dangers of online social networking. The idea of Club Penguin sprang from this. At first they experimented with Penguin chat before going on to develop the fully-fledged penguin avatars.
The main idea is that the game should be safe for children. When Priebe and Merryfield designed it they modeled it on the kind of site that they would feel comfortable having their own children log on to. It was visualized as a fun virtual reality game for younger children between ages 6 to 15. To address the issue of child safety it blocks any profane user names and does not allow free range to comment. Instead users can select a comment from a drop down menu, which ultimately restricts any inappropriateness and negative dialogue. This gives parents peace of mind too, which is important given the popularity of online chat for kids.
The game operates as a virtual reality world where players become penguins and set up home as a penguin. They can meet with other player penguins and design their own igloo and roam through different environments and places. Players get virtual coins and can buy products from online stores for their penguin such as clothes and household furniture and other accessories. To get the coins players can take part in games and earn them. It is supposed to be a fun, positive and enjoyable experience and a shared learning experience in how to thrive as your virtual penguin.
Players can use a variety of emoticons to express how they are feeling to other players. These range from happy, sad, surprise and anger and are designed to be positive and supportive rather than offensive. They are represented according to the emotion.
Each player has their very own penguin card and this lists the current inventory and new purchases are added to this. Young players can get creative here and design a card using a variety of patterns, backgrounds and colors that they like and these can be bought using the coins. There can also be parties and whenever there is a new one then a special room is announced to members only so that they know where it is taking place.
There are also surprise elements to the game such as ‘pins’ that are hidden and members can find. Pins remain hidden throughout the game and if a member finds a pin then this is exposed as an item that they may find useful such as a snow shovel. Igloos can also be upgraded and can take on themes for parties. Player penguins may even purchase pets known as ‘puffles’ which are small fluffy creatures available in a variety of colors. Puffles are available in different breeds as well.
The game is open to non-members who can play for free, but they do not have access to all the same features as members. Membership comes in different price packages and can range from one month to a year. Players log in to start the game, but additional features can be accessed through paid membership, which translates into currency for the game. This allows players to make extra purchases for their avatar penguin such as buying clothes, pets called ‘puffles’ or furniture. Puffles are a good way of teaching members responsibility since a puffle is given a visual chart outlining health, energy and rest so players can be seen to be treating their puffle well or being neglectful.
Its appeal lies in the fact that players can share the experience with peers and enjoy the creative elements of the game as well as playing the game to gain the coins and make purchases. The game is very successful and is often praised for its secure features and being very child friendly. Children are going to use technology and so this is a secure way of allowing them to access it. It is also a responsible way of allowing them to interact socially.
Club Penguin even has its own newspaper which is a virtual paper arriving every Thursday. Players log on to access it and they can get a whole host of information and advice and comics. It is also useful for players who want to ask questions and they can address their concerns to Aunt Arctic who can help. Being named ‘Penguin of the Month’ is a great achievement for players and a goal to work towards.
In spite of criticism that it encourages and perpetuates the consumer culture and causes kids to take shortcuts to get their penguin ahead, it could be argued that children are part of a society of consumerism and it is actually teaching them to be responsible with their finances. Since they must first win the coins and then decide how to budget them and what to buy they are learning how to deal with their finances. Therefore a response could be that it is actually teaching kids independence in a safe virtual reality environment where it is okay for them to learn from their mistakes.
Club Penguin is a highly successful online virtual reality game and is very popular among young people. It even has games released for Nintendo DS. It has colorful eye-catching graphics and a range of features making it attractive to play.
