Club Penguin

From LIS 460 Summer 2007

Contents

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What is Club Penguin?

“Waddle around and meet new friends!” is Club Penguin’s slogan. As defined on Club Penguin’s home page, “Club Penguin is a kid-friendly virtual world where children can play games, have fun and interact with each other.”


Club Penguin is a MMORPG (massive multi-player online role playing game) developed by New Horizon Interactive aimed at kids age 8 to 14 (although kids below as well as above this age range can become players). Players use penguin avatars to move around and interact within a virtual world covered in snow.


According to Wikipedia’s “Club Penguin” page, the program runs on Adobe Flash (Flash Player 6) and is cross-platform. Club Penguin uses a web interface and is controlled using the keyboard and/or mouse.


The Club Penguin’s “About Us” page states that Club Penguin was launched in October 2005. Walt Disney just acquired Club Penguin at the beginning of August 2007 1.


The Club Penguin home page displays logos for both The Better Business Bureau – Kid’s Privacy Seal of Approval and “Editors Choice” award from Children’s Technology Review Magazine. The “Parents of Penguins page also displays the logo for NetSmartz, an interactive, educational safety resource from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Boys & Girls Clubs of America (NCMEC) and Boys & Girls clubs of America (BGCA) that uses age-appropriate, 3-D activities to teach children Internet safety.


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The Club Penguin Web Site

The Club Penguin web site:

  • allows people to sign up for a free account with Club Penguin or to become Club Penguin members
  • provides a section for information on Club Penguin for parents
  • provides FAQ and Help sections
  • allows users to see and purchase Club Penguin merchandise
  • allows people to find out what’s new with Club Penguin
  • provides a weekly Penguin Poll, e.g., "What’s your favorite school subject?” (Basic results are displayed once the poll is answered.)
  • provides links to coloring pages, art sent in by fans, instructions on how to draw penguins, wall papers, and Club Penguin Banners you can stick on your web site or blog.


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Club Penguin Membership

Although anyone can sign up for a free Club Penguin account, Club Penguin also gives players the option of becoming Club Penguin members by paying a member’s fee. Currently, there are three payment options available on their Membership page: monthly (USD$5.95), 6 months (USD$29.95), or 12 months (USD$57.95). You can also purchase gift cards. Memberships are non-refundable and non-transferable. If you cancel your membership, your membership benefits are put on hold until you renew your membership.

Club Penguin’s “Why Become a Member?” page lists of following benefits:

  • Adopt more puffles! as well as buy them furniture. To find out more about puffles and how to care for them, click here.

plus


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What Can You Do in Club Penguin?

In Club Penguin, players use penguin avatars to move around, explore, play mini games by themselve or with others, and just interact with other penguin avatars by chatting with them, becoming their friends, or visiting their igloos. Players can move around and explore the Club Penguin world by clicking on different areas and objects. Club Penguin’s “Navigation” page lists various places penguins can visit and explore.


Each penguin has a penguin card and an igloo. Penguin cards show players what clothes, accessories, colors, and coins their penguins have. Coins are earned by playing games and helping around Club Penguin, and members can use these coins to buy more items for their penguins. Players can also see another penguin's card if the penguin is in the same room as them. Players can also use their coins to purchase items to decorate their igloos as well as play music in their igloos.


Players can also have their penguins become secret agents (penguins that keep Club Penguins safe by reporting bad behavior to a moderator and go on special missions) or tour guide (penguins that provide tours of Club Penguin for other penguins).


There are also characters in Club Penguin:

  • Captain Rockhopper, a pirate who sails the seas on his ship, The Migrator, and returns to Club Penguin every couple of months to sell his rare wares to penguins, and
  • Aunt Arctic, the advice columnist for the Penguin Times, the weekly newspaper. Penguins can send Aunt Arctic questions. She answers up to two questions a week.


A Play Tutorial is available through the “Club Penguin Guide” page.


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How Can Club Penguin Be Used in an Educational Setting?

Activities

In his entry “Club Penguin as Cultural Training Wheels” on his blog weblogg-ed, Will Richardson brings up the idea that games like Club Penguin are training wheels for kids in terms of participating in digital culture. Teachers could use Club Penguin in this way to teach students how to conduct themselves safely and appropriately online. Megan Golding’s blog entry “Club Penguin at School” discusses how she uses Club Penguin to teach Internet safety. Student could also write about their experience on Club Penguin as it relates to this topic.


Players can submit poems, riddles, jokes, or comic strips to Club Penguin’s newspaper. Also, players are able to submit fan art. Teachers could have students prepare work to submit to Club Penguin. Teachers could also have students read and discuss other players’ work submitted to the newspaper.


Issues

Safety

Club Penguin has incorporated several safety features and initiatives aimed at making Club Penguin a safe environment for kids:

  • Privacy -- The Club Penguin web site states that Club Penguin “adhere to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Safe Harbor Principles and the Canadian federal and provincial privacy legislation.” It also states, “we take special measures to help children protect their privacy while online. For example, we do not ask children to disclose more personal information than is necessary for them to participate in a particular activity, and we take efforts to prevent children from posting contact information.” Club Penguin does not allow third-party companies to solicit or advertise to their players and intends to keep Club Penguin free from direct advertising.
  • Safe Chatting and Player Banning -- Players are limited to chatting by selecting from a predefined list of options for greeting, questions, statements, etc. (Ultimate Safe Chat) or using a chat box that filters messages for inappropriate working (Standard Safe Chat). See Club Penguin's "Ultimate Safe Chat and Standard Safe Chat" page for more information on this. Players that engage in inappropriate chat or behavior can be silenced or banned from Club Penguin.
  • Parental Guidance – kids are supposed to have their parents sign them up for Club Penguin. During the sign up process, there are notices such as “Respect other penguins,” “Never reveal your personal information,” and “Do no use your child’s real name.” Parents signing their children up can select what type of chat they would like their child to be able to use: Standard Safe Chat or Ultimate Safe Chat. Club Penguin also provides a “Parents’ Guide” on their website that provides an introduction to Club Penguin for parents including a basic overview play tutorial, information on how parents can keep their children safe online, a note to parents encouraging kids to also engage in play off-line, testimonials and news pieces on what people think of Club Penguin, information on how Club Penguin keeps players information private and secure, and how Club Penguin and its members are helping around the world through a portion of the proceeds from Club Penguin (memberships is used to support specifically chosen local and global projects).
  • Moderators – moderators have a special badge on their playing card and walk around Club Penguin occasionally, watching for inappropriate behavior.
  • Secret Agents – A player can become secret agents. Secret agents report unappropriate behavior to moderators.

Despite all these safety measures, it is important that parents and teachers teach children about Internet safety as it is possible for people to find ways around these safety measures or ways to abuse these safety measures.


Status

Because players have the option of being members or not and because members are able to buy more clothing, colors, puffles, and furniture for their penguin avatars, this can create a status hierarchy between “have” and “have-nots”.


Consumerism

Since players can win coins and are able to use these coins to purchase items for this penguins (if they are members), some people see Club Penguin as encouraging consumerism tendencies in children. A comment on Will Richardson’s entry “Club Penguin as Cultural Training Wheels” on his blog weblogg-ed, brings up this point.


Cheating

Despite all the messages against inappropriate behavior in Club Penguin, cheating has become a real problem according to the Chicago Tribune.com article for 8 Mar 2007 titled “Cheating a real problem in Club Penguin’s virtual world” by Eric Benderoff. Just plugging in “club penguin cheats” into a search engine will find you several sites offering cheats.


Club Penguin Addiction

Kids can get wrapped up in Club Penguin for hours at a time. The fact that Club Penguin’s “Kid’s Health and Learning” states that Club Penguin “is not intended to replace fun physical activities kids have always enjoyed” speaks to this fact.

Elizabeth Weiss Green’s, in her article “Clique on to Penguin” in U.S. News & World Report dated 19 Mar 2007, 142 (10), states, “Club Penguin has made efforts to discourage excessive use. New features come out weekly, instead of daily, and the site doesn’t punish players for not visiting frequently, as some competing sites do. The creators plan to release a feature in June that will let parents limit how much time kids spend on the time.”


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Further Questions

How did penguins become so popular?

A 2007 article by Elliott Stuart mentions a theory by Michael Megalli, a partner at Group 1066, a New York corporate identity consulting company. Megalli calls “the Al Gore thing” stating in the article that “we want to reassure ourselves penguins will have a place in a world with global warming.” The article goes on to discuss the use of penguins in marketing.

I personally think that people think penguins are cute, especially because they look like their are wearing tuxedos, and they waddle around. I also think that the hugely popular documentary “March of the Penguins“ has helped fuel the recent popularity of penguins.

(Elliott, Stuart. “A Procession of Penguins Arrives on Madison Ave.” “New York Times,” 10 Jan 2007, 156 (53820): pC3-C3.)


Just how popular is Club Penguin?

Toddi Gutner’s article “MySpace for the Sandlot Set” states, “Officially launched in March [2006], it clocked in 2.1 million unique visitors during the month of August [2006], up from 899,000 in March [2006], according to comScore Networks Inc.’s Media Metrix. Anick Jesdanun’s article “Kids introduced to chats” states, “According to comScore Media Metrix, U.S. visitors to Club Penguin nearly tripled over the past year.”

(Jesdanun, Anick. “Kids introduced to chats.” “Western Star,“ The (Corner Brook, NL), 16 Jul 2007, 10.)

(Gutner, Toddi. “MySpace for the Sandlot Set.” “Business Week, “ 2 Oct 2006 (4003): 82.)


Why does it cost to be a member?

The [http://www.clubpenguin.com/parents/club-penguin-guide.htm "Club Penguin Guide Page" state, "Instead of financing our operations through advertising as most websites do, Club Penguin relies solely on paid memberships. By remaining ad-free, we can provide our players a safe haven from marketing."


Can you get an institutional membership? Are there any education discounts for this?

This page on the Club Penguin web site states, “Family and group rates are not available.” I didn’t come across anything else about an educational rate for Club Penguin.


What can you do if you are banned (whether rightfully or wrongfully?)

Club Penguin's "Communiticating" page states an automatic ban is given if a player says one of several flagged bad words. A moderator ban is given when a moderator reviews a players communications and actions and sees bad language or inappropriate behavior. A first-time offense gets a ban of 24 hours. A second or third offense gets a ban of 72 hours. A fourth offense gets may result in a permanent ban.

I guess if a player thinks they shouldn't have been banned, they would have to contact technical support through the Club Penguin web site. Also, if moderators review a players' communications and actions, the chances of being banned wrongfully are lessened.


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Work Cited

[1] “The Walt Disney Company Acquires Club Penguin.” The Walt Disney Company – Corporate Information. 1 Aug 2007. Walt Disney Company. Last accessed 2 Aug 2007 http://corporate.disney.go.com/news/corporate/2007/2007_0801_clubpenguin.html.


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References

  • “Club Penguin.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 2 Aug 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Last accessed 2 Aug 2007.
  • Flanagan, Caitlin. “Babes in the Woods.” Atlantic Monthly. Jul/Aug 2007, 300 (1): 116-133.
  • Green, Elizabeth Weiss. “Clique on to Penguin.” U.S. News & World Report, 19 Mar 2007, 142 (10).
  • Robertson, Heather-Jane. “Postman Does Penguins.” Phi Delta Kappan, Jan 2007, (88) 5: 410-411.
  • Wire, CP. “Sites Drawing Younger Kids.” Medicine Hat News (AB), 14 Jul 2007, B1.
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