Club Penguin is an online game developed by New Horizon Interactive. Using cartoon penguins as avatars, players waddle around, chat, play minigames and participate in other activities with one another in a snow-covered virtual world. After beta-testing, Club Penguin was made available to the general public on October 24, 2005[1] and has since expanded into a large online community — growing to the extent that by late 2007, it was claimed that Club Penguin had over 12 million user accounts.[2] While free memberships are available, revenue is predominaty raised through paid memberships which allow players to access a range of additional features, (such as the ability to purchase virtual clothing, furniture and "pets" for their penguins through the use of in-game currency).[3] The success of Club Penguin led to New Horizon being purchased by The Walt Disney Company in August 2007 for the sum of $350 million, with an additional $350 million in bonuses should specific targets be met by 2009
The game is designed for children between the ages of 6 and 14 years old. Thus a major focus of the developers has been on child safety,with a number of features introduced to the game to facilitate this — including offering a "Safe Chat" mode, whereby users select their comments from a menu; filtering that prevents swearing and the revelation of personal information; and moderators (along with veteran players) who police the game. Nevertheless, the game has its critics, some of whom have claimed that it teaches consumerism[ and that it can encourage cheating.
Puffles
Puffles are small, fluffy creatures that players may have as pets. They are available from the Pet Shop in blue, green, pink, black, purple, red, and yellow. Non-members have access to the blue and red puffles only, and may have no more than two; members may adopt up to fourteen puffles.[37] Members whose membership has expired are permitted to retain their puffles.
Puffles have health, rest, and energy bar charts to indicate their status. Puffles which are not "looked after" will run away from the player, and will need to be replaced.[45]
There are seven official breeds of puffles, each with a different personality (as described in the in-game "Adopt a Puffle" catalog):[45]
- Blue Puffles are known to be mild-tempered and content. (Available to non-members)
- Green Puffles are very energetic and playful, and "like to clown around".[45]
- Purple Puffles are dancers, and are described as being "usually happy", but are finicky eaters.[45]
- Red Puffles (from "Rockhopper Island") are known to be adventurous and enthusiastic. (Available to non-members)
- Pink Puffles are very active and cheery, and like to exercise.
- Black Puffles are described as possessing a strong and silent disposition.
- Yellow Puffles were added November, 2007.[46] They are depicted as both artistic and spontaneous.
The Penguin Times
Club Penguin has a free virtual weekly newspaper delivered every Thursday.[47] It is accessed from within the game and contains news about Club Penguin and features games, comics, polls, a calendar and more. It also has an advice column where a player can write to Aunt Arctic and ask questions about Club Penguin.[48] Any user can submit questions, jokes, riddles, poems, comics, Fan Art, and tips or secrets to The Penguin Times, which may be chosen and displayed in the next issue. Within the game, the Boiler Room under the Night Club contains an archive of newspapers from the last six weeks.[47]
Coins For Change
Coins For Change was an in-game donation available from December 14 to December 24, 2007, in which players could donate their virtual coins to any of three charitable issues: Kids who are sick, The Environment, and Kids in Developing Countries.[49] Players could donate in increments of 50, 250, or 500 virtual coins. At the end of the campaign, the New Horizon Foundation donated a total of $1 million to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and Free The Children.[50] The proportion of the 1 million dollars that each organization received depended on how many virtual coins were donated by players toward each issue.[49] For example, if most players donated their virtual coins to the environment, the environmental organization got a higher percentage than the others. Issue #115 of The Penguin Times stated that the standings were:[51]
A total of over two billion virtual coins were donated.[49]
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