Club Penguin - MySpace or Second Life for Kids - 13,454 Views, 13 Comments
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It had to happen, regardless of whether you wanted it to or not. The Penguin Club, properly known as “Club Penguin”, a virtual online world for children - like a Second Life or MySpace for kids - has opened its online doors for business. Or, rather, its hatch. Because at Club Penguin your avatar is a penguin, and everyone lives in igloos. Actually, despite comparisons to the contrary, Club Penguin is quite a bit more like a Second Life for kids than it is like MySpace. For a true MySpace for kids experience, check out Imbee.com. A third kiddyworld, Tweenland, seems to have gone under as suddenly as it sprang up (its cached Awstats statistics reveal that something dire happened to Tweenland.com between February 23rd and February 24th of this year). Still, Club Penguin is most often compared to MySpace, and called a MySpace for kids (Newsweek referred to it as “Myspace in braces”), even though it is much closer in many ways to Second Life, the popular site where you create a virtual you, and give it a virtual life in the virtual world that is Second Life. Given the problems which young teens seem to run into on Myspace, why one would even want to steer even younger children to a similar site seems a mystery, but there you have it. Explains the Club Penguin site, “Chatting and gaming are the two most popular online activities for kids,” (well, yes, but should it be that way?) “yet most virtual worlds are focused on an older audience. We wanted to create a fun, online world that we’d be comfortable letting our own kids visit. ” For a fee, of course. While the more MySpace-like Imbee.com appears to be, like MySpace, truly free, Club Penguin costs $5.95 a month (there is a free version but it’s restricted in a way sure to chafe even the less involved children. Becoming a paid Club Penguin member allows your child to dress up their penguin, buy more clothing and accessories, buy furniture for and decorate their igloo, host parties (yes, really), upgrade their igloo (yes, really), and adopt puffles (cute little tribble-like pets). Oh yes, and then you can buy furniture for your puffles. Paid Club Penguin members also get more server space, get to open their igloo on the Club Penguin land map, and discover new areas. Just like the best adult-oriented online virtual and gaming worlds, Club Penguin is designed to suck your little one in, and suck the time and money out of them. Oh, and if they get more than $5.95 in allowance a month, they can spend that at the Club Penguin shop. where they can buy anything from Puffle keychains for $2.95 (plus S&H) to a Puffle hoodie sweatshirt ($19.95 plus S&H). Whatever happened go going outside to play?
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Club Penguin - MySpace or Second Life for Kids
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NOTE: We never, ever, ever will recommend any product or service on this site that we have not regularly used ourselves and do not wholeheartedly believe in. That said, in some cases after being very pleased with a product or service, we may enter into a relationship with the provider of that product or service such that if someone purchases that product or service based on our recommendation, we may get a small payment. Such payments go towards the upkeep of the Internet Patrol.
Children are going to be devided into those who have grown up in the physical world, and those who have grown up in a virtual world.
Being a Baby-boomer, methinks the kids growing up in the physical world will be the survivors, with help from some of the more physical-world-aware virtual kids.
Survivors? Well, yes, of whatever calamity will occur when we humans finally cross the line of what the Earth’s PHYSICAL environment can bear of our ways.
Hope I’ll be dead by then!
Comment by Ronan Hyde — 3/15/2007 @ 10:56 am
Well, I don’t know much about the other sites you mentioned, but I do know that Club Penguin is not another MySpace. I posted an article about CP on my blog a while back and have received numerous comments from visitors, the majority of which say it’s fun and safe — but then, most of them, I think, are kids.
I wouldn’t call CP one of those sites that sucks your money either. Sure, they offer premium services to those who do, but there are tons of things a free member can do.
As for the chat, there are two different methods of chat: “standard”, which allows the user to type in anything they want, and “ultimate”, where you can select from a list of predetermined text.
I’m for CP, and think that parents will find it to be entertaining and safe. But parents should always monitor what their child is doing online from time to time, here or anywhere.
Comment by Ken — 3/15/2007 @ 6:56 pm
Club Penguin is a featured site on miniclip.com, a site with games for all age levels. I refused to join it based on their TOS and Privacy statements, but I’m sure many, many youngsters never even look at these things. Parents, beware. On the other hand, I still play the safe games there.
Comment by Igor — 3/19/2007 @ 10:03 am
Club penguin Banned me for nothing. I,m not very happy with them!
Comment by John — 4/8/2007 @ 7:02 pm
I DONT KNOW WHY PEOPLE ARE MAKING SUCH A BIG DEAL!ITS JUST A WEBSITE FOR KIDS TO PLAY SO THEYRE NOT ON MySpace TALKING TO PEOPLE THEY DONT KNOW AND, SOME PARENTS ARNT WATCHING WHAT THEIR KIDS ARE DOING SO WHO ARE WE TO BLAME, BUT OURSELVES FOR LETTING THE KIDS GET SO CLOSE IN THE ADULT AREA MAYBE WE SHOULD STOP THE COMPLAINING ITS JUST THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Lily — 4/28/2007 @ 1:31 pm
Aside from the ripoff you get for becoming a member ($5 a mo. to play dress-up), club penguin is extremly safe and well protected by moderators. Though, as i said, the money seems a ripoff, it is used to help kids charitites, and to pay for the webspace. my reveiw score would be 8/10 for gamesplay, and 10/10 for security.
Comment by sparx (creater and programmer of penguin master games) — 5/1/2007 @ 11:51 am
ghgukgk reeana and hamsterguin are the best penguins in club penguin so please can u give us anything we want so wat we want is coins we want 6′0000000000000 coins plz kind regards!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by ghjk — 5/8/2007 @ 7:15 am
Jjasmine, Red Rose, and Krictey are the best penguins in Club Penguin and they have done so much for the site!!! Why do people always have to complain about it? It is one of the best websites in the WORLD! They do everything for Club Penguin! They created it!!!
They would have many thanks if you would give Jjasmine, Red Rose, and Krictey alot of attention!!!
Many thanks to all!!! Have an enjoyable life!!!
From
An Admirer
Comment by Ashtie — 6/28/2007 @ 11:16 am
if you dont like then i dont care it is just the way i am so if you dont like any thing of me i dont care
Comment by the game$$ — 8/1/2007 @ 4:31 am
if you dont like any thing i do tell me
Comment by the game$$ — 8/1/2007 @ 4:34 am
lauren hey
Comment by ravyn — 8/24/2007 @ 4:05 pm
hamsterguin ghgukgk and reeana are soo good rockhopper fell in love whhith and he said to give us 12,0000 coins or you are banned forever
Comment by hamsterguin — 10/2/2007 @ 7:15 am
la
Comment by hamsterguin — 10/2/2007 @ 7:16 am