A Year since Club Penguin Closed…

A couple of days ago, Club Penguin marked one year since they closed down their doors forever. Back then, there were concerns that perhaps this could completely be the end of the desktop’s version of the virtual world, but a year on, the community still thrives and private servers archive the enjoyment and fun.

In fact, it wasn’t until exactly a month ago that undoubtedly the most popular private server, Club Penguin Rewritten, also closed it doors. Twice now, even more for some players, we’ve endured the game which we love disconnecting its servers.

I wanted to make this post to reflect on some of the moments with Club Penguin, but that’s actually quite difficult to do. Despite having joined the game in 2010, I have no screenshots for a significant period of time. In fact, it wasn’t even until 2013, the year I started blogging, which I learnt how to take a screenshot. Instead, the memories remain memories.

Instead, I decided to reflect on what exactly makes Club Penguin so special, especially amidst lots of controversy and unsafe CPPSes, as well as how this isn’t the end of Club Penguin, no matter how you choose to carry on your journey.

The entire piece behind Club Penguin is amazing for a lot of people and it’s had a set piece for a lot of childhoods too, and memories like that are strong and it lives on nostalgia.

You don’t see many companies that really made sure the game is well and dedicated to the community, Club Penguin really is all about the community and when servers make that special bond between the two then you really get people to look up to you and to continue with whatever it is you decide to do as a server.

–stu, community manager of Club Penguin Rewritten

The idea of a “special bond”, stated by someone who saw first-hand how dedicated people were to Club Penguin in general, is an idea which multiple people who I have asked agree with.

Some of my most vivid memories and favourite experiences revolves around meeting others in-game, especially when it was a mascot or a moderator, and also parties, which seemed to be the foundation of the game.

As well as this, from the people I spoke too, they informed me that it was the in-game content, predominantly parties, as well as meeting other people that deepened this connection regarding Club Penguin.

For me, riding the Holiday Party train to exploring the decorations for Halloween, there were so many incredible events that truly caused memories. All these amazing parties, to me at least, was a major part of Club Penguin’s success and the fun it brought, with the team truly doing their best to create these awesome parties for many years.

Parties and other in-game content, such as newspapers and catalogs, appear to be, from the people which I asked, just one of the reasons the game was so popular. The other absolutely huge reason was the community.

It was the tribe that made the connection. Players gathered and formed a community. This community is what keeps the connection. Everyone feels like their were part of something.

–rsnail, creator of Club Penguin

The whole concept of meet-ups, whether it be mascot, moderator or just random community events, were always so fun. Being able to just log on and have a conversation was unheard of previously, yet it was something Club Penguin thrived on.

Something I really enjoyed were the huge number of parties and events, from those which were random to those which were organised. The Club Penguin Reunion was one of the largest ones to celebrate the anniversary of the game, and it was an absolutely amazing success, and also so much fun!

But it goes beyond that! Soon so many social media accounts, video channels, blogs and so much more were being created by members of the community (including myself) all revolving around Club Penguin! Another huge memory of mine was many, many years ago, reading several blogs to see the latest news on the island.

This blog is honestly just one of the hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of fan blogs out there about the game. Many are inactive, but it’s still a really cool souvenir of the success of the game that so many were created, and it truly showed the incredibleness of the community.

The truth is, there are huge reasons on why you’d want to continue that experience. The two main options are the official game, Club Penguin Island, or private servers, which often tends to be Club Penguin Rewritten.

I’ve spent time on both islands and been dedicated to both. For me, I prefer Club Penguin Rewritten for numerous reasons, such as the amazing content and thriving community. It really does feel like a continuation of my favourite version of my favourite franchise.

Others may prefer to support the official game, Club Penguin Island. To me, it does have significant flaws which haven’t been addressed, but it is a very beautiful game with lots of potential.

Even then, you’re not limited to just those two worlds! You may choose to check out both, or perhaps other servers (though I would recommend taking precautions to ensure you’re playing on a safe server).

We have been coming up with some amazing ideas that will excite you guys for sure

-Lily8763, Club Penguin Rewritten staff member

Whichever game you play, the future of it is bright, with it filled with potential. For Club Penguin Rewritten, the game is due to launch this month and we will once again be able to celebrate some more fun times!

The team have confirmed that they have a lot planned, so there’s a lot to look forward too in the future if you play Club Penguin Rewritten!

The team of passionate and talented CP staffers are working so hard on Club Penguin Island… to make sure that CP can still exist after Flash dies.

As a small team, they have to make tough choices about what to focus on, and what will give the best experience to players for the smallest amount of effort. You’re seeing now how they’re adding more and more elements from old-school CP into the new experience, and I think that’s the best course of action.

-Polo Field, former community manager of Club Penguin

That’s no different to Club Penguin Island, which has also been improving in many terms. Whilst it isn’t for everyone, I don’t doubt that there are more enjoyable elements being added into the game which will be really cool, so there’s a lot to look forward to there too!

…

So, it may have been just over a year since the desktop version of Club Penguin closed down. But despite this, no matter which game you play, there is so much to look forward too, and that is an exciting thought.

I’d like to give a huge thank you to stu, rsnail and Polo Field for answering my questions for this blog post, as well as to you for reading this post! Waddle on!

-Torres 126