Welcome to the third day of Mountains Monday! As part of the schedule, today will be a Card Jitsu card giveaway, where you can win six cards.
I should note that these cards are physical ones, meaning they’ll be posted to your address. All of them are from the Water series, and for this week, they are:
Bamboo Forest Sketch
Elite Penguin Sketch
Destroyed PSA HQ
Ship Battle Adventure
Squid Lid
Puffle Washer (power card)
Condition: all cards in excellent condition! They’ll come loose.
The giveaway has now ended! As a reminder, the entry was Spot the Difference. I was very generous with marking, since it was clear when people spot the difference. I should note that several people mentioned a colour filter, but this was due to the image being compressed. There were six significant differences, so I didn’t count this.
First thing first, an apology. I accidentally closed this a day early, not realising the date. I’m genuinely sorry about this, I completely thought today was Wednesday
Two people found all the differences, though not many people entered at all, so there was a good chance of winning!
And now for the winner! As a reminder, how these work is after all the entires have been “calculated”, a list randomiser is used on the names. The first 50 names are then entered into a wheel, and whoever the wheel picks is the winner.
And the wheel has decided that winner is GraceLaughs! Congratulations, please check your email!
So a hopefully tricky Spot the Difference! As you may be able to tell with this giveaway, the emphasis is intended to be less on luck but more the question to enter, since you can get up to 10 entries by finding all the differences. This was by popular request, and I thought it’d be fun!
Happy Monday! As part of the second Monday of a month, I intend to post something random from Club Penguin’s past. Usually it’ll be something nostalgic, like a room from a party, but since this is the first kind of this post, I wanted to go right back.
The first of the two images is a comic, and one you might recognise. At first, it might not look too special; it is just an image of a penguin slipping over a banana peel! But this little comic has had a more significant impact than I once would have ever expected.
This little comic was what inspired the penguin element of the game, along with the fact that it was easy to animate! I say “the game” because, as you may remember from the New Horizon’s Documentary, the name “Club Penguin” hadn’t been decided yet. In fact, the entire concept was constantly evolving, from a snow blaster game to a chat to a virtual world.
So inspiration can really come from anywhere! And so, Lance Priebe, with a bit of help from some folks across the world, started development in his basement. And that brings me on to the second and final photo for this post.
That is an image from Lance’s basement, taken many years ago. The thing which I find most remarkable is simply how much technology has changed in such a short time; it’d be rare to find a computer like that now!
I hope you enjoyed this kind of post! The aim is for one to be published on the second Monday of each month, and it really could feature anything.
Welcome to the first Mountains Monday post! As it’s the first Monday of the month, this post is going to contain an interview, and the topic is The Ethics of Private Servers. You’ll see why that’s crossed out soon!
I’d like to give a big thank you to Lance Priebe, who you may know as rsnail (the creator of Club Penguin), for taking some time to discuss this topic with me. It’s a completely fascinating one, in which we explore everything from the legality to the morality of servers such as Club Penguin Rewritten.
A brief context for those who aren’t aware: even before the official Club Penguin closed, many “private” servers existed. These are unofficial games run by fans, but based on that official game. The example which we’re all familiar with is Club Penguin Rewritten.
rsnail caused some controversy recently when he expressed support for criminally charging private servers. He cited that Disney had been busy merging for Fox, but that a Digital Media Team would inevitably be appointed, after which there would be a crackdown on private servers.
The legal justification for Club Penguin Rewritten, and indeed the one which most private servers confide in, is that these servers are an “educational instance”. This is found on the Play page too, which mentions 17 U.S. Code § 107.
Lance, however, stated that he believes that is not adequate enough for servers to operate, and that private servers are illegal.
Without a license to operate the server, I believe these servers are illegal. Many young developers believe they can use copyrighted material under the “Fair Use Act”. You may want to seek legal counsel and read the law very carefully. Please remember Disney currently owns all the rights to Club Penguin.
I should clarify now that this does not mean you will be in legal trouble for playing a private server, but is in reference to whether the administrators are operating legally.
I believe it is important to have permission to operate and run a world like Club Penguin.
No private server currently has permission from Disney.
This became even more controversial on November 3rd 2019, when the Club Penguin Rewritten team opened up donations, under the questionable pretence of being for running the servers.
CP Rewritten have opened up "donations" for items, under the likely false pretence of it being a necessity to fund running costs. Whilst little transparency is available, and whilst this contradicts all previous statements, be cautious if you donate, and consult a parent first.
One of the four administrators referred to the donations as “dirty scamming money”.
But even the phrase “private server” seems a bit odd. Indeed, this is where the issues stem from.
A private server that helps young developers learn how to create worlds is great. But a server with over 5 million players and promoted on public channels is not very “private”.
The key word in Private servers is “private”. My concern is with servers that are “public”.
It is possible to set up a genuine private (also known as a localhost) server which you can only play on locally using your computer. This is not the case with the servers which we know – we are all able to play on them, and as such, they are hardly very private.
Still relating to law, though not revolving around existence, is the question of morality. Is it right that teenagers and young adults are in control of a game with millions of accounts, primarily those created by minors? There are two concerns:
Database breaches/actual data (of which there has been at least one already with Club Penguin Rewritten)
Keeping people safe in-game
My second [concern] is the safety of children online. The team at Club Penguin worked very hard to keep kids safe online. This was and continues to be our highest value. A number of countries including the United States has laws and requirements for operators of websites or online services directed at children under the age of 13. The fines for violating these requirements can be very expensive.
It is worth noting that Club Penguin Rewritten does have a team of moderators, but other servers struggle with maintaining safety in-game, and that’s a problem, particularly when games target themselves as the “rebirth” of Club Penguin.
These have only been echoed by countless Google searches now showing unofficial content before official content, and there is a genuine risk of a damage to the game’s legacy. It’s quite paradoxical considering the intention is to continue it, but is there a better way? Lance encourages urging Disney to bring it back.
I have always appreciated the Club Penguin fans and I love that they want to keep it alive. I want to encourage you to do the right thing. Continue to ask Disney to bring it back and let’s continue to make the internet a safe place for everyone to explore.
However, that can certainly seem implausible too. So where do private servers sit? Is there an educational purpose for them?
Lance once said that he “learned how to make virtual worlds by running a private server”, and I wondered if it was unfair to now be so critical of them.
Nope [it isn’t unfair]. You’re always welcome to create your own private server or prototype for learning. The issue is when you make your game public. Yes, I ran my own UO private server. The total number of players was one. (Me). Then I started creating Club Penguin and making Club Penguin the public server.
I continue to encourage young developers to use what they have learned and begin to create their own worlds.
I asked Lance how he’d like to see servers adapt to the criticisms of them to make them safer and more ethical.
I would like to see creators making their own servers with their own new and original characters and worlds.
Lance has a really interesting (and in a way, first-hand) perspective on this topic, and I’ve been fascinated to hear it. In regards to the initial context for the controversy, I should add that it was caused regarding servers for Box Critters (Lance’s new project).
He confirmed that he intended to shut down “private” servers for his new game.
A critter!
In my opinion, whilst there are genuine concerns about Club Penguin Rewritten, it remains the safest unofficial server out there and to me, it seems the most realistic way of being able to continue the game’s legacy.
Private servers are not good or bad. They are just tools. It’s what developers decide to do with them. I really look forward to seeing new worlds and characters that inspire another generation.
I hope that you enjoyed this first interview! I’d like to give a massive thank you to rsnail for his time and thoughts, it’s greatly appreciated!
I found this topic to be a fascinating one to start with, and I hope for to be able to discuss a huge variety of things related to in-game and not – and some more light-hearted than this! But I hope you enjoyed this different style of post, thank you for reading!
Okay, okay, excuse the awkward alliteration, but I felt it worked nicely. Let me explain what the plan is though. Since it’s a new year, every Monday, I’m hoping to make a post not related to anything in-game.
I’ve held a few polls to try and establish a schedule, but this is really flexible and can easily be tweaked as things move on. So here’s what I’m thinking:
1st Monday of the month: interview with someone about a specific topic
2nd Monday of the month: a memory from classic Club Penguin
3rd Monday of the month: giveaway for half a dozen or so Card Jitsu cards (physical merchandise)
4th Monday of the month: this is something I’m still working on!
5th Monday of the month: either another memory or another Card Jitsu giveaway (there’s only a few months with five Mondays)
The overall idea is to create posts which involve the community, because I think that could be really fun! So here’s a little about each one.
Featuring igloos: the concept behind this is that some particularly beautiful igloos could be featured on this blog, in order to inspire others on how to use some of the furniture currently available. In a poll, 83% of people were interested by this idea, so I think it could be fun and I wanted to give it a shot.
Thanks to everyone who submitted a igloo! In order to avoid conflicting with another community project which revolves around igloos, I’ve decided not to feature igloos. I’m unsure what it’ll be replaced with, but I’m sure you’ll see soon!
Interview with a someone about a specific topic: this, well, I have no clue how this will turn out. The intention is to pick a topic, and analyse someone’s views on it. There will be some light-hearted and some serious ones. 83% voted for this, and I’ll try to make them interesting and enjoyable. You can find the first one here, which is an interview with rsnail, the creator of Club Penguin.
Memory from classic Club Penguin: this could literally be anything: an event, party, room, mascot, but it’ll be something completely random. I thought it’d be fun to do something random and obscure like this, and it could be quite nostalgic. (96% voted for this)
Giveaway for 5 or 6 Card Jitsucards: after the Holiday Giveaway, many people enjoyed the Bonus Questions. It’s quite tricky to have too many giveaways due to postage, but a surprising number of people are interested in Card Jitsu cards (90% voted for this idea). This will provide an opportunity to hold some more challenging questions too!
So as you can gather, these are a variety of posts, and they may be tweaked on the future depending on your feedback. I hope you’ll enjoy them, and check out the first one here!
