Hey everyone,

Eleven years ago, a project that began in modern-day room 525 had its beta testing end. Eleven years ago, today, Club Penguin was launched. A few years later, on this very day, Torres 126 was created. I think that that is pretty special and amazing. Today I just want to talk, and not all of it is going to be positive. Let’s start with my Top 5 memories, which is positive!

After some inspiration by Blue21102’s post, I’ve decided to release my own top 5 memories, which is pretty difficult to do seeing how I started playing in 2009 and have so many memories which I can’t forget. I’m going to skip out some important memories to me because I’ve already covered them in my Birthday Week series. Without further ado, let’s begin.

5. Meeting my First Mascot

I tried everything to meet a mascot. Back in those days, there weren’t many meet-up times and you had to be really well organised or really lucky to find him. I remember jumping with joy when Chrisdog93’s tracker said Cadence was online, however I didn’t get to my computer in time. I still remember that she was on the Nightclub Roof. We’ll never know if his tracker was accurate.

However, at some point during 2010-2012, I remember meeting a mascot for the very first time. It was Rockhopper, and it was a complete accident. I just logged on during the Holiday Party and I landed in the town. I remember being thrilled when that stamp above me appeared. I also remember having to eat lunch a few minutes after that. I ate fish on that day…don’t ask. It was still an amazing experience which I still remember.

4. Club Penguin at School

If you don’t know already, I lived in South Africa for four years of my life, where I introduced a lot of people to Club Penguin. However, before then, I remember loads of people in my primary school playing Club Penguin. We used to trade Card-Jitsu codes and played together a lot. That was what Club Penguin was about! Those were the days!

I plan on releasing another post about this, however I also once did a presentation about this website at school! It’s interesting though, because I know a lot of older players tend to hide the fact that they play Club Penguin from their friends at school. I intend on writing about this in the future/cover it in the rest of this post, but for now I suggest you check out this post by Blue21102!

3. Great Parties, even in New CP, like Joining a Train in 2013

Along with Operation Blackout and the Halloween Parties, I really liked the Holiday Party in 2013. In particular, I liked the train, simply on the basis because ti was so much fun. I remember moderators having HUGE trains and just hanging out with my Club Penguin friends. That was something to remember.

And, it was all for charity!

2. Getting Postcards from Moderators 

In 2014, there was a MASSIVE meet-up held by loads of moderators. I remember being able to be in an empty room with Polo Field (of which I was ignored but don’t worry, Polo apologised a few years later!) and getting a postcard from Saraapril!

However, the most special postcard was a “Happy Halloween” one from Daffodaily5. It was my first ever postcard from a moderator! The problem was that it somehow got deleted and of course, I sent an email to Club Penguin support.

The day after, I read that email and I remember being thrilled! That is why it is my seventh top memory.

1. The Community

2013 was a great year because it was the year which I joined chats and forums, of which only two I am still active on. But regardless of this, the community has had some great times. The community is a memory which isn’t quite over yet, but the penguins here are amazing.

 

 

DEBATE: What was the Best Year to Experience Club Penguin?

Eleven years of Club Penguin…most of them have been amazing. I recently read a blog post which was part of a debate on what the best year of Club Penguin was. At the end of the post, they asked their readers for our thoughts, and I figured that the topic would be quite interesting to read about. So, what was the best year to experience Club Penguin? Without further ado, here are my opinions on the best year of Club Penguin. Let’s start by eliminating a few.

2005
2006

2005 and 2006 were the starting years of Club Penguin. The game was small, but full of potential, and Disney hadn’t even bought it yet. The undeniable fact is that compared to now, the game was very basic. There wasn’t a large variety of rooms on the map.

Despite this, it’s still very difficult to rule out the early years of Club Penguin. There was hardly any criticism, and it was the first game of its kind. That is the reason why I’ve only chosen to rule out the first year and a half on Club Penguin, along with the possibility that many of us were not on the island during that time.

2007

In this year, Disney acquired Club Penguin for $350 million, but to be honest, this wasn’t much of a big deal. Disney was still working largely behind the scenes at this point, and I doubt that players at the time would have felt a big difference to the year before.

The game had more decorations and more rooms were added, such as the Cove, but parties still remained very basic. It’s not the best year, and whilst players at the time must’ve really enjoyed it, the game still wasn’t at its peak.

2014

2015

I’m sure we will all agree that 2014 and 2015 were decent years. We had some great parties, and even had a few TV specials. The problem is, this was the downfall years. There were more parties which were disliked than liked compared to years before. Takeovers were becoming more frequent the community was listened to less.

These were also sad-years as we saw a large Club Penguin lay-off. If Club Penguin kept going like they were in these years, the game would still be alright, but this is about finding the best year, of which these two definitely aren’t.

2016

Do I really need to explain why this is undoubtably the worst year on Club Penguin? Two month long takeovers with the majority of players really disliking this year? Files literally being copied and pasted from previously disliked parties?

That leaves…

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

These are the years that come to mind when you think of Old Club Penguin, which is what the majority of people prefer. However, five years are still a bit too many in my opinion and technically, part of 2012 and all of 2013 are New Club Penguin. I still think that 2013 was alright though, so goodbye 2012!

2012

2012 was genuinely a good year for Club Penguin. It contained Operation Blackout, which was one of the most popular parties in the game’s history. It also had other popular parties, such as the Island Adventure Party and the Underwater Expedition. However, there are a few negatives which caused me to rule this game out.

Billybob began his resignation towards the end of the year. This was also the year of three major changes. Firstly, the rooms became the ones we know today. Secondly, the friend list could contain 500 friends instead of 100. These were awesome at the time (I still remember having a full friend list) but the long-time effects of that were and are negative. At this time, people protest against the new rooms. Not only that, but the friends list completely backfired and is now one of the most buggy things the entire time.

The other thing that changed for the worse in this year was the chat filter, which became a whitelist instead of a blacklist. The long-term effects of these changes are awful, but this year was still great! Ultimately, it wasn’t as good as other years.

2010

2010 was not a bad year for Club Penguin, however there’s nothing that really makes it stand out. There aren’t many parties that come to mind which I go “Oh! That was amazing!” but there are for other years. The game was still doing very well at this time, but when there’s nothing memorable about this year, it’s very hard to write about it, yet alone rank it as the best year for Club Penguin.

2008

2009

2011

2013

Now we need to really get picky on which years we are getting rid off. Let’s have a really quick look at why each year is still on this list.

2008

There was lots of new content in 2008, such as new mini-games and epic parties. Not only was content increasing in the game, but Disney launched a massive line of merchandise in this year, including Mix n’ Match Figures, Card Jitsu Trading Cards and the first Nintendo DS game. The game was getting more and more popular because of this, and these are a few of the reasons why this year is still on the list.

2009 

When you mention Old Club Penguin, people will almost certainly say 2009. This was, in my opinion, an excellent year for Club Penguin. You had some really solid parties, such as the Festival of Flight, and the game was receiving new merchandise. However, parties really made a difference in this year because it’s virtually the only reason why it’s still on this list.

2011

Honestly, this year was just fun. There were five new events, as well as the return of some really awesome parties. But is that enough to justify it’s stay on this very competitive list? I think that this is one of my favourite years, but many disagree. Regardless, it isn’t my favourite. it’s with regret that this is not the best year for Club Penguin.

2013

Sigh. The last good year of Club Penguin. You know, this year was just fun. There was interaction from the team and the players, there were great parties such as the Star Wars Takeover, the Hollywood Party and the trains at the Holiday Party and I think everyone enjoyed this year, regardless of the fact that it wasn’t old Club Penguin. We also got the app.

2008

2009

2013

I miss these years. But which one is the best? Parties is what made 2009, whereas the other years were not built solely on parties, which is why I must eliminate 2009.

2008 or 2013? Merchandise or a fun, developed year?

A fun developed year. I can’t believe I just typed that.

1. 2013
2. 2008
3. 2009
4. 2011
5. 2010
6. 2014
7. 2007
8. 2015
9. 2006
10. 2005
11. 2016

What exactly does that prove? Well, there’s two things that I’d really like to say.

Firstly, 2013 is New Club Penguin. Granted, the next four places are old Club Penguin. But that proves that there is still hope that New Club Penguin could be a success, a game that we all love. I mean, making this lost was extremely emotional to write.

That brings me to my second point. WHY IS 2016 WORSE THEN THE YEAR WHICH CLUB PENGUIN STARTED? DON’T GIVE ME THE EXCUSE THAT IT’S BECAUSE OF PROJECT SUPER SECRET. YOU NEGLECTED THE ISLAND FOR SOMETHING WE DID NO—-

If you want to read my full rant on the game, click here.

I think something could possibly be learnt from this list. And I’m telling you, if Club Penguin wants Project Super Secret to be a success, they better learn quickly.

Thank you Club Penguin

I know I made a post over 1000 words long criticising you, but I think we all ought to remind ourselves of how much Club Penguin has positively impacted our lives. You know, a few days ago, a popular retired-ish blogger (it’s confusing. Semi-retired blogger) known as Trainman1405 posted this image.

It made me realise how much Club Penguin has actually done to us. Pup1one’s finale, Goodbye Hello, was also an extremely powerful reminder of this. But I think we don’t just owe gratitude to Club Penguin for helping us with job skills, or entertaining us, or, in some cases which I’ve heard about, help stopping bullying and ending poverty. We also owe them for allowing us to meet others.

Waddle around and meet new friends

It’s amazing how little we know about each other, other than a cute penguin pixel. We’ve recently have some members of our community do voice reveals and face reveals, which I think is very interesting. It’s amazing how little we know about each other in this community, but that we’re still a community. In about two hours (at the time of writing) #CPReunion takes place, and I honestly can’t wait. Old moderators, old friends, old players, we’re all going to be there and I hope to see you there too (Marshmallow, 13:30 PST).

Happy 11th Anniversary Club Penguin

It’s been a rough three years.

But here’s to another eleven.