Club Penguin (http://www.clubpenguin.com/)
common sense media says
Site unveils new chat tool, makes it easier to find friends.
parents & educators say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that Club Penguin is an enjoyable introduction to virtual worlds, avatars, and online gaming aimed at kids ages 6 to 14. Two new tools -- an updated chat mode and a new friends list -- are intended to make Club Penguin's chat safer and the friend experience more socially meaningful. The chat mode uses a new tool created by linguists and approved by moderators that's sort of like the auto-complete feature for text messaging on cell phones. It allows players to type the first few words they want to say of a sentence; kids then complete the sentence by choosing from pre-approved phrase options (more than 300,000 in all). Words and phrases that aren't recognized go into a queue to be approved or banned by moderators. This greatly limits the potential for players to include banned words that they spell in different ways to get around the old filters. The site has parental controls to allow parents to manage chat settings, screen time, and more. While kids can join for free, play is highly limited compared to paying members.
Educational value:
Mostly just for fun, although there's lots of reading required (no audio voice-over instructions). There are a few educational games that require the use of basic math or identifying colors, and a typing tutor game. Plus, there's also counting coins to buy things. Kids also can learn about interacting online with other people in a respectful way and expecting the same respect from others (or reporting talk or behavior that isn't respectful) in an environment that's set up to be safe and kid-friendly.
Violence:
Penguins can throw snowballs at each other. During a Kung Fu-style card game on the site, the winning Penguin throws water balloons, squirts hot sauce, and pounds a jack hammer at the loser.
Sex:
Club Penguin's new chat system uses technology that allows kids to type and combine more than 300,000 approved words and phrases. As a result, kids can no longer easily use code language to create sexually suggestive words and get through filters. Any other words or phrases outside of the approved chat system that are typed will go into a queue to be approved or blocked by moderators. Ultimate Safe Chat will also remain an option for parents to select for their kids, which means only pre-scripted messages can be viewed. And kids still have ways to block or report other players who are following them or otherwise behaving inappropriately toward their penguin.
Language:
The new chat system, which Club Penguin developers call the "safest and most advanced chat technologies," only allows players to type in pre-approved words and phrase combinations. Any other words or phrases that are typed will go into a queue for moderators to approve or ban. Ultimate Safe Chat also still exists; players limited to Ultimate Safe Chat can only chat using pre-scripted terms (no typing or combining of phrases) and can only see other players using the same.
Consumerism:
Kids earn virtual money to buy things for their igloo and penguin, but only paid members have a broad range of things they can buy. Kids are definitely encouraged to upgrade to a paid membership ($6/month; $58/year) to have access to pets and clothes and to decorate a room for their penguin. A membership is required to be able to finish many of the games on the site. The site's main page contains links to stores that sell offline CP products, such as stuffed toys and T-shirts, and to Disneystore.com. Some of the offline items come with CP coins that unlock features on the site. Once kids are in the virtual world, however, it's considered a "protected zone" -- there are no links to outside product advertising.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
Not applicable.
Privacy & safety:
Kids can "turn off" players they don't want to interact with through an icon on the Friends list. The new chat list safeguards against sharing any personal information because kids can only choose from and combine pre-approved words and phrases as they're typing. The site's rules tell kids not to ask for or give away personal information -- including whether you're a girl or a boy. There are clear warnings and guidelines about how to secure your password and how to report rule breakers. Any personal information collected (parent's email address, child's account name -- not their real name -- and account password, as well as parent's credit card and billing information for paid accounts) follows the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act standards.
The thorough parent section helps adults navigate the site's features. Parents can view their kid's account and change settings, set time limits, and choose chat preferences for their child. Parents can also view messages, the child's list of friends, and activities on the site.
More on Club Penguin
Review It
Most useful reviews by all members
Ali J
teen, 14 years old
teen, 14 years old
Disney ruined an amazing website
I honestly feel so bad for the kids today who have to play the "new" and apparently "improved" club penguin. I got an account on this in 2005, the year it came out. Me and my friends had so much fun on this! It wasn't like a toddler website, but more of a tweenish kind of website. In 2006 I would have rated it 8+. But then, in 2008, disney has to make MORE money of course, and they buy club penguin. Well I stopped going on it in 2008 because of disney! I go back on in 2010, and I see stupid members bullying non-members because they are "poor" so I go and stick up for them, and they start bullying all non-members! So I write an angry note to disney saying that I'm not happy, and they just say they are sorry and stuff. CONCLUSION: Disney is advertising memberships WAY to much! Go on their website, all you see is club penguin ads splattered everywhere! Now, members think they have a right to be rude, and one even called me "bay"! I think we all know what that means! So I hope disney stops memberships, because in 2005-2007, no member was mean! All members care about now is clothing and looks, even though they are penguins! Plus, members go out with each other and pretend kiss on it. I hate club penguin members... and I hope disney is happy.
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Miloub
teen, 14 years old
teen, 14 years old
Not that safe for kids.
Club penguin has extremely bad issues with bad language, Teens/Kids/Adults will litterly jump in a conversation and say something violent or inappropiate. There's a money problem also, Kids cannot buy stuff for their igloo or penguin without paying real money, and the prices are moterlly expensive. It's also not educational, while you can buy a so called ''Puffle'' and feed and water it, and it leaves if you don't feed play or water it, There's no more education then just that. Kids find it interesting, but it mostly lacks of things that should be taught.
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Sheriix3
kid, 11 years old
kid, 11 years old
Don't join. Ever.
Okay first off, do not waste money on membership. Your penguin ends up banned whether you do anything or not within a few years or less. Parents; do not take what disney claims your child "did" seriously. They over advertise, people can have sex on there and not be banned, people will bully, scam, and get your personal information. Your child will probably feel pressured to date on there, but the truth is, a ton of old creepers are probably on the other end. Trust me, i played club penguin for a few years, and i got permanently banned on an account i spend 300+ dollars on. Why? Because some guy tries to go out with me, and i tell him "No, I don't date". They call that BULLYING. And they encourage ROLLPLAY, which is fine except the only rollplay there is inappropriate.
My advice, don't even join. A great site I'd recommend is fantage*
Its very safe and theres lots for members, and nonmembers, to do.
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shanno15
teen, 16 years old
teen, 16 years old
My review
Cute,fun way to interact with friends. But if someone were to say a swear word or give out info, almost always nobody catches it because so many people use the website. Also can get boring if your not a member
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renesmee
kid, 13 years old
kid, 13 years old
perfect for tweens
its fun
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Lizzimi
kid, 11 years old
kid, 11 years old
Club Penguin. Can be an angel and devil
I think ClubPenguin is very appropiate. They might try to say he**, and say "fell", but that happens VERY occasionally. One thing about it which is very negative is paying membership. If your a non member, you could get pretty crappy stuff. I believe that membership souldn't exist so kids with membership (like me,) won't brag and make fun of people just because their not members. I don't do that. I support non-members anyway I can, and try to eliminate bullying for unpaid penguins. Disney can be iffy, but overall ClubPenguin is a really nice website.
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Sel Gomez ...
kid, 11 years old
kid, 11 years old
Some minor problems, but it's overall a great experience.
I really love this site. I think it's really fun to be on. You can be a secret agent, a cook, and even go sledding! My only concerns are the memberships and the language. Without a membership, there really isn't much to do. You can't even buy clothes without a membership. That is what sucks about it. The language is that it turns out that some penguins choose to have boyfriends and girlfriends, pretend to have kids and start a family. I haven't seen a single penguin say a bad word. Overall, it has been a wonderful experience.
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hamstergurl09
teen, 17 years old
teen, 17 years old
I Used To Like This
When I was younger I liked Club Penguin. I don't think it's very inappropriate or anything. Occasionally some people might pretend to kiss or something, but that's about it. Overall, it's a safe, cute game. However, I must warn you of something. Teenagers, when they get bored, will sometimes make an account with their friends and go around doing crazy things(i.e. swear, yell at people, bother people, etc.). I know that this is true because I do this on occasion.
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Nicki213
kid, 12 years old
kid, 12 years old
I love hanging out at club penguin with my friends outside of club penguin and I also love meeting new ones. But I find as I learn more and more things about club penguin that this isn't the best website I could be at, and has nothing to do with the creators of this site it has to with the users. What I mean by this is that there are a great amount of cyber bullying, lying, working around the rules, users influence skipping class, and cheating on this website. By cyber bullying I mean there are many cliques, and it seems that you are not "cool" if you do not wear black and aren't a member. By lying I mean users have made up some kind of adoption center at the pet shop where penguins adopt "bay bees" they are also an issue with cyber bullying, if he or she who want to "adopt" a bay bee doesn't have flashy clothes and doesn't act like they are rich, that "bay bees" will reject in a mean way. Also by working around the rules I mean it seems that penguin "hook up" on club penguin. They use the heart symbol to show affection to each other and say things like "say i if you are a boy and visa versa and they also say "girls meet guys in the coffee shop" visa versa they also say things like "guys meet guys at the coffee shop" and the same thing with girls. I think this is absolutely just disturbing. Next when I say users influence skipping class I mean first somebody starts a "college at their igloo" and when penguins go to that place many users say, "is skipping class" or things like that. Finally there is very many cheating websites and cheat programs one of the most popular cheat programs is penguin storm. Basically it works around everything thats good about club penguin, the educational value, safety, ect. Also there are password snatcher programs. The positives of this website are many ways to express yourself, and a fun place to hangout with friends. I hope this review helped you
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TheBookWorm101
kid, 13 years old
kid, 13 years old
Fun, but Boring
It can be fun. But it can get boring. There isn't a lot of stuff to do if your not a member. If your a member you have more of a variety of stuff to do. But of corse, it costs money.
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Hello Kitty123
kid, 11 years old
kid, 11 years old
Club Penguin is okay
Club penguin is a fun game! I do know that club penguin was made 2005 so it only started off with no members. but when wigs came out at the gift shop we just dont look like a penguin. Yes there has been inappropiate things going around Club penguin. There also is another problem i saw on Club penguin which might be causing anger issuse to other players. Club penguin has a pet shop and when you go inside there has been penguins dressing up as a babie who are very annoying to other players and other penguins are trying to play peacefully. It also means that people are getting angry at others and start to swear and the penguin babies do inappropriate things. Some good news i would say about CP is that there is fun games and partys! you get to dress up your penguins and get free coins by playing games on it. You dont always have to log in to your penguin but you can look around the website and find colouring pages but instead of glued to the computers and get thicker glasses theres lots to life then a computer! like riding your bike and baking! Club penguin is a okay website but i dont log into it anymore but maybe like once a month and that about it and then i go off and start swinging on the swing sets! i might go look at the treasure books and check out their toys and find some wallpaper of club penguin. it wasnt as fun as the old days. today we are trying to grow up into adults. after you read this what do you think?
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kittenmady
teen, 15 years old
teen, 15 years old
Fun but.........
Some times rude messages can get through the filters, and it will get boring at time because there is not a lot to do.
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Phil1995
kid, 13 years old
kid, 13 years old
Some "fun things" that you shouldnt do but you can get away with it
I still play Club Penguin and its fun. But latley some things have been happening. A while ago I went to my buddies igloo on CP and I saw something that you shoulnt be doing. My friend, a gilr penguin, was naked and saying things like "hugs closey" to a boy penguin. Very innapropiate(sorry for my ba spelling). If you say a bad word on CP you get banned forever or few 24 hours. Once I accidently said the word sec but with an X. I got banned but it was good to know that people get banned for saying things like that. What I like about CP is that you can be creative. I love decerating my igloo. Its a lot of fun. But some people decide to make there igloos into something bad. When I was 9 I went to the town on CP and some one said that there was a bounce party at an igloo. I didnt know that he ment bouncing, as in touching each other. I went to the party and didnt see any bouncy house. What I saw was naked penguins bouncing on each other. I think CP should do something about all this innapropiate behaivor. I also think a new trend is starting. Being racies(again, sorry for the bad spelling). Your penguin can be different colors like black or brown. A lot of penguins like to be brown. One non-member brown penguin wanted to join a game of snowball fighting, but the penguins said now negros aloud. I reported the player that said that and tried to comfort the offended brown colored penguin. If all these things get worse I will stop playing CP for good. Being 11 and all this really bothers me. There should be a way for the CP people to stop this bad and innapropiate behavior.
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Darkstorm824
teen, 18 years old
teen, 18 years old
Overall, terrible
This game is terrible, no doubt. It has safety issues all around it, people saying "FREE GUYS SAY I". It's TERRIBLE. I know some kids will say it's the best, but trust me, it's boring and it's unsafe for your child.
Things cost waaaaaaaaaay too much. If you don't pay the game for a membership, you can't do anything. You can go on the game but you cannot dress your penguin or decorate an igloo and players WITH memberships will exclude you in many events because you're not a member. You will also get excluded from many parties in the game that the staff of Club Penguin make.
I would not recommend this game to any gamers. The graphics are terrible, you're just a flat screen penguin, you can swear by typing the swear in a different form. Some players pretend to be criminals and even "rob" other players by going up to the other player and saying "Steals purse" or "robs".
So no, I would NEVER recommend this game.
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carolinababy
adult
adult
Why you should not let your child use Club Penguin com
Please do not join CLUB PENGUIN! Here is why...
You can work very hard to gain points and the points buy you nice things.
If your computer goes down without you saving it you will lose all your points. I wrote them and they claim this does not happen, but it does.
Then if your membership ends, you lose everything you worked hard for.
The only way to gain things back is to renew your membership. So if you
don't pay them money you lose everything you worked so hard for. I think that is extortion and it does not teach kids anything.
Parents, please show club penguin you mean - business, good business.
Don't buy a membership. play for free.
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Dadof2
adult
adult
Don't do it
My boys used the site for a while and grew bored with it. I tried to cancel the paid, monthly membership but their site would not allow me to do so. I sent an email to their customer service department, but my credit card was charged again. I sent another email asking for a credit because they did not cancel the membership as I requested. They refused to take care of the credit. I sent another emai, and they refused again. I sent yet another email, but so far nothing has been done. Sadly, customer service doesn't seem to be a priority to Club Penguin.
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Jamie and James
parent of 6 and 8 year old
parent of 6 and 8 year old
Fun, and even though I've never seen bad words, is it not safe enough?
My son plays Club Penguin while my daughter plays webkinz. Like Jamie, James also does not play on it a lot. Again, I hate it that they can say whatever they want. I told my son he is allowed to have friends on it and do whatever, except he cannot talk to the penguins in the buildings and places like that.
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Fin3cy6
kid, 8 years old
kid, 8 years old
fun if you know how to playit
the game is fun at first with all the puffle pets and stuff,but after awhile it gets kind of boring.you can do nothing but waddle around and talk!the games and secret agent missions are the only very entertaining things for a nonmember in the game.the game also heavily tries to make players buy a membership.
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CritiNumba1
teen, 16 years old
teen, 16 years old
Fun Website, Overpriced Membership, Stay Away From Freaks
I loved this website, and my little siblings love it. I think this is a fun website for kids, and even false dating on here can be fun for kids. But there are many crazy people on this website and lots of gay people. But it's fun, just stay away from the freaks.
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CelestialBlessings
adult
adult
Membership PROBLEMS
Overall, Club Penguin is smart & fun, but membership has some problems that need addressed in order to make this site totally terrific.
Membership allows kids to fully enjoy the site, however, when the membership renewal doesn't go though or expires, objects such as costumes, hats, ninja outfits, igloo items & more all "disappear temporarily" until the minimum $5.95 fee is paid.
Now, not only is that rather ROTTEN to do to kids who already "purchased" these items with points earned while PAID members, it's simply BAD BUSINESS. It would be just as motivating & lucrative for the site owner to simply KEEP EVERYTHING ALREADY EARNED DURING PAID MEMBERSHIP IN CHILDREN'S ACCOUNTS, but prevent any "new" items to be obtained until membership is renewed. After all, we already PAID to have access to all those cute items & therefore they NOW BELONG to our child's account!
Items acquired during membership should remain the "property" of the account holder, not the site! It's ridiculous for a child to exclaim, "Oh no, I can't use my ninja suit and my items are blocked out!" in order to prompt another $5.95 membership fee!
The site owner should prompt membership payment/renewal by making ONLY NEW ITEMS unavailable until membership is renewed again. Certainly, the retailer has no right to TAKE WHAT WAS ALREADY PAID FOR! After all, using prepaid debit cards for online purchases & even the Club Penguin cards available at C.V.S, walmart, etc. means that parents will always be renewing their child's account!
So why in the world would Club Penguin be so crummy to kids to with-hold many of the fun things they earned while paid members -- even if only for an hour while we care-givers & parents quickly run to the store for a new prepaid debit or club penguin card? The same prompt for membership renewal can be communicated just as clearly by simply withholding account access to NEW STUFF until membership is renewed, without all the unnecessary DRAMA!
Club Penguin, kick it up a notch & be a better retailer. Then, yes, your site will be truly GREAT!
Best,
A Wise Grandmother
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