Club Pony Pals (http://www.clubponypals.com/)
common sense media says
Horse-raising site based on books is fun for horse fans.
parents & educators say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this pony-raising virtual world is based on the Pony Pals book series by Jeanne Betancourt, and lets kids adopt, name, and care for a virtual pony. Parents are asked to set up an account for their child by submitting an email address and a password. Parents can also sign up for a parent's account to see when their child last logged into the site.
Educational value:
Users can learn a bit about the basics of horse grooming when caring for their pony. There are also educational games to play.
Violence:
Not applicable.
Sex:
Not applicable.
Language:
The company policy is: "no personal information, nothing mean or creepy." If personal information is entered it is edited out. Site status updates do not appear immediately and must be approved before going live.
Consumerism:
The site's store section sells plush horse toys and links to a site selling Pony Pals clothing, mugs, and other items. Parents are also encouraged to buy extra Wiggins Bucks, which are the site's currency, in the store section and if they sign up for a parent's account.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
Not applicable.
Privacy & safety:
Users give their horse a name and give themselves a username. An email address is all that's required to register.
Parents can register for a parent’s account that shows when your child last logged into the site -- but it doesn't offer much detail about what games or activities your child has been using on the site.
More on Club Pony Pals
Review It
Most useful reviews by all members
RustyGirl
teen, 16 years old
teen, 16 years old
Suitable for all ages - safe and fun!
The safety on Club Pony Pals is outstanding. Every single message that a user ever submits, including their description (called status in review) and every message in the live chat is checked by an adult moderator, who is a real person. If someone enters an inappropriate message, it won't get through.
There is a lot of educational content. For example, there are math games that, if you get a score in the top 10 high scores for that week, you get an added Wiggins Bucks (game currency) prize. There are text based virtual "lessons" each week and at chat sleepovers aimed at developing writing skills.
The site encourages responsibility, budgeting, saving money, working for what you want and making sure you have the money to pay bills (in the form of monthly board bills on ponies bought from Olson's Pony Farm). It tries to teach that ponies are expensive and do take a lot of care. Ponies must be properly groomed before you ride them on the trail. You have to keep an eye on your pony's energy and hunger while riding, and be careful. A pony also has a "Health" bar - your pony will lose health if you feed it too many treats, hit things at a fast speed while out of the trails and if you don't visit your pony (ponies will lose one block of health each day they don't get a visit. However, if you have health supplements in your inventory your pony will be fed one a day while you're not there to keep it healthy).
I would definitely recommend Club Pony Pals - it is the safest multi-player horse site I've ever come across. To parents- if you have concerns about Club Pony Pals or just want to check it out before you'll let your child play, the admin staff encourage parents to take a look around or come on the live modeated chat and ask questions. You can also reach them easily via email.
Note: I've had to change "what other families should know" as the "safe" was changed to "safety is an issue." This goes for all of the reviews here. Ignore if it has the "safety issue" button - It is most definitely not! Both safe and not safe were combined into this button.
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Jane Fleck
educator
educator
CPP site is completely safe, review is incorrect
This is a great horse site, small but growing. Commonsense media got it wrong about language and bad words.
Club Pony Pals has a100% zero tolerance policy for profanity, all swear words in usernames are filtered out by a site-wide bad word filter. All content on the site is 100% moderated -- an adult, human moderation team removes any inappropriate text before it is ever visible to other members. If a member enters any profane text, their account and all messages they have ever created are deleted. All messages --100%-- entered on CPP's site are reviewed and approved by moderators before they appear to members. Even if a bad word is entered, it never gets through.
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girlspeacelove
kid, 9 years old
kid, 9 years old
Great for 8 year olds
I love it sooooo much
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Artemis1998
teen, 15 years old
teen, 15 years old
I LOVE CPP! It's for all ages, from the youngest to the oldest, and it's safe!
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diary789
kid, 12 years old
kid, 12 years old
CPP is a very fun site!
I think this is a very safe and fun site for any one of the kindergarten age and up. The grooming is very realistic. When you are riding it's like you're "on" the horse. No other pony/horse game does it like that. Like this adlt said it is very safe. I think the common sense review is wrong as well. I highly reccomend this website for horselovers of all ages! A must visit!
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