Club Penguin - What Every 8-Year-Old Wants
Now my 8-year-old daughter has fallen into the same trap as her older brother who’s addicted to World of Warcraft. She’s hooked on Club Penguin - admittedly, just about the cutest world of animated penguins and casual games I’ve ever run across (and certainly which has ever come out of Kelowna, British Columbia, a small town four hours drive north of Vancouver).
It was recently written up in the Wall Street Journal:
http://www.clubpenguin.com/parents/downloads/How-young-is%20too-young-for-MySpace.pdf
Launched in October 2005, but really marketed since March 2006, Club Penguin is now up to several million unique visitors. Registration is free and requires a parent’s e-mail address. Games are free and you rack up points for playing. You design your own penguin and igloo. You can get a pet Puffle and spend points buying it food. I have checked out their Internet safety information and am reasonably confident it’s fine for young kids.
Here’s the business model: Revenue does not come from advertising. How much discretionary income does an 8-year-old have? Just loads of influence.
Rather, a paid subscription on a parent’s credit card is $6 monthly or $58 for a one-year commitment. This is about half my daughter’s allowance, which she’ll have to fork over to me, and will at least cut into her candy buying.
When I was 8, I had no concept of buying services, let alone the means. I barely understood Monopoly, and that money was fake. If I had a subscription to anything, it was Popular Science or Weekly Reader. This young generation is learning how to create an online identity, interact with others they cannot meet, budget their resources (real or virtual), and create their own entertainment.
And judging by the number of off-line phone calls my daughter makes to coordinate meeting her real friends in her virtual world, she’s also saving gasoline and my time driving her to playdates! (okay, that’s just a rationalization…)
November 11th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Hmmm… we checked the link and it’s clearly 8 year old crack.
Addicting, not offensive, pretty cute
I can’t argue this one much but sharing the computer just got a little more difficult.
March 2nd, 2007 at 2:22 am
Club Penguin is for every age. So dont make fun of it. It ROCKS the hole Universe. Even if God could play it he would!!!!!!!! I♥Club Penguin
July 8th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Yes, I agree. I am the parent of a 9-year-old girl. She loves this website! And I also had my uncle, a professional “safe-4-kids” internet worker. My daughter has a six-month paid membership account.
August 5th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
[…] First of all, why is Club Penguin passé? That’s on the evidence of my 8-year-old daughter and a group of her friends, who happily let their paid subscriptions lapse and are now addicted to another kids site. For about six months (and $36 of my paid dues), my daughter could not get enough of CP. See my post from November 2006. But even with the new features and content, eventually, the site lost its appeal. Oh, the fickleness of youth… Moving on to the next great thing… […]
November 19th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
shut up dont make fun of it clubpenguin’s awesome!