Review

Club Penguin

Common Sense Media says

Site unveils new chat tool, makes it easier to find friends.
Age
7
Quality
 
Learning
3
  • Positive messages3
    Club Penguin's overall message is that there's a safe, positive, fun place to hang out online with your friends. Through its games and missions, the site promotes healthy competition and exploration.
  • Violence1
    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.
  • Sex1
    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.
  • Language0
    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. 
  • Consumerism3
    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, & smoking0
    Not applicable.
  • Privacy & safety4
    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. 
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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.

This review of Club Penguin was written by
Age
9

Most useful reviews by all members

Teen, 13 years old
April 24, 2011
10
Pause for kids & under
 
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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Kid, 10 years old
May 2, 2011
6
Not for kids & under
 
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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Kid, 10 years old
April 10, 2010
9
Pause for kids & under
 
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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Kid, 11 years old
May 1, 2010
10
Pause for kids & under
 
perfect for tweens
its fun
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Teen, 16 years old
November 27, 2010
9
OK for kids & up
 
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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Kid, 10 years old
December 18, 2010
8
OK for kids & up
 
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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Kid, 10 years old
December 19, 2010
7
OK for kids & up
 
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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Teen, 14 years old
April 25, 2010
8
OK for kids & up
 
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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Kid, 11 years old
April 24, 2010
7
OK for kids & up
 
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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Adult
March 29, 2009
17
OK for kids & up
 
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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