Just a Pawn in a Game

*Note: This blog post is almost a sequel to a couple of blog posts I did earlier this year.  They both talk about how uneven parts of Club Penguin are.  First, you can read "The Mascot Method" here.  Then, you can read my followup to that, "An Uneven System," which spans across a variety of Club Penguin subjects, here.

One of the biggest things that sets Club Penguin apart from many virtual worlds is that there's a new theme every month.  With this comes a price: nothing really stays relevant for long.  However, are some games in Club Penguin unfairly shunned?

Source: Club Penguin Wikia

Let's think about the typical content of the Club Penguin Times.  There are references to parties, new pieces of canon revealed, questions in the advice section that are neither advice nor helpful to Club Penguin Veterans, and Upcoming Events.  But, if you dig deeper than that, you'll find patterns - particularly if you've read over almost 300 issues of the paper.

If you really think about it, Club Penguin's flagship games are mentioned all the time.  These games are Catchin' Waves, Jet Pack Adventure, Sled Racing, Pizzatron 3000, and Card-Jitsu.  

But where are the mentions to such classics as Hydro Hopper and Bean Counters?  Why is there no love for them.

Then, let's look at Club Penguin stamp system, which, in and of itself, is ignored (hopefully Spike Hike's comments about there being a massive overhaul on them leads to something better).  All those flagship games have stamps.  But do the Hydro and Counters have any?  Don't bet your puffle on it.

These two games I mention, along with others such as Bits & Bolts, Find Four, DJ3K, Dance Contest (despite the fact that that game is the only reason Cadence exists in the first place), and Pufflescape, are on the verge of extinction.  They are never mentioned anywhere - be that official Club Penguin Twitter accounts, the What's New Blog, or actually in-game.  Think about how many times a Moderator/Club Penguin Team Member meetup resulted in playing a round of the multiplayer version of Dance Contest.  Exactly - I don't believe it's ever happened.

Source: Stuff Point

But, it's not just that.  The Card-Jitsu spinoffs are only relevant during ninja events.  Smoothie Smash fizzled out when Rockhopper left the island with the cursed totem.  And, it's a rarity to find a Manacala partner, even on popular servers like Avalanche and Blizzard.

We could be witnessing the silent demise of some of our beloved games.  Remember Paint By Letters?  Remember how we never saw that removal coming?

And now my question is why does this happen?  While Club Penguin obviously wouldn't try to (for lack of a better term) kill-off one of its creations, why do they allow this to happen?

My guess is that Club Penguin doesn't want to direct its traffic to simple games in the fear they'll get bored of that game and then Club Penguin as a whole quickly.  They may also want to direct their audience to games that showcase the more modern Club Penguin; Hydro Hopper is dated and everyone knows it.

These games are essentially the Leonardo Dicaprio's of our little Club.  They're snubbed all the time.  They deserve better but they never get it.

Source: Club Penguin Wikia

So, Aunt Arctic stop stealing our Gatorade; take all the Powerade you'd like, the next time you set out to write a part of your FAQ advice column, skip the clichés and show us, show the newbies, something different.  

As Billybob would say, Waddle On!

- Chillin43