Club Penguin Discussion: Takeovers & Original Parties

Welcome to our third Club Penguin Discussion article! Club Penguin Discussions, or CPD for short, will be published here on Club Penguin Cheats each Saturday and give you a chance to join in the discussion and give your opinion regarding the Club Penguin related subject discussed. Lets dive right into 'Club Penguin Discussion: Takeovers & Original Parties' below:

Over the span of Club Penguin's existence, almost nine years now, Club Penguin has released some really awesome and, to be honest, some not so awesome parties. Over this time table, parties have actually changed in drastic proportions. If you've played Club Penguin for quite awhile, you get the gist of what I mean. Club Penguin parties revolve around the same ideals the first party possessed. That is free items, decorations, and an event in which to celebrate (Take Halloween, Easter, or Christmas); however, the structure and focal point of a Club Penguin party has changed. Club Penguin parties can be placed in two categories: takeovers and original parties. This will be the primary source of this week's discussion and I'll be looking at the pros and cons of each. This is quite a long article, but I'd encourage you to read it and discuss it after doing so.

Takeovers

Everyone who currently plays Club Penguin is familiar with takeovers, a party promoting an outside source, usually Disney related, that's not original Club Penguin content. A Club Penguin party presently extends over a period of two weeks, decorations related to the event transform the normal setting of the popular rooms, various free items are up for grabs, there's challenges to complete, mascots attending the event, and that's just to name a few of the things that make a party a reality. Club Penguin takeovers have a theme many of us are familiar with and even fans of. The success of a Club Penguin takeover is dependent on the player's tastes, what he/she likes. Takeovers bring in new players that otherwise wouldn't play Club Penguin or found out about it otherwise. Club Penguin by being a branch of the Disney company has access to the rights of Disney licensed products and trademark. So, the questions arises, why not take advantage of that? Club Penguin reached its highest levels of popularity with their first Takeovers: the 2012 Marvel Superhero Takeover, Make your Mark: Ultimate Jam, and Adventure Party: Temple of fruit. That's why Club Penguin has continued released Takeovers, they're successful and they've proven that.

The amphitheater at the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Jam, a Club Penguin takeover. 

What's made takeovers unpopular as of late? I think it's a series of problems not just with takeovers, but Club Penguin parties in general. Club Penguin takeovers and parties are far too long. Two weeks is enough and by the first week the parties have gotten, well... boring. Club Penguin hasn't released anything new by week two and when they have it's been a bust. I was looking forward to the puffle gala and had high expectations for its arrival. It turned out to just be a room, no free items or anything. Challenges are another thing in themselves. They're simply way too long. I honestly don't have time to finish them, I have a life as I'm sure you do as well. Club Penguin should go back to the basics in these areas. We should see the return of free item boxes, I loved being able to pick up my free item, and parties should be shortened to a week.

Optional tasks that could be completed at the Muppets World Tour.

With the announcement of the 2012 Marvel Superhero Takeover, I was overjoyed and couldn't hold in my excitement for the party. To the contrary of latter takeovers, I wasn't disappointed when that years takeovers arrived. To the contrary, I was excited and the parties actually engaged the player and offered cool stuff. It was a beneficial change and a much needed one. With the exception of the Muppets Worlds Tour and Teen Beach Movie Summer Jam, the takeovers have been fairly good. I especially loved the Star Wars Takeover and I think an Indiana Jones Takeover would be pretty cool. Nonetheless, I don't think Club Penguin takeovers should define Club Penguin, that's what Club Penguin's original parties did and should be doing.

The Star Wars Takeover was always engaging players with new challenges, recognizable Star Wars rooms, and the ability to take off into space.

Original

Original Club Penguin parties are exactly what you'd think it means. Original. Although they may be based on Holidays and other themes, original Club Penguin parties aren't modeled after another trademark, but fashioned after Club Penguin's own model of thought. To the contrary of takeovers, original parties are what made Club Penguin what it is and what got it to out there in the first place. Original parties are unique, with Club Penguin's own graphics and ideas. That's what made them so fun and engaging for players.

The Plaza during Camp Penguin in 2007. Note how there's no stage.

Club Penguin parties, when you get right down to it, are pretty simple. There's an overall theme, free items, decorations, and an engaging feature like a scavenger hunt. Parties were usually a week long. It's this simplicity that makes original Club Penguin parties so fun and the in-game experience seems even more thrilling than an overdone room with way too much to take in. That's what we loved about those rooms, they inspired creativity and got us to chat more. When I log onto a Club Penguin server, there's often times no one chatting. That's one of the things that made Club Penguin so special. It was cool to meet up with your friends on Club Penguin.

The beach at the 2006 Halloween Party.

The beach at the 2011 Halloween Party.

I'll be honest, I think Club Penguin's added some awesome stuff over the years to make Club Penguin a better place. I enjoy the interactive features like a backyard for your igloo, quests, scavenger hunts, and story-line. The structure for original parties are beginning to look a lot like takeovers though. There's reoccurring party catalogs, reoccurring challenges, and you're greeted by the same ol' pop-up message when you first log into a party. Let's be honest, those are getting boring. You can read more regarding this subject on Riyita's blog here. However, there's a point as to how far to go and we can see this in the takeovers and more recent original parties. It's time to go back to the basics.

Even at the 2014 Puffle Party, players encountered a pop-up message that first appeared at takeovers.

As Club Penguin original parties evolved, more interactive features were added. To name a few, there were the quests at the Medieval party and the annual Halloween scavenger hunt. I lived for these elements of a Club Penguin party. The quests for the Medieval party were nothing less than engaging, exciting, and interactive. Not to mention, a new quest was added with every Medieval party. I was disappointed when the 2013 Medieval party didn't bring back the quests or add a new one.

The quests at the 2012 Medieval Party in the underground pool.

Original Club Penguin parties always had the coolest room designs. As of recently, the only rooms decorated for both takeovers and original parties are the popular rooms such as the town, plaza, dock, and so forth. Club Penguin parties used to have nearly and often times every room decorated. Have you seen the mine or underground pool decorated for a Club Penguin party lately? If you said 'No' you're right and that's because they haven't. I remember when the underground pool was decorated for the Puffle Party and that was back in 2013. More Club Penguin rooms should be decorated for players to explore. It's cool to check out rooms when they're themed to an event.

The underground pool decorated for the 2013 puffle party.

Club Penguin parties always have a mascot that attends. Mascots are unique as well. They're Club Penguin's creation, not another's work. They play a major role in a Club Penguin party, especially original ones, as they correlate with the event and get players online to search for them. That's why I think meet-up times are a bad idea. I used to search for hours on end for mascots and to finally find one and claim their background felt like I accomplished something. Secondly, there's no reason for Club Penguin blogs to track mascots anymore. There's no need to. If you're a Club Penguin blogger then you know how fulfilling it is to help penguins find mascots and get penguin's to come to your blog. From time to time we also need a new mascot that's original, not celebrity mascots like CeCe and Rocky at the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Jam. I feel like Club Penguin's pushing for the same thing at this year's Music Jam. That would ruin a Club Penguin party with a good reputation. Mascots are crucial to original parties, but they don't seem to play the role they used to anymore.

Meeting Aunt Arctic in October 2011.

Club Penguin didn't become successful through advertising, it became successful through word of mouth. We're the reason Club Penguin's still in existence and is the popular Online game it is today. I have to hand to the Club Penguin staff for all of the hard work they do to make the parties and the game a reality, but it's our ideas that fuel their passion to make the safe virtual world of Club Penguin the way it is. Ask any Club Penguin employee, they'll tell you this. Therefore, for this week's Club Penguin Discussion question we want to know which category of Club Penguin parties you prefer: Takeovers or Original. Club Penguin claims they listen to the Club Penguin community (us) so, we need to consistently be giving honest criticism or encouragement about the direction Club Penguin's going. I'm not trying to point out everything wrong with Club Penguin, I love the game, but I want to make Club Penguin a better place as I'm sure you want to as well. It's time to let Club Penguin know what we think, they're listening, so lets get discussing!

~Gpumpkin~

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