When you as a parent hear the term virtual world, you probably immediately think of the numerous games that are available for adults and that let adults do almost anything that they want. But what many of you don’t know is that while Club Penguin is a virtual world, it is actually designed for children between the ages of six and fourteen. Club Penguin actually has made claims that is designed strictly with kids in mind and that it is a very kid friendly website. And as far as we can tell this claim is actually very true. Club Penguin has numerous safety features in place that are designed to protect children of all ages and all of the activities on the game are designed for children.
Here are some of the reasons that Club Penguin is as kid friendly as they claim.
Reason one:
Like most virtual worlds, chatting is a huge aspect of the game because you are going to need to communicate with other players. But unlike other virtual worlds, the chat options in this game are different then regular virtual worlds because this game is designed for kids from six to fourteen. The two methods of chat are Ultimate-Safe Chat mode, which allows players to select what they want to say from a predefined list of phrases. The second method of chat is the Standard-Safe Chat mode which allows players to enter in custom messages, but these messages are always censored for any vulgar language.
Reason two:
Something else that you need to be aware of is that Club Penguin is completely moderated. What this means is that there are numerous people who watch what is going on at all times to ensure that no profanity is used nor any kind of harassment or abuse towards any player. And if you abuse the rules of the game then you are most likely going to end up with a ban. In fact, most of the time if you use any type of profanity you are going to get automatically banned for at least twenty four hours. And if the behavior continues you can end up with a longer ban. Keep in mind that if you get between three to five bans, depending on what the bans were for, you can get a permanent ban.
Reason three:
Something else that parents need to be aware of is that this game also allows players to become Secret Agents. In order to become a Secret Agent you have to have really good behavior and no bans. In fact, Secret Agents are encouraged to report people who are not behaving, or who are basically breaking the rules. But do not get Secret Agents confused with moderators; Secret Agents are not the same thing. Basically this allows the kids to police themselves and, like hall monitors in schools, most of you are aware of the fact that this really works. Not to mention it is similar to leading by example, if the more popular kids are doing right and being rewarded for it then the other kids will probably follow suit. Kids respond better to positive reinforcement, which being rewarded for good behavior is the best kind of positive reinforcement you can give a child.
Reason four:
Club Penguin was developed by New Horizon Interactive, but was later bought by Disney. The game was designed for children between the ages of six and fourteen but anybody can play it.