Some time back my kids were introduced to a site called Club Penguin. I saw some kids playing it and asked about it, then I went home and asked my kids if they’d heard of it. All three of us signed up to play around and had a great time. Since the initial day, my daughter has been playing on it whenever she has time on the computer.
Club Penguin would make a fascinating case study. It’s an online community entirely for kids. They get a little penguin guy that they use to navigate through the world and play games. They can also interact. Parental controls allow me to set whether my kids can chat with others or just use preset chat lines, like “hello, how are you?” The kids can also add friends and visit each other in their igloos. Paying members get to buy cooler stuff with their points earned form playing the games. Non-paying members are really limited in what they can buy. All in all, Club Penguin is a pretty cool thing for me to watch and my kids to play.
Club Penguin also has a hierarchy of sorts. After 45 days and the passage of a quiz, a kid can become a “tour guide” and get a little hat that signifies they’re willing to help others find their way around. But that’s not the only job available to the kids. The other one is far more interesting. It’s the job of Secret Agent.
The Secret Agent on Club Penguin is an important job. For instance, if another kids drops a bomb, like “$#!T” or something, the Secret Agents in the area are supposed to click on their shiny, cool “spy phone” that is in the top corner of the Secret Agent’s window and report the kid. Or maybe the kid did something really stupid, like tell someone his home address. Pick up the spy phone. And the best part: there’s a secret door in one of the shops that leads to the spy room. The spy room is filled with a wall of television monitors that signify the watching of the rest of the Club Penguin world. According to The Girl, the best part of the room is the “cool door.” The only thing missing from the Secret Agent job position is the issuance of a brown shirt.
I’m not sure how I feel about my kid being a Secret Agent. On one hand, I really want to see how she handles it. Will she abuse her power and report guys who beat her in a sled race? Will she do everything in her power to not report someone even though they should be reported? Will she expose her “secret” status? Will she entrap people by baiting them with crappy tours of the area as the Tour Guide, causing them to go into fits of anger and cussing? This kind of thing can tell you a lot as a parent about how you’re doing and where your child is headed. Would you allow your child to continue on in the role of virtual rat? I think I will. But only because it entertains me.
Comments
Josh wrote:
What would you say is the age range of the kids playing? Do the game makers approach the kids about being a secret agent or is it well known that they exist?
Jan 31, 12:13 PM
Ryan Jerz wrote:
I think, based on the reaction of my kids and who I’ve seen playing it, the kids are between 5 and 9. The Secret Agent thing comes up when you look at your profile. There is a button to click to become one, and if you’re not old enough, you can’t do it. So the kids know that they’re there, but how many kids who plan on going around cussing up a storm care that some random kid might report them? The Secret Agents also get special missions within the game to make it more interesting, too. If that was all it was, it’d be fine. But that they go to such elaborate lengths to make the kids “spies” on other kids is odd to me.
Jan 31, 02:32 PM
Eric wrote:
I would hate to be a moderator for that web site. Kids that age love telling on each other. That is the main reason I don’t teach elementary school. I spent three weeks over the summer working for a maternity leave in a year round school and it drove me nuts with all of the tattling. Keep on eye on the girl. Remember, Mr. President, “Power corrupts; Absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
Feb 1, 12:54 AM
Karen wrote:
I just wanted to clarify a couple of things that have been raised here.
The idea behind the Secret Agents is to encourage Club Penguin users to become stewards of this site that has been created for them. The idea is not for children to be “spies” but for them to take ownership of their virtual world and take steps to keep it as safe and fun as it’s intended to be. The agents are just one level of the multi-layered system that keeps Club Penguin safe. The sophisticated word/phrase/conversation thread filter stops phone numbers and other identifying or inappropriate messages from getting through at all so even really creative attempts at “cussing” are almost entirely unlikely to even appear. While there may be incidents where a child “rats” out another for no real reason, it’s rare. Our live moderators (Community Support Representatives) deal with any reports of misconduct by tracking the actual conversation that occured and will only take action if it’s required. Tattling is not encouraged.
The game is designed for children from ages 8-14 but is entirely appropriate for all ages.
If you have any specific questions about Club Penguin and the many things it’s doing to be a safe haven for children online, please don’t hesitate to contact me at karen@clubpengun.com
Feb 1, 01:34 AM
Ryan Jerz wrote:
Karen,
First off, thank you very much for participating here. I appreciate getting a response from a representative of Club Penguin. I also understand what the purpose of the site is. I think it’s fascinating that you guys have developed a site where kids can interact in a virtual world and be relatively free of the dangers I initially was concerned with. And I also need to point out that my kids love the site.
The point of this post was to point out how I was struck by the nature of the Secret Agent role. The questionaire my daughter had to answer before achieving the status made it pretty clear to me that while they are to be stewards of their community, ratting someone out was not out of the question. And the symbolism of the wall full of television monitors actually made me laugh out loud. I wanted to know what you were attempting to teach the kids. I’m sure you meant it to be an authentic “secret agent” mood, coupled with the pretty cool music that plays while the kids are in that room, but as someone who considers himself somewhat of a scholar on Orwell’s 1984 (I’ve read it around five times and recently have picked it up every two years or so), I thought it was necessary to point out what I thought was going on. In 1984 kids are indoctrinated in a group called “The Spies” and routinely turn their parents in for thoughtcrimes. There is no way I believe your company would go that far, but the parallels are there, wouldn’t you agree?
Like I said originally, I have no plans on stopping my children from participating in Club Penguin. It’s a great learning experience, and as someone who is very attuned to the future of media, computers, and interactivity, I appreciate what you’ve done in creating a superb place for kids to participate in all of that. Thanks again for the interaction, and I hope you keep up the good work.
Feb 2, 05:10 PM
Commenting is closed for this article.
Ryan Jerz is an all-around good guy who shoots photos and video, builds websites, and works in athletics at the University of Nevada, Reno. He received a Masters Degree in 2007 from the University of Nevada, Reno's Reynolds School of Journalism.