The CPPS Situation: Why It's Bogus

 

I feel like everyone in the community right now is talking about this. Originally, all I wanted to do was quote-retweet the announcement post made by the Club Penguin Legacy team, simply saying "another one bites the dust" and leave it at that. But, it seems like the conversation is still continuing, and I happened to be cursed with the fact that I woke up at 5 in the morning with the inability to get back to sleep, so this will be how I'm spending my time instead: writing about the whole CPPS situation we have on our hands right now.

The reason I'm so quiet about CPPSes is because it isn't something that appeals to me in the first place. I'm sure all of you know this - I'm a Club Penguin Island player, and I'm not as big of a fan of the original as I am with the successor. Sure, I respect it great amounts - and even if I didn't play it much while it was still around, I still think it was a great era of gaming history. However, history is something that is set in the past, and I sadly feel like a lot of people don't understand that sometimes there's nothing we can do about that.

Many people have been saying how heartless the Walt Disney Company is for taking Club Penguin Legacy down. On the surface, it would look that way, right? Club Penguin Legacy wasn't doing anything wrong, so why would they do such a thing? It was run by such passionate and kind-hearted people who just wanted to keep the dream alive!

While I don't doubt that the people behind Legacy - and other private servers, for that matter - had good intentions, the truth of the matter is that no matter the level of malice the private server teams have, fundamentally they are doing something wrong. It sucks, I know, that Disney isn't doing anything with the Club Penguin franchise right now, but let's take a different perspective on the matter, shall we?

Imagine a rich person. Like, a stupidly filthy rich person. Kinda like Disney, right? Right! Now, imagine that person owning several properties - houses for example! Let's represent each of Disney's IPs with houses! When it comes to Club Penguin, it was a house that said rich person used to hold parties all the time in. People loved those parties, and when the rich person closed their house up and stopped, they were really upset about it. And hey, nothing wrong with that, understandable even!

The rich guy locks up the house and doesn't say anything. You don't know what their intentions on what to do with the house next will be - they might throw another party unexpectedly and open their doors once more, or they might just do nothing with it, and leave it be. Whose decision would it be to open those doors? The rich guy, he owns the house! You wouldn't break into their house to throw a party, because that's against the law, and when the rich guy inevitably finds out about what you're doing, they are within their right to kick you out and have you face the consequences for it.

What I've described to you is the situation going on with CPPSes. The concept of a Club Penguin Private Server is inherently illegal - stealing the assets from the original game and reuploading them onto a server. It doesn't matter who's doing it, it's all illegal and it's all stuff you can be punished for. Calling Disney heartless for taking it down is essentially saying people shouldn't be punished for stealing.

I'm very well aware that a whole community formed around these private servers - lots of people really loved them, and I'm happy that so many great experiences came from them! However, it doesn't change the fact that it belongs to Disney, and they can do whatever they want with it. Whether that be bringing the game back themselves, or taking down private servers, they are in control. While it would be logical to bring the game back, as it would bring in revenue, that is clearly not their focus at the moment, and we don't really have a say in that. That's not saying they won't ever do that, but the point of the matter is that we as a community should recognize that we aren't the ones who own Club Penguin.

Let's shift the tone a little bit, as I'm sure a lot of you who were frequent visitors to these CPPS sites are probably wondering what in the world to do next. And there's actually a bunch of things you could do to fill the void! You'd be surprised!

I'm going to start off with the obvious - and all the while, still using that analogy I was using earlier, with the rich guy and the properties and all that. Imagine that same rich guy had another house that was sort of similar to the old one. They held a party that didn't last as long as the one you know and love, but when it was over, they left the keys on the front door mat and said, "Anyone is welcome to come in here if they wish, and I've even stocked up the fridge."

I am of course referring to Club Penguin Island. After the game's closure - which came as a surprise to no one, let's be real - the team created an offline mode specifically for the preservation of the game, for people who still wanted to play. They even left a debug mode, too! While I know it isn't quite the same as the original to a lot of people, it's still worth a try if you really need something with the Club Penguin name right now. It's really all you'll be able to get for now.

Now, imagine the people who actually constructed the original house that the rich guy owns. They decide that they want to make a new house completely independent of the first one, and they do just that. They're still constructing it, but people are already crowding around the site, getting excited about it!

I'm referring to Party Parrot World - or even Box Critters! These are games that were created by the same people who made the Club Penguin you know and love. You all might know that I've been writing about Party Parrot World quite a bit, and they'll be opening up for their second beta really soon! These projects deserve lots of love from the community, and they might even fill the Club Penguin-shaped hole in your heart. They did for me, so hey, it's worth a shot!

(And if you're wondering where the next Party Parrot World blog is, it's currently being held captive by the forces of my procrastination and laziness combined. I'll try to get it back soon, but that beast is a toughie!)

With all that said, it's time to put this topic to rest. I hope this contributed something valuable to the conversation, and this is just my take on it. This community is one that I've been lurking in for the longest time, and I'm grateful that private servers have helped keep it alive - but it's time to move on, because there's greener pastures to be focusing on, and it'll involve less DMCAs.

Keep on waddling, my friends!

- Imabunny156, aka Nhexis