Club Penguin

[LukesMum]

My 7 year old loves the computer which we sue mostly for research/homeschooling etc. My MIL wants to buy him a subscription to CLub Penguin. DO you know anything about this site>>???? I have major red flags about "chatting " with other "kids" online.....

[mamabeca]

I've gotta say, very little bad stuff goes on there. My dad got my dd (now 9) a subscription. The thing I really OBJECT to is the materialism of it all! It's all about buying stuff, having stuff, having extra stuff, UGH! I actually asked the folks who own/run it if they would consider having a donation area, where others (esp. maybe those who don't have paid accounts) could pick up second hand stuff. They said they were working on it. There is a lot of fun stuff there, nothing even remotely educational, but fun. There are several boards that are totally chat safe (they can only use pull down menus to say stuff to each other, jokes, hi, good bye, wanna go surfing, etc.).

Overall? There are TONS of better products and computer stuff they can get him, but this isn't the worst, either.

[zeldamomma]

My kids like Club Penguin. They play in "Supersafe" mode, so the only chatting they can do, or anyone can say to them are specific phrases provided by the software.

If you want to check it out, you could log in and play for free. The subscription would let him decorate his igloo and "buy" some more stuff for his penguin (they earn coins by playing games), but the basic stuff is all available for free.

ZM

[TortelliniMama]

Originally Posted by mamabeca

The thing I really OBJECT to is the materialism of it all! It's all about buying stuff, having stuff, having extra stuff, UGH! I actually asked the folks who own/run it if they would consider having a donation area, where others (esp. maybe those who don't have paid accounts) could pick up second hand stuff. They said they were working on it.

This isn't exactly what you suggested, but they are setting up a way for members to donate Club Penguin coins in order to direct what charities will get real money from the company. Here's their blog.

[mamabeca]

Well that surely is a nice thing for the kids to participate in! I gotta say, these folks are out of Kelowna (I think) and that is one cool little town - so it doesn't surprise me that they are doing some cool stuff. It's also very SHISHI so it ALSO doesn't surprise me that this site is as materialistic as it is.

[TortelliniMama]

Originally Posted by mamabeca

Well that surely is a nice thing for the kids to participate in! I gotta say, these folks are out of Kelowna (I think) and that is one cool little town - so it doesn't surprise me that they are doing some cool stuff. It's also very SHISHI so it ALSO doesn't surprise me that this site is as materialistic as it is.

That may be where the people who started it are from, but it's now part of the Evil Mouse Empire.