As Virtual Gaming Expands Through the Development of Technology and the Increasing Online Culture of Today’s Society, Children Become More Invested in Online Worlds

•   Virtual World gaming has become a way for children to escape reality and expand their imaginations

•   Communicating and playing in a “virtual world” as opposed to the real one is becoming more of the norm for today’s youth culture.

•   According to Jackie Marsh, a writer for the Early Childhood Research department of SAGE Journals, virtual worlds offer a similar range and variety of gaming kids experience in the real world. 

Running home just to log on the computer was the moment I waited for all school day. The hours felt endless; I couldn’t wait to finally play club penguin with my friends online. Club Penguin is a very popular game for children from the ages of 6-14, achieving a population of over 200 million registered users in 2013, the biggest of any “virtual world” video game. There are many reasons such as socialization, competition, adaptability, and overall user interface, contributing to why this game has become so popular for the younger generation.

Virtual world gaming has grown tremendously amongst children over the past decade. According to a study by Jackie Marsh, “virtual worlds offer these young children a wide range of opportunities for play and that the types of play in which they engaged relate closely to ‘offline’ play”. The variety and quality of these games has increased substantially in recent years due to developments in technology, and thus online gaming has become hotter than ever for children.

The first few reasons that so many people including myself like Club Penguin specifically is because of how well the creators made all the traditional aspects of gaming in it that are so essential in the video game industry to cover. For starters I loved the socialization aspect; with social chat rooms the game was easy to stay connected with all those playing. In this scenario, all of my friends had accounts when we were younger; to the point where it became the cool thing to do, the status quo, and I just had to get one. Through the game we could talk all the time and ‘hang out’ without even leaving our houses. Club Penguin made it easy and fun to communicate with each other wherever we were.

During these ‘hang outs’ we could also challenge one another in games. This was another aspect that drew me in was the game’s level of competition, another huge attention point for the video game industry to focus on in order to create an exciting and attractive game. There were many opportunities to challenge one another and then in addition, you could earn badges and trophies to prove that you were successful in this gaming world.

Playing Club Penguin was also very convenient, because the game was adaptable to any laptop or tablet, meaning I could also play it on the go. This provided me with many opportunities to play this game in my down time. In addition to this my parents didn’t need to provide me with a cell phone or take me anywhere in order for me to talk with my friends. Furthermore, being able to play on the go was an enormous benefit in regards to being able to interact with all my friends from any location. 

The final reason my friends and I thought this virtual world was so much fun was the user interface. Club Penguin continuously updated its game capabilities in order to cater to all kids. The quality of their design and interface even won the 2008 Webaward for Entertainment Standard of Excellence and Game Site Standard of Excellence. 

Club Penguin won these honors because it created a site with many different types of games for those who have different interests. For example, my brother and I played a variety of games but had very different preferences when we got to choose which ones, and the game offered us both great choices. In addition to the games, there was an aspect of real life within the gaming world. The game provides each member with a virtual house that you can decorate with the money you have earned. Members can also get a pet that they take care of and bring places with them. These features are where the user interface thrived the most because they created a sense of importance and reality in its users and was the thing that separated this game for me from all others.

I eventually quit around the age of 12, when I grew out of it and the games no longer catered to my interests. The fun challenges and adventures I loved became too juvenile for me and I became involved in other things. Looking back though I really enjoyed the many years I spent invested in the club penguin world and I see how it continues to be a popular and well-liked game for today’s youth.