It's official: Club Penguin is the next "Big Thing"

I like to pretend that I read Terra Nova regularly. You see Terra Nova is written by academics who write scholarly articles about gaming, people who have PhD's in MMORPGs for heaven's sake. I like to pretend I read it but the truth is that TN has slipped from my Daily Fix webroll to my Weekly Fix webroll. I guess when it comes to blogs I am more of a "Popular Mechanics" reader rather than a "Nature" Reader.

That is why then I am about a week late in noticing that the game my kids and wife are addicted to has finally gained MMO respectability. Club Penguin has been written up in Terra Nova.

I have written about Club Penguin before. I have used it, half in jest, when responding to other bloggers as an example of where MMORPGS are going. Now however it is official. To quote Mike Sellers from Terra Nova:
"Club Penguin is ... a great example of a true second-generation MMOG."

I really don't have anything more to add. Club Penguin is a great MMOG for kids that will entertain adults too. It is a safe and fun online environment and the people who run it seem to be genuinely nice folks who really care about what they do. I am geninely surprised to learn that club penguin is also a major commercial success with projected 2007 revenues of $60M and a 50% gross margin. Sometimes the nice guys don't finish last.

I would like to take credit for being ahead of the curve on this one. I know that I "discovered" this new wave of MMOG before many of the seasoned gaming writers who's blogs I read. Sadly I can't take any credit at all. Despite my many years of enthusuaistic gaming I didn't discover Club Penguin. My seven (now eight) year old daughter discovered it from her little playground friends. They are the future. I am the past. I feel old.

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