User blog:TurtleShroom/CP Fan Mail: Membership - Just Business, or Apartheid?

Hello!

The following is an e-mail I sent to CP, having realized all that happened in Fire-Jitsu and the general apartheid so often exhibited. As an avid (future) businessman and a respector of membership, I added suggestions and remedies, praise and criticsm, understanding and confusion, and most importantly, respect. I have provided the transcript below, followed by CP's response.

 Dear Club Penguin Incorporaated: My penguin name is TurtleShroom, and I've been playing CP since January of 2007. I have already planned to renew my subscription this Christmas, and hope to continue my patronage for many years to come. I am sixteen as of writing this, and I wish to submit my concerns, praise, and criticism using the appropriate sector, the Fan Mail. First and foremost is regarding Fire-Jitsu. Once again, your corporation has churned out another brilliant work of programming, and I will be sure to partake in your efforts. I appluad your commitment to expansion and hope to see expansions on the theme. I predict Water and Snow-Jitsu by 2012! Indeed, we are all looking towards the unveiling of this expansion. However, from Fire-Jitsu comes my disappointment. You have locked out all of the aspiring Non-Member Ninjas from continuing on in their quest. Sensei champions equality and harmony among all of his students, and I can assure you that the apartheid in banning members is NOT a mark of an honorable ninja. Ask any Ninja, they'll agree that they want their Non-Member buddies to expand their martial horizons. Does Sensi know of your lockdown on the non-paying Masses? If he existed, he would be very disappointed in you for that action. Now, I fully understand the requirements of running a business. I respect membership and I am a paying customer. You need money to stay profitable, and that is reasonable and sensible. Without membership funds, CP can not provide all of these services. However, refusing to give Non-Members a few more rights may hurt your business in the long run. Some day, most every Member will resign from CP, thus halting their payments. With the older generation gone, you will have to attract new customers. Sure, advertising and word-of-mouth is effective, but your Non-Member base already exists. The more you restrict them, the more you pressure them to buy Membership. That's an excellent business tactic, but it doesn't fit your mission. Club Penguin was founded to give your children and the public a clean, holy place of censorship, ensuring decency and safety on the harsh Internet realm. This code of censorship sucked me into the game years ago, and I modeled MY Internet managing standards after yours. You are an excellent role model for future businessmen, and for that, I salute you. However, one must analyze the underlying tones of pressuring Non-Members to upgrade. Sure, they reap mighty benefits and have a lot more fun on the site, but is it good for the youth? Pressuring is needed for business, but OVER pressuring is bad. You may be unintentionally encourging Materialism in your fan base. After all, everyhthing truly fancy is for Members! Pumpkin heads, Fire-Jitsu, mazes, accordions, haunted houses! You're depressing your base! Think of all the sad Non-Members who can't wear pumpkin heads or expand their Ninja horizons! Think of the split in the population, the Members and their inferior Non-Member counterparts! It's an apartheid, Club Penguin! Now, to rectify this apartheid, I have simple suggestions that will please the public and not touch your business' profits First off, open Fire-Jitsu to the masses, but with a requirement for non-memers. Like Sensei said in the original Card-Jitsu, there is a quick road (purchasing cards), and the long road (playing with basics). Do the same with Fire-Jitsu. Make Non-Members repeat the Ninja Quest to prove they have what it takes. Upon winning the second time, give them a Silver Amulet and access to the Volcano. Members who complete the initial quest can simply buy the Gold Amulet and skip forwards. It would also entice your customers to play the original a second time for the Silver Amulet. There are a LOT of avid item collectors out there who would do this. By making Non-Members go twice to enter Fire-Jitsu, you ensure fairness for them, but encourage Membership by making the Gold Amulet an instant shortcut. Take advantage of children's attention spans. Those who really want Fire-Jitsu can purchase the quick route, and those who want to work a second trip get paid off and further enticed to buy after seeing the awesomeness of Fire-Jitsu. Non-Members who later purchase Membership but have the Silver Amulet can purchase the Gold because it looks cool. That was what got me to make a purchase. By opening Fire-Jitsu but making it harder for Non-Members, you are being fair to your non-payers but still profitable in enticing them. Also, allow one and two-player Fire-Jitsu for Non-Members, but bar three and four-player, like you did Dance Contest. It's all about trade-offs. Second, continue to segregate the best rooms in parties, BUT leave the great items outside the door. When Non-Members pick up the item and add it to their Inventory, put a second window reading something like "Do you want more items like these? We'd love to have you become a Member and enjoy all Club Penguin has to offer.". Therefore, the Non-Members get quality items like Pumpkin Heads and Boomboxes (as opposed to the recolored items you hand out currently), but are unable to enter the Member Room. It would give them a TASTE of Membership, satisfying them, but leaving them wanting more. Leave all catologs as-is. Non-Members, with their party items but lack of Member Rooms, will be encouraged to purchase Membership to access the Gift Shop, the Igloo, the Sport Shop, ect., instead of waiting two months for a new item. Don't get me wrong, I'm not campaining to abolish your policies. I understand what it means to run a successful company. I am sixteen, after all, and I'm taking finance courses soon! However, giving Non-Members a pumpkin head, or an accordian, or access to a new game won't hurt your wallets, not at all. In the long run, showing Non-Members that you respect them as much as your clients will make them WANT to buy! Giving a bit more to Non-Members benefits everyone! It blurs the gap but encourages purchasing! It limits discrimination by Members to Non-Memebrs (I've seen and reported that). It pleases the poor folks and doesn't affect the Members. Running a successful business requires profit. As a subscription-based non-profit enterprise, you need Membership to thrive. I understand and respect that. However, giving a few things to Non-Members can't damage you. It will only benefit you. Sensei would be proud of your steps to end discrimination. Now that I have finished THAT, here are some ideas you could put in the Catalog for your Members. First off, try adding a sash. A sash is a garment that goes from the top-left to bottom-right corner of a person (or penguin's) body. It is used in politics by leaders. Making a sash for a penguin would be very simple. Simply take a Messenger Bag and remove the bag. What you have left is a sash. Make it a nice bright color (like yellow), and add details like embroidery on the player card for a nice political effect. I have seen people pretend to have elections and be judges, and it would be fun to have something like a sash, which is worn by such positions. Second, try a judge's robe and gavel. It could be part of "Penguins at Work" or in a future Stage play. Now, the robe might be tricky to design, but taking Sensei's soon-to-be Fire Garments and coloring them all black, like a sheet, and a small v-neck in the center would suffice excellently. For the gavel, try taking the hammer from the Blacksmith Apron, coloring it brown, and making its head about the size of the Charity Bell. When the penguin waves with the robe and gavel, a dark brown box/desk appears in front of them, and a quick rapping sound (AKA the whacking sound, not Cadence's music) follows as the penguin hits the hammer on the desk. To make the desk, take that anvil item and edit it to be a box. Those were just my suggestions for unique new clothing. My last section is regarding the Filter and certain words you blocked. Tell me, why are the following words banned from your site:  Every day, it becomes harder for me to speak to my online friends. I appluad you for blocking bad words, but "Wiki" or "Cook" are not bad words. In fact, everything I put up there is perfectly acceptable in my entire family, on other children sites, and even in books. There is such a thing as too much blocking. Also, could you unblock the period? How is . dangerous? How is ..... dangerous? How can punctuation hurt a friend or a child? How is a period risky, unsafe, implicational, or unclean? If there is a reason for such a ban, I'm all ears. Okay, I have finished my letter, and I hope you consider and respond to it. I've been saddened recently because some of my mail, which I sent months ago, has never returned. A response would be invaluable. Thank you for having such loyal customer support. Your Friend, Customer, Fan, and Client, TurtleShroom

 That was what I sent.



CP's RESPONSE:

Bolded items are particularly interesting. RE: Club Penguin Fan Mail Ticket: [8732492-60209]

Hello,

Thanks for your email, TurtleShroom. We appreciate your willingness to share your praises and concerns, both are valuable forms of feedback. I can see that you have spent considerable time and effort in composing your email, and I intend to do the same. As a long-time member, you have seen much of Club Penguin's history, and experienced everything that Club Penguin has to offer.

Here at Club Penguin all players have the same rights to the safest chatting environment that we can provide, and the best support of that environment available. These rights are extended to members and free penguins alike, without bias or discrimination. This is part of why we prefer the term "free penguin" as opposed to "non-member", because first and foremost they are penguins.

You have stated and clearly understand the need for memberships from a business standpoint, and your support as a member is certainly appreciated. Without the financial support of our members, Club Penguin would be unable to provide any services to any penguins, members or otherwise. I'm sure you are aware of our stance on third-party advertising, and why we cannot use it as a means of support, hence the membership option. Playing for free gives you a taste of the full membership package, it is not intended to be a substitute but rather a stepping stone.

I can see what you're saying regarding Card-Jitsu Fire, and how free penguins will be unable to participate. I can assure you that we have taken this into consideration, and stand by our decision to open Card-Jitsu Fire only to member penguins. We feel that the situation will not have nearly the wide-spread affect that you are predicting, but will add incentive rather than pressure to become a member.

That said, your alternative suggestion is certainly intriguing, and I'll be sure to pass it along (as silly as it may sound, we really do have "idea meetings" and brainstorming sessions). Introducing a Silver Amulet as well as limiting free penguins to 2-player games may do the trick, and we'll look into the possibilities. Your suggestion regarding free items and member-only rooms at parties is also interesting.

Adding a sash-type item to the catalogs for members is completely feasible, and quite a variety could be produced easily'. We'll check it out. As for a Judge robe and gavel, it could be tricky but quite interesting. I haven't seen many courtrooms in my online excursions, but I am intrigued. Your descriptions could be quite useful in designing such an outfit. These, too, will be passed along for consideration, along with any other ideas or suggestions you would care to share with us.

This brings us to your questions regarding our Word Filter system. I have read your list in its entirety, and you have compiled a surprising amount of words that supposedly do not pass through our word filter. I commend you for the effort you obviously put forth.

While I cannot discuss the workings of the word filter system, as it is a trade secret, I can say that we carefully consider every word blocked or allowed for any possible inappropriate connotations, both alone and paired with other words. We also take into account accidental or intentional spelling errors, context, and repeated use.

Much of your included word list will indeed be blocked if used singularly, but can be perfectly acceptable when used in phrases or sentences, which provide context. Some of them, however, have specifically been blocked as they can quite easily be manipulated into something else. Words like "cellular" can become a reference to personal information, "ship" easily becomes a swear word, and of course "Google" and "search" can all too easily lead penguins into unsafe places on the internet. As politics is a hotbed of conflict by its very nature, we try to avoid "government" and related words on Club penguin as much as possible. Politics are a necessary part of government, we just want each penguin's opinion to be respected rather than becoming a source of contention. You might recall some of the online conflict surrounding the most recent American Presidential Election.

At 16 years old, you clearly have a higher level of understanding and self control. I did notice that "TurtleShroom" has received no bans for breaking the rules in somewhere around 1100 days online, for which I commend you! Please remember that our website was designed for a much younger user base (age 6-12), and we feel that we should err on the side of safety for the sake of these younger users. I'm sure you can understand that what is acceptable at 16 may not have been when you were young. That said, I do hope that you continue to enjoy your time on Club Penguin.

Regarding punctuation, the period, comma, quotation marks or pretty much anything can easily be used as substitutes for letters in inappropriate words, email addresses, websites, or other types of personal information, which obviously would not be acceptable. The sheer number of possible permutations dictates that we prevent this misuse by blocking punctuation in its entirety, with the obvious exceptions of the "!" and "?".

Once again, I appreciate your willingness to put considerable time and effort into sharing your thoughts, concerns and suggestions with us. As I said before, your ideas will absolutely be passed along. Also, as a thank you for the efforts you have put into this email, I have added some coins to your penguin account "TurtleShroom". If you have any further questions, concerns or suggestions in the future, please don't hesitate to contact us again.

Regards,

Braden Club Penguin Fan Mail

By the way, those "some coins" were in fact FIVE THOUSAND SMACK-A-ROONIES, BABY.

Now, I can't say that anything will happen, but if you see a sash, thank TurtleShroom Productions!

CP still has customer support that really cares. Imagine if Microsoft bought out CP! Can someone say OUTSOURCING and a modification of the interface for Windows only? I can't think of any other company who takes the time to deliver such well-written and personal tech-support. Disney hasn't touched that; Disney is the lesser of the evils.

-- † This is Serious Business! Jesus Loves You and Died for You!! †    :)  :) I eat wiki revolutionists like I eat a Thanksgiving meal. † 00:12, December 1, 2009 (UTC)