Before it shut down, Club Penguin was a big part of my gaming life. It was perhaps one of the first games that introduced me to MMOs. It’s massive success can be attributed to the well-designed nature of the game, which can be decomposed according to the mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics paradigm created by Hunicke, LeBlanc, and Zubek for describing games.
- Mechanics: The mechanics of Club Penguin are simple and intuitive, which is why even children could easily grasp it without much difficulty. Using a simple click-to-walk system as well as clear interactive elements when the player hovers over them, the mechanics is about as WYSIWYG as it can be. However, the minigames that Club Penguin offered all operated on their own set of rules. For example, the Card-Jitsu minigame in the dojo is basically modded rock paper scissors with cards and a win condition of collecting a set of elements (thus multiple rounds of modded RPS) for a longer playing time.
- Dynamics: Dynamics in Club Penguin are expressed in concrete ways. For example, the expression is bolstered by the presence of magazines, shops, achievement rewards, and ways to earn in-game currency to purchase them. Most importantly, the fact that the game gives the player an igloo as their personal space furthers the possibilities for expression as their is more of a digital property for the player to customizable other than the avatar themselves. Furthermore, competition is made clear through clearly designated minigame areas, as well as faster and more animations that a player would normally see just strolling around in Club Penguin.
- Aesthetics: Aligning with what was said in the Extra History video, aesthetics are what I focused on mainly as a player. More specifically, Club Penguin exhibits a collection of different aesthetics described in the video and paper, including expression, fantasy, and competition. Fantasy speaks for itself: being an anthropomorphic penguin is just something that doesn’t happen in real life, though I believe that is also not the biggest appeal of Club Penguin. Expression and competition are what I think are much more important to the core aesthetics of Club Penguin. Competition comes from the minigames that your avatar could participate in, my favorite being those in the dojo. Expression is the other half of the game: with various puffles, igloo decorations, and skins to choose from, Club Penguin allows for players to express themselves in-game. This also creates a side effect of the game being mildly “grindy,” as the more hours a player invests into the game, the more options they have to express themselves with.
