SNOW STORM, CP Army Network Headquarters – Everyone starts off somewhere in the army scene. This column aims to answer your unanswered questions about armies in general or about a particular army or staff member. This week, we have the privilege to discuss about a small group of armies – meme armies. What exactly are they and are they any different from our regular armies?
Sometime last week, I received the following question from a concerned community member.
Definitely a keen observation from Confused CPAN Chat Onlooker! Various armies have registered to be a part of Club Penguin Army Network since 29 July 2021. Many of these armies are “meme armies”, which have been created for the purpose of fun and laughter.
Oxford Dictionary defines a meme as “an image, a video, a piece of text, etc. that is passed very quickly from one internet user to another, often with slight changes that make it humorous”. Some people believe Club Penguin armies are a meme. Club Penguin armies first emerged when some penguins decided they wanted to have snowball fights. What started as two simple teams of “Team Red” and “Team Blue” soon evolved into multiple armies being formed.
However, others believe Club Penguin armies is a very serious business, where armies form enemies and allies while waging wars and invading land. This is evident in the long history of armies, which dates as far back as 2006.
Time has shown that one thing is for sure, no army can exist if it has no members. While there are larger armies like those in the Top Ten, there are also Small/Medium armies in our community. Armies would close when they had dwindling numbers or a lack of leaders. In my opinion, Club Penguin armies, no matter how big or how small, serve as a means for like-minded people to gather for a common purpose. Most armies constantly organise events to promote bonding between their members, both in and outside Club Penguin.
Meme armies are no different in this aspect. Members from various big armies can be found in such armies to take part in game sessions or just mingling around and making friends. What especially makes meme armies stand out is their names. Unlike the fiercer and more formal names of bigger armies, meme armies have more playful names.
To find out how to identify a meme army and whether they will continue to exist in the future, I reached out to F6sixer, an Interim Admin, to shed more light about this.
How do you determine if an army is a meme army?
There is no set definition for a meme army per se. However, meme armies have a few things in common. They’re s/m armies, they’re name usually references a meme, a swear or something funny, their leaders are most definitely hcom/staff in a serious army (i.e. the meme army isn’t their main army). So if you see an army which has all these characteristics, chances are that it’s a meme army.
What do you think of the increase in meme army registrations in CPAN?
I honestly don’t mind, so long as they keep their army names appropriate and try not to act as proxies and influence major conflicts just for the memes.
Will we be expecting to see a rise in registration numbers of such meme armies?
I honestly don’t know, it is quite possible.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Meme army “conflicts” can be fun at times and provides a lighter side to CPA (something which too many of us take way too seriously).
Meme armies have withstood the test of time. We cannot deny their existence and will likely be seeing more of such armies emerging in our CPAN community. The question is, though, should we promote these armies, or should we simply ignore them and move on?
What do YOU think? Should we have more of such meme armies around? Let us know YOUR thoughts in the CPAN discord! Also, feel free to drop your questions here if you have anything to ask!
Guinz
CP Army Network Reporter
