KLONDIKE, CP Army Headquarters – The true success and legacy of the CP Army Hub is hotly contested, and this former CEO is making his stance on the matter very clear.
“The success of the CP Army Hub will never be replicated.”
LuciferStar, Former CP Army Hub CEO
Former CP Army Hub Chief-Executive-Officer, LuciferStar, held this position for the entire duration of the organisation’s existence. He is a well respected member of the army community that, since retirement, has not shied away from sharing his strong opinions in the various community general chats. To further gain an insight into his statement, I asked for an explanation:
“Club Penguin Army Hub was the peak of Club Penguin Armies in the CPPS gen. The organisation was unrivalled in every aspect, if you look around at current organisations, you’ll see hints of CPAH everywhere. Be it the columns of news organisations or the various nuances of the Top Ten system, it all traces back to CPAH. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.
But it wasn’t just the fact that CPAH produced the best quality of news that made it the best, there was so much that went into CPAH. It’s very genesis was historical, all of the tournaments went magically smooth and CPAH also had control of a CPPS at its time AND had agreements with multiple other CPPSes.
CPAH in its truest sense became an overseer, a sovereign that was accepted. That’s something very rare to see. CPAH was also coupled with some of the best staff that this community has seen and just the fact that CPAH would not stop getting applications to staff on the regular showed just how valuable being in that organisation was to people. I genuinely thought that after the community had experienced how CPAH functioned it wouldn’t be hard for another similar organisation to pop up after the closure of CPAH, but you can see for yourselves what the community has become, so it’s true, CPAHs success will never be replicated.”
There is no doubt the CP Army Hub was highly successful in all the aspects that LuciferStar mentioned, but that did not mean it was not heavily criticised both at the time and to this day. To further the discussion, I asked LuciferStar what he thought of the criticism CPAH has received. For example: some people took issue with the “increasingly authoritative administration”, which saw war decisions being made by this body rather than army leaders.
“A lot of criticism that CPAH got, at least the constructive ones made with hindsight of bringing about change, was criticism that we graciously accepted and worked on. Taking your example, I think it’s wrong to say that the administration was increasingly authoritative considering that almost all of the league rules was made by the army leaders via Army Representatives. Its also key to note that CPAH only upheld the war agreements and the only power we had was of interpretation. And I do believe that you do need some unbiased figure that takes these decisions, these aren’t things that can be left to army leaders because then its hard to come up with a decision that isn’t plagued by prejudice. If you go over every single war decision/interpretation that CPAH has made, there has been no evidence of any kind of bias to either army. I think that again proves my point that CPAH can’t be replicated because CPAH was able to have unaffiliated CEOs that could take unbiased decisions, that cannot be possible given the current heads of different organisations.”
He certainly makes a valid argument in regards to army leaders holding a degree of bias on war decisions, and are likely to vote in a way that benefits their army. His mention of the CEOs naturally led to the topic of long-serving CEO Pookie437, and his infamous departure from the organisation alongside Vice President Cassie. This came after internal conflict and allegations of misconduct and abuse of power. I asked LuciferStar the following: Do you think this undermines the integrity of the organisation and negatively impacts the legacy that you have referred to?
“Not really, I won’t comment on either of the mentioned members because that’s water under the bridge. But what I’d like to say is that this incident showed the strong moral code that we had at Club Penguin Army Hub. We took any form of wrongdoing seriously and no one was outside the realm of scrutiny, not even the CEOs. I cannot again say the same for current organisations which has increasingly gone blind to infractions. Pookie was also not a reflection of the organisation and far from being the heart and soul of it. CPAH continued to flourish without them, this is evident in the End of Year celebrations that CPAH conducted.”
Despite CPAH’s untimely end in January 2021, the organisation was poised to open again in May 2021, but ultimately did not. I quizzed LuciferStar on this, asking: Do you think even the organisation itself could not replicate its own success?
“It would need like minded individuals like last time with the same spirit and vigour we shared in 2020 for CPAH to be able to replicate its own success. To be very honest, I don’t think CPAH will be able to replicate its own success anywhere in the near future, but if there’s any organisation that can, then it will only be CPAH.”
With many people agreeing the community is standing at a crossroads, with progression between CPAHQ and CPAN closer than ever before, I wanted to get LuciferStar’s view on this. Does he agree with this notion, and what does he think lies ahead in terms of the organisational bodies of this community?
“I don’t think unification between the two are any closer than it was before. I don’t think there should be any kind of merger between the two bodies because a merger would mean a mixing up of administration. I think the current administration in CPAHQ has proven to be greatly incompetent and needs new faces. I do not know what lies ahead for this community, but what I do know is that this community needs newer faces with newer outlooks and perspectives. As for organisational bodies, speaking just from the perspective of a regular dude trying to have fun on an online game, I think a united organisational body structured similar to CPAH is what made the game the most fun. Conflict is never fun, we’re just simple people trying have fun anyway, unity is the way ahead.”
There is no better person to offer an insight into the CP Army Hub than LuciferStar, and his statement and subsequent responses will surely bring about a much heated debate between those that loved the 2020 CPAH era, and those that did not. But no matter which side you find yourself, we are still to see an organisation rule the roost quite like the CP Army Hub did.