To celebrate six years of the CPPS army community, we spoke with multiple individuals that were active in the community at the time of the original Club Penguin shutdown, asking them: Are Armies Better Now Than They Were in 2017?
2017 was a milestone year within the army community. On March 30, the original Club Penguin shut down its servers for the final time. This sparked the beginning of the CPPS army era as we know it today, as Club Penguin Rewritten and Club Penguin Online quickly gathered momentum. In our latest ‘My Controversial Opinion’ column, we’re marking the 6-year anniversary of the CPPS army community by asking individuals for their thoughts on armies now compared to 2017.
Ganger90: Oh yeah, without a doubt I think that armies as they currently stand are more organized and established on Discord and definitely stronger all around than at that period of time. I wasn’t around for the whole year of 2017 but up to around Summer, there was not many armies alive from what I can remember, although some did manage good sizes with RPF dominating. Many armies closed for a long time after original Club Penguin died, not coming back until 2020 and the switch didn’t quite go all the way through yet from xat to Discord.
First up was Ganger90, army legend and Special Weapons And Tactics creator, who has been a big name within the community since the early 2010s. He references the more organized nature of the community now, with the switch to Discord in 2017 allowing prosperity to occur.
Kingfunks4: I do think that armies are better now than they were in 2017 in terms of performance, I feel the player base is larger and armies are reaching higher sizes than that period of time. However, in terms of conflict and interaction no, I think armies are worse in that aspect as not much actually happens in the community outside of the tournaments that take place every few months.
Army legend Kingfunks4, who was active in the CPA Central in the first several months of 2017, labeled 2023 a better year than 2017 in terms of performance and activity. However, he does state armies are not better regarding conflict and interaction. This is a sentiment many agree with.
Max: I believe that the army community in 2023 is in a much stronger position than the army community in 2017. In 2017, there was so much uncertainty following the announcement that Club Penguin would be closing in March of that year. Every army except for the Rebel Penguin Federation had closed their doors permanently by April, and there was no sign of a future. There was certainly no sign that the CPPS-era of our army community would become a prosperous and successful one, particularly in 2020 during the heights of the COVID-19 lockdown. Having said that, we do seem to be on a downward trend in 2023, with historic armies shutting down and most recently, just 9 contenders on the weekly Top Ten Armies. We suffered the shutdown of CP Rewritten in 2022, and this was a huge blow to the community. We do have Superhero’s CPA Battleground, which offers us a home to hold events and wars for the future, so I do believe things can bounce back once again. After all, they did in 2017, didn’t they?
Interestingly, Max references the gradual upwards trend from 2017 to 2020 – which many consider to be the peak of the CPPS army community, and the gradual decline the community has experienced since then.
Cabin: It is hard to tell because both eras contain several positives and negatives. For example, the former era had a more active community and united under one organization for a great period of time. That being said, some people were not held accountable for certain questionable behaviors as they would be today. Although the state of the current era does not compare in the slightest to the activity and unity armies had several years ago, I am happy that there is more accountability than there used to be. Hence, I believe that armies are better now than they were in 2017.
Former Templars leader Cabin offers a more balanced view, noting positives and negatives to both eras. He has raised the topic of accountability, which has been heavily debated over the last few years. Do you agree with his views?
Flen: I would say that they haven’t changed much. We do have some new people, which is progress, but majority of the community is still “controlled” by old people, so not really.
Club Penguin Armies advisor Flen doesn’t believe anything has changed, especially with a lot of the community from the 2017 era still being around and “controlling” the community. This is certainly an exciting idea that will surely spark much debate.
You’ve heard from some of the names around in 2017 and in today’s community, but what do you think? Do you disagree or agree with any of the responses? Is the army community really better in 2023 than it was in 2017?