Extra, extra, read all about it. Welcome to Time Capsule. This is the column where we ask community members questions about their goals and predictions for the remainder of the year, which we’ll eventually look back on. This week, we are going to look at the new publications are popping up around the community as armies begin to spearhead their own versions of media teams.
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While Club Penguin Armies may be the community’s closest version to a “local newspaper,” it certainly is not the first of its kind. While we never have claimed to invent the wheel, and do our best to give credit to those who came before us, we do have some faith that we’ve been providing top tier Club Penguin journalism to the community since our inception. Media websites like ours gives the community a centralized home. A place where people can gather is vital in successfully creating a strong sense of community.
Thus, it should be to no surprise that other armies have attempted to take on these sort of initiatives. Armies like the Army of Club Penguin (Shamrock Bulletin) and Rebel Penguin Federation (Tuxedo Times)- to name a few- all have “official” publications that give their members the opportunity to take up the journalism pen. In a given week, these armies’ media cover a range of topics: keep members updated on the events of the week (whether internally or externally), meet their fellow staff members or learn more about their army history. In a rare case in 2021, Shamrock Bulletin had a quick stint as the community media site where they posted weekly Top Tens during the absence of an “official” one.
Mchappy posting Club Penguin’s Funny Hat Week to an army website
So, is it to say that armies have never considered publishing their own forms of media before? Of course not. In fact, the initial Top Ten was created by Boomer 20 and hosted on the Clovers’ website. Eventually, it would undergo many changes, some of the biggest being by media legends Kingfunks4 and Sklooperis, to become what it is today. It has always been coming for armies to post about Club Penguin cheats among a myriad of ramblings every day on their website. It has been only recent in the post-Disney era where websites are coming under question as obsolete. (By the way, the answer is yes: websites are absolutely necessary.)
Thus, in celebration of tomorrow’s The Great Battle Of Newspapers, we decided to interview Calgocubs21 on his thoughts of what the future holds for armies and their newsrooms.
How do you think army websites will look like a year from now? Will they continue to develop their “news” divisions?
I’m hoping that a year from now that armies will have recognized the necessity for using their website and keeping it actively updated. Many armies in recent times have abandoned keeping their websites updated and using it to document their history as well as doing website posts due to the tremendous upkeep it takes to maintain as well as the fact that troops have been using websites considerably less now with the introduction of Discord.
The reality is while Discord servers offer many benefits over using a website, armies forget how much is truly lost long-term with the neglect of our websites. Things like important army history has been lost to time because armies aren’t putting the effort in to properly document it as well as the lost potential of new recruits. Our goal this year has been to show armies using Shamrock Bulletin (SB) as a guinea pig to showcase how successful armies can become if they invest their time and resources into their website. Seeing as how armies such as Elite Guardians and People’s Imperial Confederation have already begun opening their own news branches[;] I’m confident that we will start to see a huge difference by next year in terms of website usage.
How do you think these aforementioned divisions can impact an army?
I think these divisions can be the difference between passively bringing in new recruits on a consistent basis. On top of that, it’s a great way to keep troops actively involved in the army community outside of events. Engagement is extremely important for our troops and if we do not keep them captivated and interested then they will move on to the next big thing, and we will suffer as such. A perfect example of how Army of Club Penguin has been benefitting extremely from SB is that a couple months ago we were seeing extremely low traffic to our website averaging around ten to 20 views per day at most. Whereas when we started posting consistently, especially with private server cheats posts, we have been seeing on average around 100 views per day on bad days where we have no posts and upwards of 600-1,000 views on good days. Ultimately views are great, but what’s more important is the exposure this gives to potential recruits and it has as of recent been our most successful area of bringing in new recruits who are passionate about the game and are interested.
Do you think it is necessary for armies to have Club Penguin cheats posted on their Discord and/or website?
100 percent, it is absolutely necessary to be covering Club Penguin cheats as its an untapped market right now considering there aren’t that many cheats websites around these days after Club Penguin Rewritten died. Club Penguin Journey, Club Penguin Legacy and New Club Penguin are all, as of right now, untapped areas that have many members searching for guides online that don’t exist. If your army is not covering cheats then they are missing out on getting many potential recruits that could grow into future Higher Command one day.
Will Digg3 forever remain as the super WordPress theme?
I think there will be the occasional army that strays away from Digg3 but for the most part, old habits die hard, and armies stick with what they like most. I seriously doubt ever seeing Digg3 getting replaced anytime soon unless a new better theme is released that better suits armies.
As you can tell by his answers, Calgocubs21 is very passionate about the art of posting on Club Penguin cheats and its recruiting potential. Website community building is a return to our basics. In a way, it was our outlet of putting the “roleplaying” of armies to paper. If an army wants to build its legacy, and have something to enjoy looking back on years from now, then using a website is a great way of doing that. Does your army have a “media” division?
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Mchappy is interning at Club Penguin Armies as the Chief Executive Producer. Max held him at gunpoint to finish his biography.