Welcome to the fifth edition of Club Penguin Armies Ice Breakers. In this column, we play fun games with community members and get to know more about them through them. In this edition, we will speak with Army Legend and Help Force creator Ayan.
Designed by Edu14463
Ayan began his journey in the army community in 2018 when he created the Help Force on March 13th. Even though they were a newly formed army, the Helpers managed to beat the Wild Ninjas in the first round of Legends Cup VIII. However, the army would then face defeat against the Elite Guardians in the Quarter-Finals. Nevertheless, this defeat did not stop HF from quickly becoming a Major army, hitting sizes of 60+. Under Ayan’s leadership, the Help Force went on to win several wars against the Templars, and even the Pirates.
Nonetheless, besides his notable army career, Ayan’s most significant contributions came in the form of media organizations. He is known for his work in Club Penguin Army Media, and, later, his leadership as Chief Executive Officer of Club Penguin Army Hub. Along with Emcee, Ayan could unify the army community under one league and media organization. Because of his commendable work, he was inducted as an Army Legend in 2020.
Help Force vs. Pirates in Christmas Chaos 2018
FIVE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT AYAN
To begin with, we asked Ayan to present some interesting facts about him. It could be anything – from real life to CPA matters. Here are his responses (Ayan faced an existential crisis in an attempt to reflect on his life).
1. I’m a vocalist in my university band;
2. I make the best Chicken Tikka Masala you’ll ever have;
3. First time I had Fireball was 4 years ago. Orange manipulated me into thinking you have to yell ‘fireball’ before taking a shot. I did that in front of 10 people.
4. I’m pursuing Masters in Physics and a B.E in Electronics. It’s probably an interesting fact for the people reading this post through DISCORD.
5. I think everybody should have a doobie experience atleast once in their life
Curious about what a “Chicken Tikka Masala” was, I googled for some pictures of the dish – and now I find myself hungry.
Chicken Tikka Masala, a delicious dish from India
GUESS WHO SENT YOU A MESSAGE!
Moving on, Ayan was sent a message by one of his friends. The point of this game is for the interviewee to guess who sent them said message. In addition, he had to describe what this person meant to him.
I led others yet followed you. We covered the beginnings of the anticlimactic WWR to the CPAC 5’s charade into our organization. We are oceans apart yet shared an army in the summer of 2018 before I returned to my home army of RPF to become a mod. Who am I?
Ayan: That’s Dino. I love him a lot. We’ve worked together for a lot of years and I think of him as my little brother. I’m not going to go into any more details.
PROVOCATIONS
And this is where things get exciting! We presented Ayan with two provocative and reflexive questions about his army and the community itself. Well, we wanted to do three questions, but the second one alone was worth it.
What are your impressions of today’s Help Force? Do you believe your successors were able to keep up with your legacy?
Definitely. The meaning of ‘legacy’ in armies is flawed. Our community has had a lot of ups and downs in terms of activity. I believe that if any army has been consistent enough to keep themselves up with the trend of that particular year, they’re successful. Help Force has also had it’s peaks and it’s lows, but the fact that the army was able to withstand so much pressure throughout the years and still go smoothly makes me believe that my successors did a great job.
What about the army community itself, Ayan? What do you like and dislike about its current ‘shape’?
I hate what this army community has turned into. I’m too swamped with my real-life responsibilities to keep tabs on it, but the current state of the community makes me even less inclined to do so. It doesn’t feel like home anymore.
A community like ours, or any gaming community with many factions, depends on three main things: competition, criticism, and innovation. Some say the community isn’t as active now because COVID ended. However, the army community of 2018, 2019, and even 2021 was far better than what we have now. One main reason is the lack of a healthy competitive environment. Armies now host the same repetitive events with the same people for years and don’t care about the broader community aspect. They do wars for ‘fun’ and tell their troops, “this is what it felt like.” The qualitative environment that CPA had, which bonded all army members regardless of the number of wars or posts, made it active. People used to separate their personal opinions from army-related matters. Nowadays, someone can be driven out of the community for something they did related to army activities.
This brings me to the rise of cancel culture in armies. Not everything is sexist, misogynistic, racist, discriminatory, bigoted, or prejudiced. I don’t condone doxxing, but if I’ve mentioned that I’m Indian publicly, it should be taken in the spirit of the game if some army does a “curry-muncher” tactic against me. Many army leaders do not want to involve their community members in CPA because they don’t want to expose them to a community that will pick on them at the first opportunity. This community has become hypocritical, adding clauses to their cancel culture agenda to suit their own needs. You protect people important to you using your connections while trying to cancel others. Who would want to be part of such a community?
Thirdly, the army community has reached a stage of stagnancy. Without any definite media rival to CP Armies Organization, there’s a sense of superiority. Competition and criticism are necessary in media. If you keep canceling everyone who dares to speak against your popular clique, how will this community progress? Armies need to step up and hold the media accountable for any mistakes. This doesn’t cause a revolt; it makes the media do better. Also, stop creating numerous sub-organizations and giving them power to control certain aspects of armies. This community will only improve when the armies focus on the community’s greater good rather than just themselves. To all of you active right now, stop blindly following the cancel culture trend just because an army friend is doing it. Remember, you might be the next target.
COMPLETE THE SENTENCES
Lastly, we asked Ayan to complete five sentences. What did he respond to?
If I could describe myself in a single word, it would be… ********
Being retired from CPA feels like… being a normal human being.
One person I am lucky to have met is… Elpiojo123
The name Ayan/Kitkat89 comes from… Ayan is my actual name. KitKat89 is just something I made up randomly when I was 11 years old.
My favorite moment in my whole time in CPA is… Creation of the Club Penguin Army Hub
And this wraps up today’s edition of CPA Ice Breakers! We kindly thank Ayan for his participation in this exciting column. It was without a doubt a pleasant experience to talk with this legendary person – and a close friend of mine. Did you manage to learn something new about Ayan? Would you like to see more CPA Ice Breakers?
More Information
Army Legend. Former Water Ninjas leader. Founder and Leader of the Elite Guardians of Club Penguin. Currently working as CPA Associate Editor.