Imagine a community with many friendships but no alliances… What would happen if alliances never existed in Club Penguin Armies? We take a look at how the community would’ve changed as a result.
Designed by Kedi Wain
The scenario is absurd when one of the words used to describe the community is “army.” When was the last time any nation or army in real life had zero alliances? Our community is built on alliances, ranging from the alliance between the Army of Club Penguin and the nascent Rebel Penguin Federation during World War 3 to the Black Ice Alliance and The White Order alliance in more recent times. However, it’s entirely possible that every army in the overarching community stayed isolated or wanted continuous war. To analyze this further and reach potential outcomes, the scenario should be broken down into three possible causes. The three most likely causes are: complete isolation, continuous war, or a simple ban on official alliances and diplomacy.
Black Ice Alliance on Club Penguin Armies: The Game.
Continuous War
The most likely cause would be continuous war. While the other causes have merit, isolation or a ban seems unlikely given the game’s nature. Perhaps the army community decided early on that no other army was right and dove into a constant state of war. The community would see absolute chaos, similar to almost every major world war in Club Penguin army history. However, friendships between armies would not form, and the community could spiral downward. One reason some wars began was alliance formation, which led to opposing alliances. Other wars changed history because of alliances formed during the conflict, such as the aforementioned World War 3.
While wars may engage armies and support the community, attrition can also end them. One of the few wars to last this long was the Centenary Solstice War, which had over one hundred battles. However, such a feat is now unthinkable due to almost guaranteed counterinvasions. For every invasion, the defender could launch a counterinvasion. This is especially likely when both sides hold multiple lands.
For example, a small-medium army warring the Shadow Legionnaires needs to invade over thirty lands and face at least the same number of counterinvasions. In addition, the initiating army could schedule invasions for a favorable time zone, but SL could easily schedule counterinvasions in their own time zone. Logistics simply led to more battles, and both armies would eventually come to a treaty. If no treaty exists, the community witnesses a war lasting through multiple tournaments, something that people would tire of quickly. Even before the advent of maps and invasions, raids existed, with the possibility of similar fatigue.
Such continuous wars eventually tire the community, and the community suffers losses in activity as a whole, a travesty in the ideal world.
Complete Isolation
Isolation is another potential scenario, where every army stuck to itself from the beginning and never talked to the others. This is a wholly unlikely scenario, again as covered in the previous section. Club Penguin, as a massively multiplayer online game (MMO), makes it impossible to completely ignore others in the community. People tend to log on to the most active servers at some point to find more friends, and expecting armies not to do the same for recruitment is foolish. As a result, armies are forced to interact with each other at some point. If this scenario ever happened, the community likely wouldn’t have leagues or reporting sites like Club Penguin Army Central or Club Penguin Armies. None of the major advancements or the friendships that arose from inter-army relationships would exist today. Essentially, the “community” wouldn’t be a community; only various groups occupying different servers would exist.
A snapshot of the current state of the map, partially reflecting numerous servers from the original Club Penguin
A Ban on Alliances
Technically, the post’s title is suggesting that alliances never existed, but for the sake of argument, a ban on alliances is possible. Even the other two scenarios are unlikely to happen, and to even propose this ban at a future summit or army board meeting, a gross misuse of alliances would have to have occurred. It is unlikely anyone, especially major armies, would want a complete ban on alliances. The only likely cause is that an alliance like BIA re-emerges and declares war on the rest of the community. Such an alliance would require ACP, RPF, and the Water Vikings to wreak havoc on the rest of the major and small-medium army community. It would be an unexpected move that would only cause aggression and lots of toxic commentary against the three armies and, once again, a decline in the community.
This move, however, shows that some alliances frustrate the community, especially when they unite some of the strongest armies. The largest armies are unlikely to get involved unless others directly insult them. It is a deadly sight to see such an army actively fight your army, as when ACP fought the Templars in the Around the World Cup III Grand Finals. ACP maxed over 80 against TCP’s 30 during that finals battle. Seeing that in war constantly alongside allies is enough to demotivate troops and shrink the army later. Should an alliance like this ever be formed? Most people would likely say no, but that doesn’t mean that all alliances are futile. Take the International United Armies alliance, which is a great idea for small-medium armies, despite falling multiple times. Such an alliance could bring small-medium armies together while giving them a place to debate among themselves.
Alliances are important for the community to keep friendly conversations and inter-army relationships healthy. At the same time, the community should remember that alliances are only as useful as they make them. They shouldn’t be a deterrent or some sort of mutually assured destruction kept to avoid wars. We need conflict, albeit respectful conflict, to keep this community thriving. What do you think about alliances, and how should armies handle them? Do you think alliances existing improved or decreased the quality of CPA?
Pranav
Senior Reporter
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Eternal Lord of All Sith Empires. "Life is the enemy. Death is our solace. Darth Marr's creed. It is you who fears death, 'Valkorion'. I do not" - Darth Marr.