An Outside Eye on the Split of Armies

KLONDIKE, Zing’s Office – The death of Club Penguin on March 29th, 2017 was a troubling time that left me dealing with a lot of emotions. Not really sure on how I felt about the whole thing, and whether I thought we should head over to Private Servers’ or not, I decided to leave – and I didn’t ever come back. Now, as an outsider, I look at the divide that has been established in the Club Penguin Army community.

In the world of Club Penguin Army media, there always appears to be some level of competition. There have been many media wars in the fifteen years that Club Penguin has existed. From SMAP vs. SMAC, to CPAWM vs. SMAC and more – competition has always been rife. Now, in this new generation of armies, this fact is still the same. The only difference is, it isn’t just the media that is battling it out for the top dog spot. It’s the actual Private Servers that we play on, and the armies that simply can not decide which site they should play on.

The first option for people to play on, is Club Penguin Online. Club Penguin Online is the highly controversial site designed by Timmy, but led and ran by Waterkid and Epic101. At the end of armies, it looked highly likely that Club Penguin Online would be the direction in which the community went, with many prominent figures, including myself, actively advocating for Club Penguin Online. Waterkid had made many promises, including one to keep armies at the forefront of the server, always thinking about them when changes and developments were on the way. Many armies did go to Club Penguin Online, which is now largely regarded as the biggest platform for Army users to play on.

Alternatively, you have Club Penguin Rewritten – the chosen platform of armies such as the ACP and the Rebel Penguin Federation. While Club Penguin Rewritten pales in comparion to the sizes and loyal userbase acheived by CPO, it is respected by armies due to its ability to be more neutral in regards to matters of army politics. CPR is not led by anyone from the Army Community, leading to the site receiving it’s neutral ranking.

Light Troops event hosted on the Club Penguin Online Platform.

Recently, Chief Executive Officer of the CPO Army League, Epic101 posted an article examining the reasons that he believes the army community has found themselves in this very hostile and volitile state of divide. Epic went into detail about many things including attempts to help kick start a revival for the army community, and about the behavour of the CP Army Media’s Chief Executive Officer.

It’s quite funny actually when they say that I am the power hungry one when I am quite the opposite. For the past few weeks and months I have worked endlessly to make CP Armies as great as they once were, power has not been a thing in my mindset at all. I even left for 2-3 months and gave Freezie & Andrew ownership of the league and they did an outstanding job in building what we have now. If you look at our recent Top Ten’s you can see our Top Tens are nearly identical to something you would have seen in 2012, seeing armies like UMA, DCP, IW, DW, Pirates and more all maxing 50-120 on a daily basis it’s insane. Armies have not seen these sizes EVER but it’s only armies on CPO that are breaking the boundaries and yet the people on CPR still have something bad to say about us mainly because of all the false accusations built up by the likes of Ayan and co. on a daily basis to maintain their power hungry status and to continue working on their joke of a league.

As you can see, Epic101 advocates throughout his statement for a revival for the Club Penguin Army commuity; holding out hope that it can one day reach the peak such as in the glory days of 2010-2015. Evidence is also put forward by the Club Penguin Online leader that CPO is offering an exceptional platform for armies such as UMA, Ice Warriors and the Doritos – helping them to max sizes once thought of as unthinkable. This made me extremely interested in what the Top Ten Armies looked like for both respective communities.

As an outsider looking in, I went to both sites armed with no prior infomation to judge their respective Top Ten Armies. The Club Penguin Online Top Ten boasted a fierce competition for the Number One position, with many armies returning and being brought back from the brink of death in order to compete for supremecy and status in the community. On the flip side, was the Club Penguin Rewritten Top Ten, seemingly only there to fluctuate between the ACP and the Rebel Penguin Federation.

Epic also dressed the controversy around Club Penguin Online, believing it to be the result of “false accusations buit up by the likes of Ayan”. He then went on to post a multlitude of evidence to show wrong doings from powerful figures in the Club Penguin Rewritten community.

CPAM staff predict that their site and community will soon perish.

After establishing the differences between the two servers, and highlighting the rivalry that has ensued, it has become clear to me that Club Penguin Armies will always exist with a certain toxitity level. Armies continue to work against the idea of progress, robbing themselves of the chance to do what we all joined the community to do, have fun and explore Club Penguin in a completely new and different way.

While the idea of two army communities might be all some players know, to an outsider looking in? It seems like a wasted opportuntity to play together and develop some real competition leading to a better time for everyone involved. Club Penguin Online appears to offer a great platform for armies to grow and develop, with Club Penguin Rewritten apparently seeming to be on its last legs.

This community could be extremely strong if it stopped following old habits and fighting itself. The biggest enemy in this community has always been the community. Reuniting on one server appears to me to be the very best option for anyone who claims to care and love the Club Penguin Army community.

What do YOU think? Could a potential merger to encourage growth and competition ever happen? Will ACP and RPF take the challenge and begin to fight in the Major Leagues?

Zing King To

Executive Producer

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