Proposal for Club Penguin Journey Etiquette

Introduction:

The Templars believe that Club Penguin armies can continue to grow through the use of Club Penguin Journey (CPJ) while remaining respectful of the wider player base. By prioritizing community events, organic recruitment, and responsibly participating on high-population servers (Blizzard and Sleet), we can attract attention to our communities without disrupting or negatively affecting the average player’s experience.

It is important for armies operating on Club Penguin Journey to recognize that the game is also played by people who have no interest in our community. We have an obligation to participate in a way that allows armies to grow without negatively affecting the average player.

Armies should be able to utilize Club Penguin Journey for recruitment, battles, and other events, but the manner in which they do so should depend on the purpose of the event and the server being used. Additionally, recruiting methods must remain ethical and abide by Club Penguin Journey’s Terms of Service to the best of our abilities.

The purpose of this proposal is to recommend a framework for army activity on CPJ that allows armies to grow while minimizing disruption to the wider player base.

Event Types

For the purpose of this proposal, we have divided event types into three distinct categories. These will be referenced throughout the post.

• Community Events
  • Also known as “rogue events”
  • Fun and casual events that any player easily can participate in, regardless of if they are enlisted in the army or not.
  • These should be the main form of army activity on Club Penguin Journey
• Trainings
  • Primarily for enlisted members
  • Formation and tactic practice
  • Don’t necessarily need to be conducted on highly populated servers.
• Battles
  • Competitive events between two or more armies.
  • Event raids or interference fall under this category
  • Should (ideally) be organized in spaces intended for army competition

Event Conduct

The more public and community-oriented an event is, the more appropriate it is for populated CPJ spaces. The more private or disruptive an event is, the more it belongs on low-bar servers or in dedicated army spaces. 

Though sending tactics does qualify as spam, it is important to note that the CP Journey moderators have proven to be more lenient to this rule when armies operate on quieter servers.

Community Events

Community events can be held on neutral servers, but they should remain community events.

• Limited recruitment spam, let it happen organically
• No flooding the room with big word bubbles or excessive tactic spam
• Activities should be understandable and accessible to non-members
• While some players may get annoyed by a large crowd, community events do not negatively interfere with player experience

NOTE: If the majority of the event consists of word tactics and formations, it’s functionally a Training and should be hosted on a claimable server.

Trainings

Trainings should occur on claimed servers, as this is where extensive word tactics and formations are more acceptable.

• Though these can be used to attract player attention, they are primarily intended to train enlisted members
• As these are led through discord servers (often at fast paces), average player participation is difficult
• Tactic spam and formation practice are more likely to disrupt CPJ staff members and player experience

Battles

Should only take place on claimed servers or CPA: Battleground. These should never take place on Blizzard or Sleet. This protects ordinary players from being caught up in army conflict and prevents the neutral servers from becoming territorial battlegrounds.

• While this proposal views battles on claimed servers as acceptable, extra precaution should be taken to ensure player experience is not disrupted
• Keep CPJ’s Terms of Service in mind. Armies should use common sense and not push the limits of what is and is not acceptable

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Recruitment & Player Experience

Armies should attract players rather than disrupt them.

Armies should use community events as their primary opportunity for organic recruitment. No one wants to see “JOIN MY DISCORD” spammed in the Town or Welcome Room. Players are far more likely to get involved in an army through genuine attempts to play the game and connect with others.

Make friends! Don’t be intrusive or annoying!

• Encourage troops + staff to help other players collect stamps, discover secret items, find the latest pin. Let the conversation develop naturally, then ask “hey do you want to add me on Discord?”
• First impressions go a long way and contribute towards our community’s reputation. This is a more meaningful way to recruit people who will actually be invested in armies.

It is important that we recognize that our community’s reputation isn’t great among CPPS players. Armies are often viewed as toxic and annoying. Many are accused of caring more about numbers than they do Club Penguin and the people who play it. Though it will take time, our reputation can absolutely be improved, but it starts with showing more care and understanding towards the individuals we hope to one day recruit.

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Beneficial for Everyone

When writing this proposal, it was important to us that none of our suggestions served to stop armies from being armies. We believe our framework provides a fair avenue for armies to compete and grow, two things that are essential to our identity and stability as a community.

It is necessary to remind ourselves that our presence on any CPPS is a privilege that is not guaranteed. While we are welcome on any CPPS as individual players, being able to openly discuss our armies and host events is not something we are entitled to. As Club Penguin Journey has not publicly stated their stance on armies, we have no way to determine how thick or thin the line is. What we do know is that our relationship with the game and it’s staff is not one we can afford to lose. Taking the initiative to establish guidelines on what is and is not acceptable can hopefully prevent Club Penguin Journey from having to do it for us.

Designating CPJ’s Blizzard and Sleet as neutral zones is the best way for the army community to show respect and appreciation for the game, it’s staff, and the player base. As these are the most populated servers, keeping our battles, trainings, and army conflict off of these servers is the least we can do. As there are still three other servers for full army activities to operate on, the Templars leadership sees no reason why this proposal should be rejected.

Through this framework we also hope to see the return more organic conflict, similar to the original era of Club Penguin armies. A dependable avenue for rivalry and conflict to form between armies has been lacking in our community for quite some time. Templars would be the first among (hopefully) many other armies to claim and regularly train on a Club Penguin Journey server.

We believe our proposal is one that armies and Club Penguin players alike can benefit from. One that provides an appropriate avenue for armies to operate in the public eye, while also respecting players and CP Journey staff.

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Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Signed by the Order of the Purple Phoenix,

Sidie9, Empress
Borapenguins, Grand Prior
Shallissa, Grand Prior
Ellie, Leader in Training
Mugi, Grand Marshal
Abbiesofia, Knight of the Wyrd