Now there’s a question. Is Poptropica now fulfilling the prophecy about itself it set out in its own self-parody in the 36th island—and not in a good way?
I’m Slanted Fish, here to examine just how much Poptropica is falling into the traps it once warned about. Let’s take a look at the evidence.
For those who need a refresher, Mocktropica Island is a bit of a self-parody of Poptropica, imagining what things would be like when development of the game world goes haywire. It’s a fictional tale, but like many good stories, it does contain some truth.
And lately, it seems like Poptropica’s development is in crisis: we don’t hear as much from the Creators as we used to, and when we do, they’re tinkling with visual updates here and there, rather than the meat of the game: the story quests. In fact, it’s been a whole year since the latest island, Greek Sea Odyssey, was released on Poptropica Worlds, and Poptropica Original hasn’t had a new island since 2016’s Monkey Wrench. So, robot boss battles aside, has Mocktropica predicted the fate of the game?
Pets: the focus on aesthetics
One feature Mocktropica played with was the idea of pets for Poptropicans. Back when the island first came out in 2013, there weren’t exactly pets in Poptropica, though we did have “Followers” available from ads or in the store (such as the dragon in the picture above). But the Creators knew when they were making this island that pets were a popular requested feature for the game, so in the story, we have kids cheering for the introduction of pets.
And don’t get me wrong, Poptropica pets are great! This year the Pet Barn on Home Island finally opened, offering cute critters for players to adopt.
But that’s just the thing, too: while the Creators focused on aesthetic updates like pets (not to mention the redesign of Home Island and various features like the Arcade, Clubhouses, Friends profiles, the upheaval of the store into a rotational system, and more), they neglected the heart of Poptropica itself… the island quests.
Coins: the allure of membership
While Poptropica hasn’t gotten quite as extreme as Mocktropica when it comes to currency, the Pop Coin system does hint at something sinister: charging players to pay real-life money for basic features of the game. In Poptropica, we know it as membership.
Membership wasn’t always like it is now. These days, every update seems to come with a significant portion exclusive to members only: store updates, pets, the new friends profiles, and so on. But back when we saw new islands every once in a while, each update wasn’t so member-focused, in part because membership already had a big draw: early access to new islands. With no new islands, the Creators have to find more ways to make membership attractive for the sake of profits, but it’s only causing players—many without the means of purchasing power—to resent them for it.
Read more in this 2017 PHB article: Is Poptropica becoming pay-to-play?
Pop-ups: Achievements and Ad Units
Achievements? Well, Poptropica has had ways of marking a player’s achievements with features like island medallions and album photos, and fortunately, they’re not annoying pop-ups like on Mocktropica—in fact, they’re pretty creative.
But not so fast. Remember the ad sales lady on Mocktropica and the obnoxious pop-up ads she made float around on your screen? While Poptropica hasn’t quite reached that level of distaste, it has since introduced a pretty off-putting pop-up ad at the bottom of the screen that re-appears whenever you change scenes. Sadly, it’s been there for a while and looks like it intends to stay. As if the banner wrapper ads weren’t enough!
Developers: Where have they gone?
A year ago, Poptropica inexplicably let go of some valuable senior-level employees who had contributed to the game for about a whole decade. A former Creator, Jessica (aka Skinny Moon), even confirmed in March 2018 that “most of the company is gone,” referring to employees she’d worked with prior to that point. Since then, we haven’t had names—not even aliases!—to connect us with the Poptropica team.
On this front, Mocktropica definitely predicted a bleak turn for Poptropica. These days, Poptropica rarely updates their official blog, on time if it all—even for bigger releases—and as outlined above, game updates are not only fewer and farther between, but when they do occur, they’re not what anybody really asked for. Sure, releasing some new items and redecorating some interfaces is mildly interesting, but they’re not going to keep anybody’s attention for long. But you know what will, Poptropica Creators?
Stories—specifically, islands!
Former president of Poptropica, Jess Brallier, says it best in this video from 2013, recently discovered by Osmium and re-posted from “Future Think” by idk:
Right out of this publisher’s mouth: “We’re not doing a virtual world to create a social networking opportunity, not to house games, not to host a virtual economy, but to tell stories… the point of Poptropica is to tell kids stories in the literacy of their choosing.“
Does that sound like the Poptropica of the present to you? Well, I’ve been following Poptropica through the years, and let me tell you: the success is in the stories it tells. The most anticipated updates have always been the islands—those quirky quests were what made Poptropica “Poptropica.” Pets, member perks, fun items—those are best left as secondary.
I think it’s pretty clear that Poptropica has, in not all, but some ways, followed right into the footsteps of Mocktropica Island. An island created as a cautionary tale is unfolding right before us, and the Poptropica Creators of the present would do well to pay attention and revisit what the Creators of the past have tried to warn us all about when they created Mocktropica.
What does Poptropica need right now? Well…
I think I speak for many Poptropicans when I say that I truly hope to see Poptropica return to what made it successful: the stories, or in other words, the islands. Oh Poptropica, where will your yellow blimp take us next?
—Slanted Fish 🐠
🏝 Poptropica Help Blog 🗺 
Now you need membership for almost everything. 😔
True… 😔
Wow, those similarities are eerie, and a bit disheartening.
I know, right? It almost seems like it was meant to happen. Mocktropica shows what would happen to games in the worst-case scenario, and it pretty much became a reality, minus the creepy basement where the developers work, and the mega-fighting bots.
I agree, the moment mocktropica came out I thought that’s the way they were heading. Its very sad 😦
This is kinda funny because some of us kind of compared Poptropica’s current state with Mocktropica.
Before Pop Worlds, Poptropica regardless of the store, membership (even though it could be more reasonable in some cases), and ads, the devs did not neglect the the number one premise of the game and that is the islands themselves.
Most of the islands were pretty good and stuff.
It’s probably not until one or two years ago where things got wrong.
It’s cause they’re not making a profit anymore. That’s why you need memberships for basically everything. Their time has passed
I always wondered, how did Poptropica make money in the old days? They didn’t have membership money, but the islands were incredibly detailed and pure. Now, we have memberships, but personally, I think all the charm was drained out of the islands, and I don’t find the current islands as interesting as what they used to be. Think about it. In old Poptropica we had adventures at sea, became ninjas, and helped an astronaut discover an alien civilization. Now, we get to find a pair of pants with a neglectful “detective”. If they are making so much money now, how is all the good stuff in early Poptropica? Did they have something that got them more money? (other than ads, of course. Always the ads).
Great post; and I completely agree with everything said. Unfortunately, there is no real guarantee that the creators will listen to the criticism, and even if they do, it’ll probably take ages for anything to be released. Nice job.
I agree. I always knew Poptropica was turning into chaos with every passing year, but I never compared it to Mocktropica. The resemblance makes me wonder if someone already new this day would come.
As much as I hate to day it, but if Poptropica HQ is in as bad condition as it is currently being reflected, then ladies and gentlemen… Welcome to the endgame…
To me, the game’s death seems imminent at this point, and if that’s true, I just hope I get to see at least one last island be released (but I’m beginning to doubt Poptropica even has the employees to get that done especially after reading this linked post: https://poptropi.ca/2018/02/27/creators-sailing-away/
If for some reason Poptropica HQ is still in decent shape… Where has the passion gone?
“…the endgame.”
I’m bored so
*insert Infinity War meme here*
Omg… I hope that doesn’t happen. I’m pretty sure Poptropica isn’t going anywhere for a long time, because there is so many memberships being bought, and they must be bringing in a ton of cash because ads are literally everywhere. I don’t think Poptropica will die; I’m afraid Poptropica will stop being Poptropica at one point, because now it’s basically just ads and short quests.
At least someone mentioned the ad below the screen. I’d love to have that go away. ☺
This whole time I didn’t even know that existed lol
#Adblock
It appears every time you want to go to another area. It’s really annoying.
The games already dead lol
^
This is why I quit Poptropica. I still have a membership.
My name is Red Tomato. About a year ago, In April 2018, I left the fandom. But guess what… IM BACKKKK the only people who will probably remember me are greedy Shadow,lucky wing,and maybe some of the PHB staff. Well, it feels good to be back!!!
Welcome back RT! 👍🍅
Yeet
It really does feel like Poptropica is slowly becoming Mocktropica, with all the similarities you pointed out being way too ominous. While there have been some good updates to the game, I feel like the current Creators are focusing much more on the original target audience of 6-15 year olds. Original Pop had islands like Vampire Curse and Ghost Story (and Steamworks and Super Villain and practically all of them, really) that told stories that could appeal to people beyond that small age group, allowing them to build up a great fan base that continued to support the game even after growing up and growing old. Even the “newer” islands like Monster Carnival and Arabian Nights were fantastic. Younger kids could easily pick out the messages about Not Making Fun of How Others Look and family, and when they grew older, the issues about discrimination and wealth not being everything that they were (probably) trying to express in their story.
Maybe I’m reading too much into what’s essentially a game for kids, but the point is Poptropica really was educational. Now, the updates made a lot of the features simpler. The recent islands are a lot simpler too and have much less complex stories behind them and cruder jokes. I can’t fault the current Creators for doing what they do, because they probably have to focus on making Poptropica profitable enough to continue running it as its popularity fades. Great post, you bring up some really good points on what Poptropica needs to do 🙂
Now that you mention it, I really did cringe when in Mystery Of the Map island the avatar said “Holy macanoli!”. I mean seriously, who actually says that in this era!?
We all got attracted to Poptropica because of its interesting storylines. Now there are no new islands. But I still like the gameplay.
I hate how right you are that Poptropica is literally turning into Mocktropica Island
That’s the best description yet and it’s so true
The irony hurts and it’s also mind-blowing that the Creators predicted their own (potential) demise
oooof
Thanks Slanted Fish, I hate it
They predicted it all! Wait: Mocktropica has 11 letters in it. If you add one letter, that’s 12. My old my place in poptropica post had 4 comments. 12 divided by 4 =3. A triangle has 3 points. ILLUMINATI COMFIRMED
I’m sorry
But It’s upsetting, I come back to the fandom after almost a year and Pop is going downhill…
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/67/66/45/6766455e45fcd841c7515ab0f1c781a3.png <—how I feel right now
For the love of God, they haven’t made a new island for almost a year.
I’ve fallen in love with MineCraft now. But since I don’t know know which version my new favorite Youtuber (Atlantic Craft) plays. I hated Mocktropica island. Right now I’m making Poptropica feel like MineCraft. But it can’t be the same. Especially with there being no scary person who apparently hants you. If you don’t understand, watch this video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONNJLbCaeiY
I love minecraft! #offtopica
It feels weird to say it in 2019 but Minecraft has been doing a great job lately in updates and listening to their community *cough* I’m talking to you, Poptropica *cough*. I hope they keep it up!
Side note: How could you forget about the legendary Afro Guy
Ikr I can’t wait for village and pillage #totallyofftopica
Woahh comment section EXPLODED on this post.
Boom
Posts that stir emotion among the reader tend to make them more likely to express themselves.
@shinyb1rd good point
This is so unfortunate but true! I miss when they would update their blog at least weekly and come out with new islands. Where has it all gone?
You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain 😦
Uh… So in the post it says “WHEN Poptropica goes haywire”. Is this suggesting that Poptropica could actually turn into Mocktropica one day, and the game could fall?
It’s not really trying to say that. The actual sentence reads, “Mocktropica Island is a bit of a self-parody of Poptropica, imagining what things would be like when development of the game world goes haywire.” As context implies, the point here is to give a recap of Mocktropica’s plot. Things do go haywire in Poptropica’s development in the Mocktropica story, and that’s what this particular sentence is speaking about.
I have a theory called the SALTropica theory.