Category: Guest Posts

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Sporty Runner, who discovered Poptropica through Wimpy Kid and fell in and out of obsession. See below for details on how to send in your MPIP story for publication here on the PHB!

Hi guys! My name’s Sporty Runner, and this is My Place in Poptropica, the entire story of my Poptropican life! Enjoy!

2013 | From Wimpy Kid

It all started when I was looking through the official Wimpy Kid website. (Have you read the books? It’s written and illustrated by the creator of Poptropica, Jeff Kinney!) Anyway, the website is mostly stuff about new books for the series, games, and just other things related with the books, know what I mean?

So one day, when I was looking through the site, I found a Wimpy Wonderland Island medallion. Above it in blue letters, it said “Wimpy Kid on Poptropica.” Curious, I clicked on it, and it led me to a page about Wimpy Wonderland Island.

I saw a play now button, and in my confusion, I clicked on it. That then led me to the brilliant world of Poptropica. Basically when I first started playing, I was just confused. But the more I played, the more into it I got.

2014–2016 | Just School & Poptropica

In the couple of years that followed, my life was mainly just two things—school and Poptropica. I had started playing the islands and figuring how to beat them with the help of YouTube walkthroughs from Thinknoodles.

I had gotten so into the game that I would visit the official Poptropica website at least three times a day to see if they were doing anything new.

That all changed in 2016.

2016 | Disappointment

2016 was officially the worst year of my life. So many bad events occurred in my life that year relating to school, family, and of course, Poptropica!

Poptropica had gotten so boring I barely started following them anymore. There were barely any interesting updates in 2016. Of course, I was psyched to hear about the “All New Poptropica” that was supposed to come out in late 2016, but was disappointed to find out that it didn’t come out that year after all.

So, in December of 2016, I decided to quit Poptropica and focus on other things.

2017 | Here Comes Worlds

I had ignored Poptropica for at least 5 months until one day, I found a picture that my dad had taken of me playing Poptropica. It made me smile and I started to feel a little sad. Poptropica was one of my biggest memories as a kid, and looking at the photo, I decided I just wasn’t going to let that be washed away.

So, I got myself right back onto Poptropica—and was absolutely shocked to find the new “Poptropica Worlds.” And before I knew it, I had transferred my old account into an account for Poptropica Worlds! I’d missed a few new island releases too, and just in two days, I returned to my old Poptropica routine. To this day, I still continue to follow Poptropica every single day.

So yeah. That’s “My Place in Poptropica.” I hope you guys enjoyed it!

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story!

If you haven’t already, we invite you to send in your own. Please include your username and a minimum of 500 words, typed with good spelling and grammar, and divided into labeled sections. If you send in your story, we will continue to post new community MPIPs!

Interested in writing for the PHB under a different Pop-topic? Take a look at our Write for the PHB page for ideas, guidelines, and more. We always welcome new guest posts!

~the Poptropica Help Blog

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Unknown Shadow, who was obsessed with Poptropica until a point of identity questioning that eventually came to pass. See below for details on how to send in your MPIP!

Hello, people! I’m Unknown Shadow! Here’s a “My Place in Poptropica” post. I’m not the best at writing, but here we go!

2013 | The Not-So-Dramatic Beginning

When I was 9 years old, I was bored on a weekend one day, so I went on my computer and decided to search up “Fun Free Games.” I found one with a fun art style called “Poptropica” that didn’t need a download, so I clicked on it.

I spent about an hour creating my first character, or “Poptropican,” as I would later learn it was called. Most of that time was spent randomizing the character’s name until I got one I liked: “Silly Sword.” My username, which I still use today, was lula4schmidt.

When I was ready, I hovered over the blimp and entered the world of Poptropica. I’m pretty sure the first island I stepped into was Super Power Island, though I don’t remember if I ever beat it.

2014 | Is there such thing as TOO obsessed?

Soon, I went into “special interest mode” and became absolutely OBSESSED. I spent all my spare time on Poptropica. If I wasn’t playing Pop, I was begging my parents for a membership. When they finally gave in one day, I got everything in the store that I was able to, since members could get all store items for free.

My most vivid Poptropica memory from back then is having my character in a wolf costume on Shark Tooth Island. I printed out a picture of one of my outfits, and I think I still have it. I also remember that at one point, a bug in the game turned my girl character into a boy.

Also, I found the PHB, and even made my own Poptropica blog. Mine was really bad—the name was something like “The Pop and Bop.” But I was confident and went ahead with it anyway.

2015–2016 | Oh…

In 2015, I was diagnosed with depression. With the depression, I didn’t have the motivation to do anything, not even play Poptropica. I felt sadder and sadder with each passing day.

Then in 2016, I started questioning my gender. (Spoiler: I’m trans.) I also went into therapy. I logged into Poptropica every once in a while, but not much. By the end of the year, I had stopped playing completely.

2017| Yay!

Sometime this year, I found an old bookmark on my laptop that I had some vague memories of. Yup, it was Poptropica. And I clicked on it.

I made a new (boy!) account called “ace-hq” and logged in to my old favorite website. And even now, I’m still playing.

That’s my story, as best as I can remember it. Anyway, I hope you have a good day! Thank you for reading! ❤

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story!

If you haven’t already, we invite you to send in your own. Please include your username and a minimum of 500 words, typed with good spelling and grammar, and divided into labeled sections. If you send in your story, we will continue to post new community MPIPs!

Interested in writing for the PHB under a different Pop-topic? Take a look at our Write for the PHB page for ideas, guidelines, and more. We always welcome new guest posts!

~the Poptropica Help Blog

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Tough Sky, who got his first exposure to people from all over the world from new friends on Poptropica. See below for how to send in your MPIP!

2009–2010 | Getting Into It

I started playing Poptropica when I was at my grandparent’s house one day, where a friend of mine showed me a website called Funbrain. It was really interesting at first, since it had really simple games, but then I found Poptropica.

Poptropica was, at the time, one of the best games that I could ever play. I created some avatars, but I didn’t really know how to play the game, since I thought that the items present in an island were also used for other islands. However, when I started to do the rest of the islands, I began to get a clearer idea of how to play. The first island I ever completed was Reality TV Island.

2011–2014 | All Around the World

In the next few years, I did all the islands—and then I wasn’t sure what to do next. I waited a while, and in 2012, they added the friends feature, so then I was able to make friends in the common rooms. I was excited that I could finally meet people from all around the world and be open to the world.

I live in Europe, and up until then I didn’t have much exposure to the world outside of my country. But with this new possibility on Poptropica, I was able to challenge many people from the United States and Asia in head-to-head game battles. My battle rank got pretty high after a while.

I also discovered the Poptropica Help Blog through the internet. From this site I found some cheats for the game and read about the news and adventures on the blog. I also tried to do the islands with the World Champion rank maps when those came out, and it was really cool to see all the countries where Poptropica players come from.

2015–2017 | The Best I Can Be

Eventually, I created an avatar for main use instead of having a bunch, and it’s the one I still use today. My avatar is Tough Sky, and I’ve solved all the islands except for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which is currently membership-locked) and the old Hub (Home) Island quest (which no longer exists). I did all the latest islands like Mission Atlantis, Survival, and my favorite, PoptropiCon.

Every time a new island came out, I would try to rank first place in my home country on the World Champion player maps. I’d participate in everything that Poptropica released. I played all the mini games you could get in the store.

I’ve also been playing Poptropica Worlds. In Poptropica Worlds, I’ve done Crisis Caverns, 24 Carrot, and Dr. Hare’s Revenge. I had a lot of fun in the latter, completing the four zones and attaining high scores. I also bought new outfits in the store and decorations for my dream house.

I think Poptropica Worlds should add new islands for us to do, bring back the World Champion rank maps for each island, allow us to create a personal profile for each avatar, and put a common room on every island.

But the most important thing I wish they’d do is cancel the membership in Poptropica Original, since that game is over—well, no longer being updated—so they may as well let us have free reign. And on Worlds, they should be less limiting to players without membership: I have too many decorations for too little space in my dream house, and I wish I didn’t have to get membership just to have more space.

Anyway, I hope that there will be new features in Poptropica Worlds. As a final note, I want everybody to know that there are two islands on Poptropica Original with World Champion rank maps that aren’t listed under “New Features” on Poptropica’s site, and they are Reality TV and Early Poptropica. Well, thanks for reading my story!

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story!

If you haven’t already, we invite you to send in your own. Please include your username and a minimum of 500 words, typed with good spelling and grammar, and divided into labeled sections. If you send in your story, we will continue to post new community MPIPs!

Interested in writing for the PHB under a different Pop-topic? Take a look at our Write for the PHB page for ideas, guidelines, and more. We always welcome new guest posts!

~the Poptropica Help Blog

This is the My Place in Poptropica story of Gentle Fang, who stopped playing Poptropica for a while because she felt too old for it, but returned to it for the challenge and fun she’d missed. See below for how to send in your MPIP!

Hey everyone! I am Gentle Fang (a brilliant oxymoron of a name). I wrote a guest post back in February with a little island history, and decided to return and do a My Place in Poptropica post for fun. Enjoy!

2012 | Introduction

In 2012, I was in second grade, and was seven years old. I always loved to visit FunBrain.com, and in the website’s games there were constantly Poptropica advertisements. The characters in the pictures I saw looked pretty cool to me, so I asked my mom if I could play.

She agreed to set up an account for me to use, although I was not allowed membership to the game. Upon entering, I clicked the first island I saw: Zomberry. I was frightened by the purple zombies back then, but now I see them as nothing to be afraid of. Since I was scared, I quickly exited out of the game. Sadly, I have no idea what my old username was.

2015 | Different school, different kids

When I was in fifth grade, I moved to a new school for the seventh time in my life. I had come from a school where I was very well-liked by the students and was very close to them, so when I moved, I expected it to be just the same as the last school. However, I turned out to be very wrong.

I met lots of kids who were very different from what I was used to (in a good way), and most of them didn’t like any of the same things I did. I got very shy around these kids, and so I had no one to be around when school was over. The work was also kind of boring to me because the curriculum at my new school was behind on what it had been at my old school, so much of it was review for me.

It was out of boredom that I went back onto FunBrain one night, and once again, I saw the Poptropica ads. I thought back to second grade and the scary Zomberry zombies, and was hesitant to join. However, I decided to do it again anyway, because I figured much could have changed as I got older.

I found that I loved the game, and tried to complete islands on my own, which was a huge challenge. I had fun changing my character’s outfits and making her hair bright turquoise. I chatted in the common rooms and even copied down some questions from the chats to ask to kids at school.

I got a very positive reaction, and found that many people who I thought were so different from me were actually quite similar. I made a few friends who I am still close to today, including my friends Isabella and Caroline. I found out that plenty of kids played Poptropica, and one even showed me the PHB, so completing islands wouldn’t be so hard anymore.

It was also on Poptropica that I discovered how much I love theater, especially musical theater. I watched as Gentle Fang cried off of the stage on Reality TV Island and how she would sweat nervously in Game Show Island, and I myself became very good at acting out the very same emotions my character acted out. After fifth grade, I joined the drama club at school, which helped me to get a ton of friends.

2016 | A break from an obsession (and forming some new ones)

In 2016, I entered middle school. I LOVED IT, to say the least. I felt like I had a lot more independence, but also felt I was “too old” for some things.

For one, I felt that it was time I abandoned the pink decorations on all of my stuff and replaced it with boring old zebra stripes. I also developed a new obsession of listening to Hamilton over and over again. And, more relevant to this story, I came to think that Poptropica was too babyish for the eleven-year-old that I was and not worth my time anymore, so I stopped playing.

2017 | Why’d I ever stop?

This year, I felt I was lacking a challenge, some sort of game that would test my logic and reasoning. I realized what I was actually missing was Poptropica. I missed the challenges the islands presented to me, and I missed the fun social interactions that resulted from it. I realized that the only thing I was actually “too old” for was my own brain.

So, I decided to give myself a mental refresh, in which I realized it was dumb to get rid of things I loved so much just because I was getting older. I quickly went back to Poptropica, replaying all of the old islands and laughing at some friends’ outfit choices for their characters.

I went back to Gentle Fang and took her for a long shopping trip in the store. I had tons of fun, and I am working on my Poptropica Worlds account now. While my newer obsession of Hamilton songs continue to play in the background, I am so happy to have gone back to my older obsession of a game that brought me great joy.

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Hope you enjoyed this “My Place in Poptropica” story!

If you haven’t already, we invite you to send in your own. Please include your username and a minimum of 500 words, typed with good spelling and grammar, and divided into labeled sections. If you send in your story, we will continue to post new community MPIPs!

~the Poptropica Help Blog