In this post, I’ll be exploring the topic of Poptropica and age. This is a continuation from two previous posts, so if you haven’t already read them, be sure to first catch up with Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Once you’ve read those, continue on below to Part 3!
Are you ever “too old”? Is it weird for anyone older than 12 to like Poptropica?
Well, this might sound like a cop-out answer, but it really depends on your perspective. Ask a community of Poptropica fans, and they’ll probably tell you no. Ask another person whose tastes do not align with yours, and they might answer differently.
Is Poptropica a kids’ game? By many accounts, yes. Is it also an all-ages game? Though the most populous group will probably continue to be the group the game was made for, you’ll find players of varying ages in this community. By that detail, it’s okay if you fall outside the typical spectrum.
This is a cliche, but: age is just a number. (Or as the memes will tell you, “False! Age is just a word.”) It’s only a recommendation guide, and you are not obligated to follow. You may find an 8-year-old who hates Poptropica, and an 18-year-old who loves it. Stereotypes can be broken. What matters is whether you find joy in it – whether it’s constructive to you and the people around you. Taking this into account, the factor of age becomes less important.
Yujo, a longtime Poptropican who is now 20, says this about his commitment to the game: “Part of what has made me return to the game is nostalgia, I suppose. Another would be the storytelling of Poptropica, continually dishing out something new every now and then. Even with Poptropica Worlds, a new platform, I still find myself enjoying playing it. One other thing that has made me stay for so long, despite my age, is the amazing community. I’ve made some fond memories playing Pop, so I’ll probably make some more before I pop on out down the line.”
There may be people who look at an older player and go, “Really? Don’t you have better things to do?” and, yes, it might strike them as odd. But that’s just the question: if you do enjoy your involvement in Poptropica, whether it’s just the game or something more – then isn’t it something worth doing, despite what critics may say?
And here is another thing critics may overlook: the Poptropican side of Ye Olde Player may be the only side they are seeing. But the truth is that every person on this earth is a complex individual, which means, for starters, that we all have lives offline. We go to school, we hang out with our family and friends, we pursue our interests, the list goes on. Some of us are just a tad farther down the age line than others.
Will most of the high school and college-aged still be playing beyond the early twenties? That remains to be seen. This group has gone past the old recommendation of “6–15 years old” for a handful of years now, and who’s to say there won’t be more years? As long as Poptropica continues to be enjoyable and keeps coming out with new and interesting content, the oldies might just stick around a little longer.
Here’s the other thing: everybody finds things and activities they enjoy, or at least, something to occupy themselves with. If your life didn’t have Poptropica in it, it would have something else: perhaps other games, books, movies, TV shows, hobbies, etc. And these things are not mutually exclusive! You can enjoy Poptropica while pursuing other interests and duties in your life, too – in fact, it would be pretty unhealthy not to.
Either way, you’ll find something to take hold of and be inspired by.
Why not let it be Poptropica?
Well, that’s my take on Poptropica and age – all three parts of it. In case you missed it, you can catch Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
Do you agree or disagree with these thoughts? What has your experience been? Share in the comments below!
In this post, I’ll be exploring the topic of Poptropica and age. This is a continuation from a previous post, so if you haven’t already read that, be sure to first catch up with Part 1 here. Once you’ve read it, continue on below to Part 2!
Why are there so many older kids/teens in the fandom?
Herein lies a kicker: despite the target audience, Poptropica is still quite popular with many older kids as well. What’s the appeal?
I can’t speak for everyone, but I can speak from my own experience and observations. At age 11, when I was first introduced to the game, I was enamored by Poptropica and all its whimsical characters and worlds. At 20, I still enjoy checking out a new island when it’s released, but it has become much more than a game to me. Like many other Poptropicans have reported, it’s not only about the content (though that certainly plays an important role). The community surrounding Poptropica has also played a big part in continuing my interest, accompanied by my own personal passions.
For me, being involved in the Poptropica community has been a huge encouragement to my creativity. I like to write, and heading up the Poptropica Help Blog has been an amazing opportunity to do so with a large readership of fellow fans. I’ve shared before that this blog was almost created to be a fan site for another game called Club Penguin – and if it had been, who knows what would’ve happened?
However, that was not to be the case (fortunately!), and instead, I’ve been blessed by all of your encouragement to keep writing about Poptropica. My earliest work was not the most polished, but I’ve definitely improved over the years. More recently, I’ve been taking on the editorial role of proofreading for guest posts for the blog. Thanks in part to this foundation in my life, I’ve become more confident in my writing ability and it’s become something I want to keep pursuing in my life – not writing about Poptropica necessarily, but writing in general.
I also like to draw, and again, because of Poptropica, I have been inspired to create fan art based on the game and have a community take interest in that work via sites like DeviantArt. So have tons of other Poptropica creatives. Could we have written and drawn inspiration from other subject matter? Sure, and many of us probably have. But why not Poptropica? If we are especially taken by a witty character, a beautiful scene, or a creative costume from Poptropica, why not let it stimulate our creative side?
On that note, it’s amazing how many ways you can customize your Poptropica character, and the lengths some players go through to find certain item parts to complete their costume is impressive. That on its own is a fun creative endeavor, but what’s also cool is seeing some take it further by creating their own OCs, or Original Characters, based on their Poptropica avatars. These OCs (also called Popsonas) are given character traits and sometimes even stories about their lives.
Brave Tomato, who’s 19, creates fan art, fan fiction, and YouTube videos about Poptropica, and has been blogging with the PHB for over 5 years. She says this about her longtime involvement with the fandom: “I believe what kept me in the fandom for so long is not only the game itself, but the amazing people I have gotten to meet and get to know over the period of time. There’s just something really appealing about this fandom in particular that I don’t think I’ve seen in many other fandoms. The game doesn’t make its primary focus elementary education. Its stories aren’t elementary either.”
There’s yet another aspect of the Poptropica fandom I haven’t mentioned yet, and that’s the glitchers. They’re the ones who enjoy digging through Poptropica’s files and code, looking for glitches to exploit and sneak peeks on future game updates. They’re the ones who brought the rest of us techniques and tools like the ASG and Custom Name Genie. And this, too, can be the beginnings of an exploration into how computers work.
Red Lizard, 20, is the developer of a glitching tool called Modify A Poptropican 2.0 and has also contributed to the Avatar Studio Gift, among various other glitching endeavors. He says he’s “more interested in the mechanics of the game and finding exploits. Also, Poptropica has given me inspiration to code a few apps.”
Santorno, who developed another glitching tool callediPop as a high-schooler, writes this on the front page of iPop: “Being able to exploit the game to my liking felt like pure magic. Ever since [being given access to Modify A Poptropican 1.0], I’ve always been interested in software development and learning how computers function. To this day, I still want to pursue a career in the field of computer science.”
To many players, especially teenagers and older, Poptropica is not just a game. It’s the breeding ground for forays into various fields like writing, art, and even computer science. It’s also a community of fellow players who appreciate and learn from the creations of these inquisitive minds, and befriend each other on social networks outside of Poptropica’s limited multiplayer functions.
Poptropica is shaping future writers, artists, programmers, and more. For these players, young and old, Poptropica – the game and the fandom – is worth it.
To be continued…
Thanks for reading Part 2 of “Poptropica and Age”! I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
In Part 3, I’ll talk about whether or not it’s “weird” for anyone beyond the target audience to still be involved in Poptropica. Stay tuned!
Here’s a topic we haven’t explored much on this blog: Poptropica and age. I’m writing this from my perspective as a 20-year-old who’s been playing for almost a decade, which means I’ve seen the game grow from its humble beginnings to the big franchise it is today. And, it means I’ve grown up with the game from childhood to adulthood.
It’s often purported that Poptropica is a “children’s game,” but how accurate is this description? The answer may be a little more complicated than it seems.
Since this ended up being pretty long, I’ve broken it up into a few parts that will be posted over the coming days. In this post, I’ll go over who the game is made for as well as what kinds of people make up the actual community. Let’s begin!
Who is the game for?
Strictly speaking, Poptropica is a game for kids. It’s got kid-friendly content, has cartoonish graphics, and is marketed towards young kids, particularly pre-teens. When you register for an account on Poptropica Original, the age options are between 6 to 15. But by popular demand, in Poptropica Worlds, your age can go up to 99 – suggesting that Poptropica can be for all ages.
Still, even with this notion of “all ages,” there is a certain age group that Poptropica aims at in particular. One Poptropica Creator, Mitch Krpata, said in an interview that “a kindergartener could probably play the game but might not get much out of it. The sweet spot is around ages 8 through 12, when kids can both read the dialogue and understand the larger story. After that, you may still enjoy it, but (laughs) you may want to move on to your PlayStation 4.”
So, who is the game for? Technically, pre-teens and maybe younger teenagers, but it’s not like there’s an Age Police Force to stop you if you’re older than 15 and want to play. However, as I’ll discuss in the next section, this snapshot is only scratching the surface.
Who else is playing?
Some of you reading this may know that I got into Poptropica (and blogging about it) at the tender age of 11, in 2008, when you could fit all the islands of Poptropica on one map page. Even though the game was much simpler in those days (no store, no membership, no customizer!) I enjoyed it a lot. So much so that I started a blog.
Over the 9 years I’ve been involved in the Poptropica Help Blog (PHB) and the wider Poptropica fandom community, I’ve seen this idea of a Poptropica “age group” been broken down many times. Although the 11-year-old me who remembers the day Super Power Island came out definitely fit into the standard when I first started playing, I no longer do, and have not for many years. Still, I’m far from the only one.
One of the first to join this blog’s staff team was Codien, who at the time was 16, an age that seemed old and far away to many of the PHB’s readers who seemed mostly to fit the 8-12 range. As years went by, it seemed many in the fandom community also got older, and it became more common to find Poptropicans who were 13, 14, 15. More years passed, and 16, 17 weren’t so uncommon either. In fact, right now, the PHC chat hangout has several regulars who are currently college-aged, including myself.
PHB surveys we’ve conducted in the past few years reveal that the readers of this Poptropica fan site are not all in the expected 8–12 range. Our 2014 survey reveals that the largest group has been 12–14, with 46% in 2014, a trend that continued in 2016 and increased to 60% in 2017. Ages 9–11 were the second biggest group of PHB readers in 2014 and 2016, at 30% and 35% respectively. But in 2017, they were overtaken by ages 15–17, which made up 28%, an increase from previous years.
Of course, although some people have aged with the game as I did, others are also new faces popping up. They may be only now finding Poptropica in their teens, or are re-discovering it from digging up childhood memories, as many have reported in their My Place in Poptropica stories. At the same time, other people will lose interest over time, and that’s fine too.
There is at least one age outlier, though, and that is the gaming YouTuber Thinknoodles, who recently hit age 40. In Think’s case, although he once was an avid Poptropica player, his more recent videos have prioritized other games over Poptropica, suggesting his own fading interest. As of this writing, he has yet to post his promised walkthrough video for Crisis Caverns Island, which came out over two months ago.
And of course, the Poptropica Creators will play the game too, at least to evaluate the job they’ve done if not also for personal enjoyment.
To be continued…
Thanks for reading Part 1 of “Poptropica and Age”! What did you think? Your comments are appreciated!
In Part 2, I’ll talk about why there are so many older kids in this fandom and how it affects the community. Stay tuned!
Hello once again everyone! Spotted Dragon here bringing you the July recap for Community Creations! This month’s theme was literature and the featured work is not in any particular order. Be sure to check out all the featured artists!
Note that some featured stories, while none are NSFW, can contain intense descriptions that may not be suited for everyone. Sorry DRTI fans, but that fanfic has a mature warning for a reason.
Hidden by LillySparkle$
When you wake up, bright and early in the morning, when the promising rays of sun poke through the blinds and into your room, you forget. You forget your not living in a normal home, or that your life could end at any moment. You forget that bombs or weapons could plummet down from such a peaceful sky, ripping you away from those you love. You forget you will never see your friends, you neighbors, your cousins, even that kid who picked on you in class, ever again. You forget the constant throb in your chest and throat and the flips your heart does too often when you hear a tiny noise. You forget you are living in a war. As I wake up, I allow myself to absorb the reality- to take in the fact that this is not an ordinary day and that I don’t have to trudge myself over to school. School. I surprisingly miss that demented place- that place where I was a straight D and F student and nothing but disappointment. My thoughts are slowly killing me, so I force myself out of bed. A quick scan of the ripped up hotel room and I already can tell that my parents and the Pietermans were already out on the island. I grab the opportunity to take a shower, turning on the cold water. It was rare every one was out of the room so early. My parents moved to the Amity a month and 2 weeks and 6 days after the the first bombing started so they could help victims in the hospital. Amity Island is currently the “safest place in the world” and yet it is anything but safe… READ MORE
The word choice and descriptions are totally immersive and paint a detailed picture. Not much is known about this fictional world yet, nor its characters or its relation to Poptropica, but it truly is off to a great start. A few grammar errors, but everything that Lilly wrote makes me want to read more! Find her blog here.
Keeper of Chaos by NineTenOnetyOne
Zeus’s glowing face turned pale as his breath hitched in his throat. The gaze he gave her remained unbroken, and he stared at her for what seemed like an eternity. As much as he tried to deny it, she was there, at the foot of his brilliant golden throne, staring him square in the face after lifting her eyelids, revealing those horrible, beady red eyes.
The gold rays of the heavenly light heavily shone off of the bronze armor plates that capped her shoulders, each pointed off with one aciculate spike. It was as if Zeus was looking at Apollo’s crown, and even he could barely keep his eyes open at the intensity. A strap crossed the goddess’s chest and down to her waist, acting as a holster to his brother’s trident upon her back. There was plain evidence that his other brother contributed to her aid, as his crown sat comfortably upon the mop of her electric blue hair.
Zeus could sense hands trembling on the solid gold coated arm rests of his throne. He clutched the ends of them to the point where they could be crushed from his mighty grip.
To imagine that a god as powerful as Zeus- the KING of gods, if you will- could be frightened of another entity was truly mind-boggling. Zeus was a god; superior to any living, breathing mortals. Who would cause the almighty god of thunder this much of a threat?
Delighted at his fearful reaction, her wide, mocking grin flash across her black lips, then parted to speak the words:
“Did you miss me?” she asked, her voice bringing back such horrible, vivid memories from the past.
This story too has amazing word choice and description. NineTenOnetyOne doesn’t miss a beat, throwing the reader right in the middle of a tense situation. It brings back a fan favorite Poptropican, Zeus, and is a great tale for those interested in Mythology. Each sentence left me on the edge of my seat. And this is just chapter one! Fine her DeviantArt here.
Raven… claw by ArtisticAsianBunny
Okay guys, I’ll admit it… I’m a sucker for puns and this is adorable. I couldn’t not feature it. Proving that visual art can fit into the “literature” theme, ArtisticAsianBunny references Harry Potter (as I’m sure most of you can tell) by connecting the Ravenclaw house to our beloved Ringmaster Raven. How did we not see this earlier? I feel like he is an underappreciated character and this simple, but magical blue color palette does him justice. Find her DeviantArt here.
Of Darkness and Shadows by SuperGrape1
Our story begins in a college building on Mocktropica Island where a science teacher can be seen trying to give his class a lecture about neutrons and atoms, but they are too busy playing Mega Fighting Bots to pay him any attention. The science teacher just sighed as he sat down putting down his lesson plan suddenly to the teacher’s surprise a black looking smoke was coming out from his hands and he was freaked out by this. However, the black smoke soon stops coming from his hands and the teacher looks confused as to what just happened. Suddenly, a young lady walks up to him saying “hey brother, what are you doing?” the young lady asks the science teacher. “Sadly nothing, what do you need?” The science teacher asks the young lady revealing that she is his sister.
“I got an invitation to go to an island called Fantasy Island, and I think we should go, what do you think?” His sister asks with glee. “I don’t know Lidia, I’m a science teacher, and I have tons of paper work to do, and I don’t know if the principal will let me take the rest of the week off” The science teacher replied revealing that the lady’s name is Lidia. “I think that I can convince him to let you take the rest of the week off, besides you have been working very hard brother” Lidia says to the teacher smiling. The teacher just smiles as he says, “Yes, I know, but it’s just to keep Mathew in school, things have been hard for him since” The teacher says before he starts to tear up. “I know Xavier, I know, but you could use a break, and I’ll have someone look after Mathew, alright?” Lidia said revealing that the science teacher’s name is Xavier, and Xavier just smiles as he hugs his sister Lidia.
“Thanks, sister, you’re the best you know” Xavier asks Lidia smiling. “I know, and I’ll go talk to the principal, so I’ll be right back” Lidia said smiling, and with that Lidia walks off to go talk to the principal. Xavier suddenly clutches his head as a dark voice in his head begins to speak to him in his mind saying, “Embrace your destiny” The dark voice said coming from inside his head. Suddenly what appears to be flames of black fire circles around him trapping him and the room goes dark around him. “What’s going on?” Xavier asks starting to freak out, and panicking confused as to what, is going on around him… READ MORE
Not as much description as the others, but the plot can really pull you in. Lots of questions are left unanswered thus far in the story and curiosity can really hook a reader. There’s a lot of potential in how the fanfic can go and how it fits into the world of Poptropica, but a bunch of possibilities are already thrown in and this is just chapter one! SuperGrape allows the reader’s mind to imagine anything and everything. This story was even nominated for a Poppie! Find her DeviantArt here.
The Illiad by DanaKelly AKA BeanSkelly
Okay, I have many reasons as to why I featured this piece. First of all, I’m pleasantly surprised by the referenced story! The Illiad is a tale that many of you will most likely read in school (if you haven’t already) and is definitely a classic. Not the expected mainstream dystopian novel! Second of all, the time and effort that Bean put into this drawing is obvious. I remember simply seeing the lineart in a previous month, but the color is just stunning. The perspective is excellently executed and the shading of the neutral tones is breathtaking. Seeing this historic moment in a Poptropica-like style perfectly captures the educational part of the game and how fun it can still be. Find their DeviantArt here and here.
Honorable Mentions
Ruby Child by PegaKid2012
nurse: *pulls out baby MK* congratulations, it’s a girl, what would you name her?
MK mom: look at her gorgeous eyes, shiny as a jewel
MK dad: no, not a jewel, something more than that, let’s call her…
MK mom: i will name her… ruby
MK dad: ruby, hello ruby
baby MK: *giggles happily*… READ MORE
Cuddly In Wonderland (Disney AU) by TechnoBunny16
Diary of a Wimpy Shark by JelloMcFellow
August: How do I Participate?
Community Creations is a cool series for anyone in the Poptropica community to join in on. To sum up what it’s about, it’s basically a chance to show off your artwork, creepy fan-fic, realms, costumes, and anything else that pops into your mind.
If we really like the piece you submit, we will feature it here on the PHB! As long as it relates to that month’s theme. So what is August’s theme? August’s theme is…
Fashion!
With the Poppies coming to a close recently, almost everyone who was celebrating the event showed up in a dashing, formal outfit. Whether it dress or suit, everyone looked fabulous if I do say so myself. In continuation of this trendy attire, I thought that this would be a great theme! It also gives those who loved making Poptropica outfits, but aren’t artistic in the drawing sense, a time to shine.
Similar to the rules of our literature theme, all costumes will be accepted this month. However, other media is accepted too as long as it relates to fashion! Draw your Poptropican in their classy Poppies outfit or make a stunning pose on the catwalk in the Photo Booth. Create a perfect back to school outfit or write about your Poptropican’s odd experience in the clothing store on Night Watch Island. Didn’t win the Poptropica Costume contest? Send in your old submission for another chance to show it off! The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!
SD’s Poptropica Costume Contest Entry
Submitting: Comment below with a link to whatever you’ve created OR share it with me (SydVC aka Spotted Dragon) on DeviantArt, Twitter, or Discord.
Results: I will feature 5 of the submissions as well as 3 honorable mentions.
Limitations: Nothing NSFW, and make sure you relate to the theme.
Due Date: I will take any entries before the end of this month. Submit as many things as you’d like!
I will always be sure to let you know I have seen your creation. Bonus points if you make a compelling description for your piece! While quality counts, I’m mainly looking for something to simply catch my eye, so don’t be afraid to join in!
So what are you waiting for? Go make something awesome!
Throughout this month on the PHB, we’ve been hosting The Poppies, our annual Poptropica community awards event. This is our third year of doing the Poppies, and as usual, it’s been a blast! From nominating to voting to partying, we’re grateful to celebrate the Poptropica community with you.
Even the Poptropica Creators showed interest in our RedBlue Carpet event!
@poptropica_help Poptropica HQ are looking forward to the Blue Carpet event of the year- The Poppies, hosted by your Poptropica Help Blog.
The main event, which celebrated the Poppies winners and the PHB’s ninth birthday with a lively party on the PHC and Poptropica Multiverse rooms, has just wrapped up. Thanks to all who attended – can you find yourself in the recap collage above?
We see amazing costumes at every PHB event, but this year we really wanted to highlight some of our favorites. So, we’ve compiled a selection of some stand-out outfits from the Poppies attendees in the Multiverse rooms! Check out their snazzy suits:
Kudos to Red Crush, Greedy Shadow, Mia (aka Grumpy Cactus – she also won Best Poptropica Fansite alongside her friend LillySparkle$!), Sporty Boa (who almost died for his outfit!), and Spotted Lion! Y’all are looking especially fly on the blue carpet.
Of course, what you really wanna know is who won, right?! We announced all the winners via a livestream during the party, but in case you missed it, you can catch up on it below. The video contains commentary from several PHB authors – Brave Tomato (main host), Spotted Dragon, Silver Wolf, and Lucky Joker – as well as pics for each category and a breakdown of voting percentages via charts (to show how the other nominees fared).
Below the video, we’ll also list out all the winners and the second-place runner-ups.
Best PHC Moderator: Tall Cactus (runner-up, by just one vote: Yujo)
A huge congratulations is in order for all the winners of this year’s Poppies!!
Winners should have received a printable paper Poppie trophy from us via email or social media, and nominees (those who made it to the voting round) have been given badges. Thanks to Spotted Dragon for creating these! If you earned a Poppies trophy or badge but did not get one, we may not have your contact info – if so, do let us know!
Here at the Poptropica Help Blog, we can’t stress enough how blessed we are to be able to write about something we love and have so many readers who keep up with our shenanigans. Whether we’re planning creative parties or putting together island walkthroughs, it’s a pleasure to play Poptropica alongside all of you.
So thank you. Thank you for being part of this community, in big ways or small ways, whether veteran or newbie. Thank you for seeing us to our 9th year – from 2008 to 2017, it’s been a pretty long journey, and it’s not over yet. Here’s to more to come!
🏝 Poptropica Help Blog 🗺 