Everything Poptropica

To some people, Poptropica may seem just like a typical massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. But looking deep into the surface, one can see that it is a bustling virtual world with its own set of nuances, rules, roles and even communities.

And the most important part is that it is specifically designed for children ages 6 to 15. With this key age demographic, the creators of Poptropica are continually doing their best to ensure that child safety is at the forefront of the virtual world experience.

Now, who are the principal creators of Poptropica? While it can be argued that Poptropica - the world - is created by its participating members, the virtual world has its development roots through the Family Education Network which is a division of Pearson. Pearson is well-versed with the safety and educational requirements of children because they also own an auxillary web site for kids: FunBrain.com. Poptropica was launched in September 2007 with much anticipation.

The key attractions and activities for children in the virtual world are varied but the most prominent ones include traveling through the intricate environments of the Poptropica world, playing games by interacting with the environment, competing in head-to-head friendly competitions with fellow community members and safe communication with other children.

Usually, "island missions" are available for children to exercise their abilities to achieve a goal, to overcome obstacles or to test their emotional quotients. As a reward for their achievements, children are given medallions.



When children arrive in the world of Poptropica, they have the freedom to create their own personalities through character avatars. These avatars can then be customized immediately or modified throughout the virtual world experience. The variations to the avatars can really test the creativity of children as they have the chance to choose their respective hair colors, clothes, hair style and even skin color.

These avatars are then referred to as Poptronicans. With child safety in mind, names of individual characters are predetermined in order to avoid the likelihood of profanity or personal information to find its way in the virtual world. Parents have that extra security blanket of protection with the safety filters of Poptronica's administrative team. However, nothing beats adult supervision. Parents should still be aware of the activity of their child in Poptropica - so that parents can also enjoy the learning enrichments gained by their children in this online community.

For all the amazing features of the virtual world Poptropica not only for entertainment but also for education and child safety, one can fairly ask why is it for free?

Somehow there can be fears about the nature of the business model of Poptropica because usually if something is for free, there can be strings attached. This is a reasonable conjecture because the trade system of its creators are predominantly capitalists. Certainly money won't come out of nowhere and this type of virtual world with a good reputation for user management, child safety protocols and feature enrichment definitely did not come cheap.

But it is also worth noting that it is a typical approach for a brand to build its name by spending a considerable amount of cash for publicity, free product samples and the likes. Considering how diluted the field of virtual worlds is fast becoming in recent years, a relatively unknown brand should do drastic measures to achieve fame and recognition.

Some brands decide to go all black-hat in their bid to increase their familiarity with users everywhere. But some simply stick with the good path - and Poptropica is one. They provide their services for free and with utmost quality in order to create a separation from all the other virtual worlds with the hope that it will build good rapport with children and parents everywhere. Of course, these children and parents are the target demographic of Poptronica.

In a way the model of Poptronica can be likened to viral marketing - or in older terminologies, word of mouth. In today's world, the premium is definitely towards high quality products and services. No gimmickry and fireworks can mask a bad product. This is why Poptronica strives to create a solid reputation on child safety protocols and empowerment in education and entertainment to cultivate a sturdy and loyal user base.

Branding is very important nowadays because they represent the values of a product or a service. In this regard, Poptropica has been successful in showing to its wide virtual world community of free-registered users that their brand is all about quality. This in turn will help give them solid footing for children and parents. This branding helps create a feeling of trust for Poptropica.

With a respected branding, Poptropica can seek to follow the business model of television. Free television has always had a constant supply of viewers who stay tuned to their quality programs. With a loyal following, television are then able to market air spaces for companies to advertise their products and services. This is a likelihood in Poptropica. Advertisements can help Poptropica floating provided its branding is fail-safe as a respected brand.

Poptropica can build on their success by protecting their brand. This involves carefully studying the types of advertisers they will associate with. Questions to ask are if the advertiser is relevant or if it will add value to the virtual world. Poptropica should ask these before entering into licensing deals. Moreover, they should keep on maintaining the solid reputation they have created through a sustained high-quality virtual world experience.

Items are special stuffs within the Poptropica virtual world which are crucial to the progress of your child's avatar. Players normally start by choosing the outfit of their avatar in the beginning - but as these avatars gain more experience from doing island quests and adventures, they start to have more access to special items. For each successful island mission, players can claim a special medal which can be seen in the avatar's inventory (represented by the backpack icon).

There are items, including essential ones for a certain miossoin, should be earned before being allowed access to. An example for this would be in the Spy Island wherein a player can only earn the hat of a chef by playing a game similar to Simon. This is not available in any other island.

For the most parts, players can switch their clothes using the Costumizer tool. This allows players to copy clothes and even various accessories such as jewelry and even mouths (manner of smiling of an avatar). These mouths can be obtained from other citizens of Poptronica.

Usingthe backpack icon as the inventory, players can click on another player and checking out their clothing collection. If a player would like a certain dress, they can use the Costumizer tool to replace what they already have. This is possible because clothes are usually not a part of the inventory.

Islands are where most of the happenings in the virtual world of Poptropica unfold. There are many islands in this online community and they all offer different kinds of adventures for different kinds of Poptronicans. There are still a few unreleased islands waiting for Poptronica incorporation such as Reality TV island and Astro-Knights (pictured above). But so far here is a rundown of the different islands available in this child-friendly virtual world.

Islands are the main event in the free virtual world for children that is Poptropica. To assure that children are entertained and educated all at the same time, these islands offer a variety of challenges and themes to explore. Here is a breakdown of what you must expect for the first five Islands of Poptropica.

Early Poptropica

True to its name, Early Poptropica is the first island created for Poptropicans. The initial mission revolves around responding to the distress of the original settlers of Early Poptropica. These settlers 80's inspired characters similar to pilgrims. These pilgrims are missing items from their village. Poptropicas aim to find these various objects and along the way they meet characters such as a giant and a very large spider. The Main Street of Early Poptropica has an art museum with works by artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, and Georges-Pierre Seurat.

Shark Tooth Island

Shark Tooth Island followed next after the release of Early Poptropica. As it name implies, the main antagonist in this island is a fierce shark who is troubling the entire Island community. Poptropicas can help the Island by exploring the island's ancient temple ruins and bringing down the giant shark, called Booga, with a special concoction. The player then has to rescue a boy and a professor from an island formerly separated from the mainland by Booga.

Time Tangled Island

Time Tangled Island features a malfunctioning time machine at the center of its scenario Created by Professor Peter P. Pendulum, the time machine distorted history. Poptropicas are tasked to go back in time to set things right. Because it is essentially, one big history tour, Poptropicas can get to meet influential people such as Thomas Edison, Lewis and Clark, Leonardo Da Vinci and more. Once the player has fixed the timeline, they can go forward in time to see what the future holds as well as a version of themselves 50 years older. Professor Pendulum can be found on Shark Tooth Island in the Tourist Center.

24 Carrot Island

The Poptropicans on 24 Carrot Island are in trouble because someone stole all their carrots. This is crucial because the economy of the island depends on carrots and it is now disintegrating. When carrots are involved it is easy to see that the main antagonist is Dr. Hare and his giant robot bunny.

Before entering the factory, however, Poptropicas will need to find a crowbar to break open the door into the factory. They will need to find a cat, return it to its owner and the owner will give the player a crowbar. After getting the crowbar the player will use the crowbar to pry the door of the factory open.

As it turns out, Dr Hare is apparently using the carrots as fuel for a rocket that will be sent to space to control everyone's mind. Poptropicas should find the control panel of the rocket and let it crash to asteroids and meteorites in order to restore the grandeur of the 24 Carrot Island.

Super Power Island

The scenario of the Super Power Island revolves around a giant radioactive meteor which crashed into the Island's county prison. This has caused mayhem because it freed six criminals from the prison and gave them super powers.

Wreaking destruction in the island, the convicts are doing all sorts of atrocities such as stealing from the bank or occupying spaces such as the dump site, the park, a train, or a room in the sewer system.

Because it is now the fifth island in the virtual world of Poptropica, it becomes harder for Poptropicas to solve the problem of this island. To defeat the villains here, one has to rely on wits - although players can learn the ability to fly in this island. The final villain, Betty Jetty, can only be defeated by flying after her. Unfortunately, the player is not recognized as the hero of the day. The owner of the island's comic shop, Ned Noodlehead, appears as a sidekick to tackle Betty Jetty. He is, however, too busy to be a hero and will swap his island medallion for a hot dog.

After the first five islands of Poptropica, the challenges become harder for players of this free virtual world for children ages 6-15. Here is a breakdown of the rest of the Islands of Poptropica.

Spy Island

Spy Island, the sixth island released for Poptropica, revolves around the story of the community's top three spies who have discovered a new threat in Poptropica - and yet disappeared before even sharing their findings. Because of this sudden disappearance, the people of Spy island are losing their hair because of a shady organization called BAD.

Poptropicas who want to rescue Spy Island are given a Chameleon Suit to help rescue the spies undetected. With each successful rescue of a spy, Poptropicans get special items for the next rescue (laser pen, grappling bow tie and goggles).

As it turns out, BAD plans to send a satellite to space to make everyone lose their hair in Spy Island. Behind all these machinations is Director D, who leads the spy agency but is a double-crossing BAD agent. Poptropicas have to contend with this enemy to secure the island.

Nabooti Island

Nabooti Island allows its players to choose their Own Adventure. This island was made in conjunction with the publishers of the iconic Choose Your Own Adventure books. The Nabooti tribe is looking for five out of seven jewels in the Nabooti totem, and the player helps. The player needs to trek across Africa to find the missing jewels and return them to the Nabooti tribe. In a similar way as Indiana Jones, Poptropicans will visit pyramids, ancient mines, and giant waterfalls for the quest. After the five jewels are obtained, they must be placed in the totem in a certain way (purple, green, red, white, blue), and the totem then launches into space.

Big Nate Island

Based on the comic strip Big Nate, written by cartoonist Lincoln Peirce, Big Nate Island takes Poptropicans into a daring mission to find a lost time capsule which can save the island's school from detonation and demolition. In order to be successful at this task, Poptropicans have to seek the help of Big Nate, a witty kid who holds the all-time record for detentions at his school.

Astro-Knights

Astro-Knights is an unreleased Poptropica Island which is still awaiting unveiling. As the upcoming ninth island of the online community, Poptropicans have to locate the island's missing king and queen. These royal couple of the island have been kidnapped and taken somewhere into space. In order to have a shot at rescuing the space-bound monarchs, Poptropicans must assemble a space vessel and use it to rescue the king and queen. On Astro-Knights Island, the player must build and customize a spaceship, and visit various planets in their quest. The main planet is still in a medieval state of development.

Poptropicans are awaiting the release of this exciting Island this Spring 2009.

Reality TV Island

Concurrently produced with the ninth Poptropica Island, Astro-Knights, this tenth Island is due for release a few times after Astro-Knights will be released. This island will be roughly based on CBS's TV show "Survivor". Poptropicans will get a chance to appear as a star on a reality TV show, on a faraway deserted island. They would have to battle it out with their tribe members, avoid elimination, and become a hero to all of the people in your home town - in true, reality TV fashion. Unfortunately, no release dates have been given yet.

The free virtual world for children ages 6 to 15 that is Poptropica offers more than the intricate and challenging Island Missions, there are also educational casual games which children can play if they are yearning for some intellectual exercise beyond the challenges of Islands.

With child safety at the forefront of the use of Poptropica, parents can breathe a sigh of relief each time their children will be logging in this busy online community. Moreover, the games available here are crafted not only to entertain but also to inform. Here is a rundown of the most-populated casual games in Poptropica:

Switch. With similar instructions as the game Bejeweled, Switch is a 60-second game in which the player groups three or more fruits in a row to earn points. This game fosters quick thinking for children because the fruits arrive at a fast pace and if the player does not act swiftly to pair three related fruits, the game will be over quickly.

Moreover, this is an excellent way to help familiarize younger children about different kinds of fruits which they will encounter in this game. It also helps develop a fast hand-to-eye coordination.

Sudoku. This is the only game Poptropicans can play with another player. As a popular puzzle in newspapers, Sudoku has fast caught on the virtual world of Poptropica.

Sudoku is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 boxes contains the digits from 1 to 9 only one time each. The puzzle setter provides a partially completed grid.

Completed puzzles are usually a type of Latin square with an additional constraint on the contents of individual regions. Leonhard Euler is sometimes incorrectly cited as the source of the puzzle, based on his related work with Latin squares.

Hoops This is essentially a game of basketball wherein the player shoots basketballs into the net. The first player who gets to 5 points wins. Good exercise for hand-to-eye coordination.

Sky-Dive. When the signal is given by the game, Poptropicans have to land on the ground safely, by clicking on their parachute inside their backpacks. There is no time limit. But it does take some skill to master the timing for a flawless landing.

Paint War. Poptronicans needs to cannon-blast seven balls filled with paint. First one to do this wins the game. Basically, this is a virtual training field for young paintball enthusiasts.

Star Link. As its name implies, Poptronicans would have to link stars together using a line to form a square. If a box is filled with four lines, a player earns a point. The instructions may seem complicated but it's a fun game to play.

Balloons This game has similar instructions as the casual game Connect 4 - well, except balloons are used as props. This is another time-based game which awards the victory to the first player who connects four balloons.

Soupwords (pictured above): Spell words by connecting three or more letters in a bowl of alphabet soup. The player's goal is to find as many words as he or she can before the soup gets cold. This game is the virtual world Poptropica's take to the classic game Boggle.