Tough Spider’s Biased Post

Warning: This is a very opinionated post. Politics ahead. Absolutely no offence is intended.

Edit: A petition is now up! You can sign it here: http://camppoptropican.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/the-petition/

Hi everyone, Tough Spider here with what potentially would be good news, but ends up being really sad for most of us on the PTFP.

The Creators have announced a contest in which kids submit entries to the creators. Sounds awesome, right?

Announcing the “Create Your Dream Island” contest on Poptropica!

You already knew that we have four new Poptropica books arriving on August 1. You knew that one of those books, the Island Creator Kit, takes you through the step-by-step process of making an Island. Here’s what you didn’t know:

We’re actually going to make one of your Islands a reality!

With the “Create Your Dream Island” contest, one lucky Poptropica fan is going to have their Island chosen to be produced by the Poptropica Creators, and released on the Poptropica map alongside our existing Islands. You create the story, the setting, the characters — and we’ll take it from there. The winning entry will be judged by Poptropica’s creative team.

The contest will begin on August 1. For an entry form and to read the official rules, visit www.penguin.com/poptropica. And for the inside scoop on how to design a winning Island, check out the Island Creator Kit, coming on August 1!

Well guess what? Take a look at those rules and you’ll find that they’re very limiting. You have to be 8-12 years old and you have to live in the U.S.
The age group makes sense. I just got unlucky, since I’m 13. Boo hoo. 😥
But even though it doesn’t apply to me, I’m far more upset about the U.S. thing. Why can’t people in the U.K. participate? Australia? Canada? South Africa? People who live in loads of other countries but play Poptropica and speak English well enough to understand it? This is just going to discourage people from playing Poptropica.
If anyone can come up with a reason why the creators would do this, I’d be happy to hear it.
~Tough Spider
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About Tough Spider

I am a very political 15-year-old boy who likes poptropica, pokemon, DDR (if you know what that is), reading, playing my violin, and playing on my 3DS xL!

63 thoughts on “Tough Spider’s Biased Post”

  1. Tough Spider,

    I was agreeing with you all the way up until you began talking about xenophobia. Poptropica and its parent company, Pearson Education, are based in the United States of America, so it is reasonable to say that they would only have the contest open to residents of the United States.

    Calling the Poptropica Creators racist is more than uncalled for. Unless you wrote to the Creators and specifically asked why they weren’t allowing people outside of the US to enter, I really this post should be deleted, because you didn’t gather hard enough evidence in your claims. And, if you did write to the Creators and they responded, I demand to see that reply.

    Reply

    • Dr. Magic Onion,
      Actually, I think you’re right. Calling the creators racist was uncalled for. When I first published this post, I was in a bad mood and felt like arguing. I couldn’t think of any reason for the localization so I jumped to conclusions and called them xenophobic. It was a rash and stupid thing to do. I will edit that out of the post.
      BUT I disagree that it is fair that they have the contest open only to Americans. Poptropica is something for everyone, it’s available internationally. At the bottom of their home page, it even says “A Division of Poptropica Worldwide.” If the website is international, then a contest that is the very hope and dream for many Poptropica players inside and outside of the U.S. should be international.

      Reply

  2. Of course, I don’t fall in the age range, but my brother (who’s nine) wanted to enter and can’t because we don’t live in the US. I understand that older kids can make violent islands and complicated islands, but it doesn’t seem fair that English-speaking kids who live in other places can’t enter. I say we start a petition and get the Creators to look at it. It might not do anything, but it might help.

    Reply

    • No, that was different. The blimp contest was for a free blimp, right? If you want, you could technically go out and buy a blimp if you live in a Toys ‘R Us shipping area or of you live in an Amazon shipping area (which is everywhere). This is something you can’t get like that and the only chance you have to get it is to win the contest, which is America only. There are lots of kids aged 8-12 whose life dream is to get an island of theirs published (at least, that was my dream when I was 9 or 10), but a good majority of their hopes are getting dashed by the fact that they don’t live in America.
      Look creators. People live in the U.S. And people live outside of the U.S. More people live outside of the U.S. than in the U.S. I am sure more people who don’t live in the U.S. all combined together play more Poptropica than we Americans do.
      So how is that fair?
      (Creators, if you do read this {which is unlikely}, please answer my question. We just want an answer.) 😦

      Reply

  6. Ugh. I didn’t know POPTROPICA would be prejudice! ONLY in the US?! WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?! PEOPLE PLAY ACROSS THE WORLD!!! And I can understand that age limit. Mostly because older kids would have hard-to-understand words for littler kids, and may include violence. But STILL!!! I don’t like Poptropica as much as I use to now. -.-

    Reply

  7. I personally don’t like that fact either, but the only reason I can think of is becuz they live in the US? IDK. That’s unfair. Or, cuz most of people who play Poptropica live in the US, but that’s still unfair. 😦 And the age group isn’t either. 😦 I have to say, I agree with TS.

    ~~Brainy Cool~~

    Reply

Time to talk with other Poptropicans, Poptropican! :)

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