Poptropica

Poptropica
Developer(s)	Family Education Network
Publisher(s)	Family Education Network
Platform(s)	PC and Mac
Release	It was made available online July 2007, but its official launch date was September 2007.
Genre(s)	Massively multiplayer online game, single

Poptropica is a massively multiplayer online game and virtual world in which children ages 6 to 15 can travel, play games, compete in head-to-head competition, communicate safely with each other, and complete their "island mission" and get rewards.

Poptropica was developed by the Family Education Network[1], a division of Pearson, which also owns kids’ site funbrain.com. Poptropica.com has a traffic rank of 9,956 by Alexa Internet.

Characters / Citizens / Poptropicans

When players first arrive at Poptropica, they are given a character avatar they can either customize immediately, or modify while playing with the costumizer tool, a tool that give you clothes like the citizens in the island.[2]. Once a player enters the Poptropica virtual world, they can choose an island they want to explore. Currently, there are four virtual islands on Poptropica, and each island needs help. Poptropica is a fun, safe, online experience for ages 6-15. On every island players can visit multiplayer buildings to chat or battle with other human players, but when chatting, you may only choose from three different things to say every time you click on someone to chat. It can also be very difficult to click on someone if they move a lot.

Items

In Poptropica you start off with any clothes you choose from the beginning menu and can get different items from different island's quests. To view your items, you can click the green backpack icon at the top right corner.

User Safety

Poptropica uses safe, very kid-friendly, pre-scripted chat[3].

Character names are also pre-constructed[4] to prevent any profanity or personal information from entering the world. It also has safe chat so that no bad words or personal info is said.

Island Synopsis

Early Poptropica Island

Early Poptropica was the first island created for Poptropica. Players encounter the original settlers of Early Poptropica who are in distress. They are 80’s style characters[5] who are missing items from their village. While finding the various objects, the player encounters, among other characters, a Purple Giant and the Sneaky Spider. On Main Street, there is an art museum with works by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Leonardo Da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, and Georges-Pierre Seurat.

Shark Tooth Island

Shark Tooth Island was the second island released in Poptropica. The scenario revolves around the inhabitants of the island that are being troubled by a fierce shark. The player must help the citizens by exploring within the island`s ancient temple ruins and subduing 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. Professor Pendulum can be seen on this island. He owns a lab on Time Tangled Island.

Time Tangled Island

Time Tangled Island is the third island released for Poptropica. The scenario revolves around a malfunctioning time machine that has distorted history. It is the player’s job to go back in time and set things right. During the quest, users encounter major historical figures such as Thomas Edison, Lewis and Clark, Leonardo Da Vinci, etc. Once the player has restored the future, they can go forward in time to see what the future holds as well as a version of themselves 50 years older. This island was created in conjunction with the editors of Fact Monster to maintain historical, accurate facts.

24 Carrot Island

24 Carrot Island is the fourth island released on Poptropica. The Poptropicans on 24 Carrot Island are in trouble. Someone has stolen all their carrots, citizens are disappearing, and the economy is in ruins. The user must solve the mystery of the missing carrots and citizens in order to restore the island to its former greatness.

Super Power Island

A meteor has hit Super Power island's prison freeing the criminals from jail and giving them super powers, only a true superhero can save the day. It is coming soon. It's rumored to come out summer 2008. The Family Education Network is testing it to make it the best island ever. Go to their blog at http://blog.poptropica.com/ or go to http://www.funbrain.com/

Spy Island

Spy Island is an island cited on the official Poptropica blog, and can be found by looking at the file name of the picture. There is no set release date, although it will likely come out after Super Power Island.

Multiplayer Buildings

Each island on Poptropica has a building on its Main Street that offers multiplayer, safe chatting, and battles, they are as follows:

• Soda Pop Shop - Early Poptropica
• Arcade - Early Poptropica
• Coconut Café - Shark Tooth
• Party Time Tower - Time Tangled
• Cinema - 24 Carrot

Minigames

• Sudoku (Multiplayer & Singleplayer)
• Switch (Singleplayer)
• Hoops (Multiplayer)
• Sky Dive (Multiplayer)
• Paint War (Multiplayer)
• Star Link (Multiplayer)
• Balloons (Multiplayer)

External links

• Poptropica
• Funbrain
• Official developers' blog