Club Human

Club Human
Developer	Icey Interactive
Publisher	Icey Interactive
Release dates
	2005
Additional info
Genre	MMORPG, Children's
Platform	Browser based
Rating	E
Chronology
←Human Chat 3 None→

Club Human is a MMORPG based around controlling your own Human on an island in the northern hemisphere. It is targeted to chicks aged 6-14, but anyone of all ages can play. It has been owned by the Icey Channel since 2007.

History

A prototype of the game called "Experimental Humans" was started in 2003, by three Happyfacian (currently Polarian after the independence) game developers, and became the first of the "Human Chat" series. The later two variants in the series were released in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Eventually the game Club Human was made, and was released in late 2005.

In 2007, it was bought by the Icey Channel for 900 million and 1 coins.

In 2013, it is also avalible on mobile devices.

Gameplay

The user controls a small human avatar who walks to wherever the user clicks on the screen. The character can enter buildings, separate rooms, and click on minigames to play, or catalogs that they can buy stuff from. Characters get a hut that they can go into and buy furniture if they are a paying member. They also have pets called "Fluffles", which are bird-like creatures (not like penguins though, more like crows).

The players gain a virtual currency by doing minigames, which they can spend on their items. However, many items are given freely, notably on holiday events. Players also collect "pins" which are items released every week in a random room, and is displayed on their player card.

Minigames

There are several minigames in Club Human. Many of these games are based on real life games or activities, but "humanized". Penguins who play these games recieve the in game currency, and badges for getting accomplishments.

Mudslide

Mudslide is a similar game to "Thin Ice" The game is in the arcade room, and the player controls a Fluffle who is walking on stone tiles on mud. When the Fluffle gets off the mud tile it sinks into the ground. The player has to sink all of them into the ground to win without locking themselves out. It is a pretty difficult game, althouh many bloggers have posted walk throughs.

In 2010, the level cap for non paying members was implemented along with many other minigames to the fury of the players.

Frog Catching

Frog Catching is a game where the human sits at a bog catching frogs with their net. The more frogs they catch the more points they get. They have to avoid crawfish, alligators, and junk in the water.

Membership

Membership for Club Human starts at twelve coins a month. Members can do many things that non-members can't such as buy certain clothing, buy furniture, buy more than two types of fluffles, and play certain minigames. This has been criticized my many players.

More recently Club Human has been having micro-transactions, where players spend money at a virtual shop.

Criticism

Club Human has been criticized for being materialistic, since the bulk of the game is trying to buy items and showing them off to other users. Many players put down other players, especially non-paying members. The game has also been criticized for putting an apartheid between non-members and members, and this has been getting worse over the years, as during holiday parties there have been less and less items available for non members. Furthermore, many minigames which used to be entirely free have levels restricted to member's only in the past few years.

The chat system has also been criticized, with them banning the use of punctuation which results in bad grammar. The chat also blocks benign words like ship, and phrases like 'I like sweets, especially lollipops' or 'I hate CH because Icey owns it'. This greatly restricts conversations. The game does not tell a user when their comment has been blocked, so someone could be talking for 30 minutes and not knowing nobody is seeing their comments

Some changes to the game have been criticized as making the game more simple for younger children to play. They game implemented a tutorial which isn't necessary for a game as simple and basic as Club Human. They also made "pins"- collectible items for the human characters- very large. Initially they were a fraction of the avatar's size and players would have to search for them. Now they are as large as the avatar

Recently, the game has been putting a lot of product placement for shows shown on the Icey Channel, which shows a lack of originality on the staff.

Decline in popularity

Over the past few years, Club Human has been steadily declining in hits from the search engine Eureka!. This has been stated as the game becoming more unpopular. The game is currently at 25% of its peak, which is less than a year after it started. However, this may be due to the game targeting younger players who aren't using the search engine, or people playing the game on mobile devices.

In April 2015, many employees for the game were laid off in an effort to cut costs.

Discontinuing Desktop Version

A new game called "Club Human Island" is in developmet. In light of this, the team has decided to remove the original game. Whilst many people are upset at this decision, some feel it's long overdue.

Offices

Since they were purchased by Walt Icey, the game is now available in many languages, and has a wide range of influence. So, they also have numerous offices, though the headquarters is still in Enderby City.

• Enderby City, Polaris- Headquarters
• Polaris City
• Lockhighno, Calada
• Puffle'and
• Nutzil
• Dorkugal
• South Pole City
• Alemania
• Frostize, Liguria- Headquarters in the AU.

Trivia

• This is a parody of Club Penguin. Hey, someone needs to state the obvious.
• Club Human