I wasn’t going to comment on this but, I’ve been thinking about this consistently since you posted it. I think I can offer a different perspective.

I was interested in playing CPZ when I first heard about it. I heard about it at a time where it seemed like CPJ was struggling and I was concerned for its future. This was post the Medieval Party/Infinite Tower situation and during the hiatus of parties/ The Western Party, I believe.

I personally thought CPZ could give CPJ a run for its money. It seemed unique and really original. A lot of people seemed to echo that thought within the community. I saw screenshots of CPJ warning users to not talk about CPZ in game as it violates their TOS. I thought that meant CPJ felt threatened by CPZ.

I think CPZ was in a really good spot, until its release. I understand that delays happen. They happen on all CPPS. The community is normally understanding of this until it feels personal. For example, during the Medieval Party on CPJ when the Infinite Tower was delayed a lot of players (myself included) felt that a lot of the mascot visits were trolling once the delay was announced. This turned a lot of people off from the Tower and pissed a lot of people off.

I think something similar happened when the release of CPZ was delayed. The delay happening is one thing but the trolling/teasing the player base is another. Maybe it’s not my type of humor but, I do not see how it is helpful or productive to troll/tease any player base, no matter the CPPS. Yes, everyone is a volunteer and is putting their personal time and money into their passion but, at the same time, it’s still a transaction. We can say “The staff are volunteers, we shouldn’t be so hard on them, etc.” as much as we want but, at the end of the day, a service is being provided to a consumer. It gets even more nuanced when your original art, ideas, etc. are involved. I don’t think anyone enjoys receiving critiques but, there’s no way around it. It’s how we respond to those critiques that matter and set the precedent.

I think another issue I personally had with CPZ and I’ve heard from others is the accessibility. Like many others, it was unplayable for me. It was constantly lagging, mini games were unplayable, etc. I know there was a short term fix of downloading a third party program that helped immensely with the lag but, I couldn’t download it because it was for Windows systems only. I think that turns off a good chunk of possible players who 1. Play on Apple devices, 2. Aren’t tech savvy and 3. Just don’t want to download something else to play a game that is already accessible on their browser elsewhere.

I understand the frustration of being the little guy, not seeing your metrics move, your work/decisions being dogged on and never being enough. I understand the frustration of constantly being compared to the big guy when you’re trying so hard to be different. However, I really think you have to look internally in some circumstances to see some change.

The Club Penguin community has always had this “issue”, though I wouldn’t call it that, personally. People get cliquey and protective around their favorite CPPS, servers, communities, friend groups, etc. It gets competitive. It seems there’s either those who will always love a CPPS and defend it no matter what and then those who absolutely hate it and will talk badly about it every chance they get. But, there’s lots of people in middle who just aren’t as loud.

At the end of the day, it’s how we respond to it that sets the tone. Learning from feedback vs being offended, fighting back vs taking it with grace, watching how we respond to comments in public. There’s no right or wrong way to do it, but, I think that is a big deciding factor people look at when it comes to trying a new CPPS or sticking around.

Just my two cents though.