Meet Lane Merrifield of Club Penguin
Lane Merrifield is one of three co-founders of Club Penguin, one of the largest and fastest-growing virtual worlds for children. Since Club Penguin’s inception, Lane has led the management, operations and business strategy for Club Penguin out of the company’s headquarters in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Lane also oversees development for all the Walt Disney Company’s virtual worlds.
Lane helped develop and launch Club Penguin in 2005 and played an integral role in its phenomenal growth and success.
Lane kindly answered our questions about the popular site.
When you founded Club Penguin, did you have a specific child in mind that you were targeting?
"Yes, myself and co founder Lance had children of similar ages and, between ourselves and our other co-founder Dave, we had many, many nieces and nephews. We wanted to create a safe, ad-free, online playground for them to play in."
Why did you choose a penguin as your character?
"We chose penguins to start with as we liked the idea that penguins live in groups and have to work together in order to get things done, be safe and thrive. Lance, who did the original design, will tell you that penguins are also really easy to animate!"
Which is the most popular game on Club Penguin?
"I don’t have a statistical breakdown for the UK but, anecdotally, it’s the new EPF (Elite Penguin Force) Field Ops - part of our popular secret agent programme which really encourages and promotes a strong sense of stewardship and responsibility for the community of Club Penguin by allowing players to become members of the EPF and fulfil missions to protect the virtual world."
What percentage of parents, in your experience, have any idea of what is on CP?
"We really wanted to build a world that offered fun for kids and peace of mind for parents. I would say that more than half of the parents I meet tend to have a really good understanding of what is on Club Penguin. This is especially true if they have more than one child on the site as you’ll find that the older child will help their younger siblings."
"For parents who do want to know more, we have a special section on the site for parents as well as some great parent tools, including a timer feature which allows mom or dad to set the time of day and duration of their child’s visit to Club Penguin."
What’s the maximum target age of CP and, once children reach that, which website(s) would you recommend they gravitate to?
"CP is designed for children aged 6-14. We do have grand parents and parents who come in world to see what it’s all about or to play games with their kids if they are in different locations. As an example, when I’m away travelling I’ll meet my son sometimes in CP and throw snowballs with him!"
"Club Penguin is designed purely for play - kids of this age tend to want to play together rather than socialise with each other and share photos and discuss events in their lives in the way that we do as adults. Older teens' behaviour reflects adult behaviour - they want to share more and express who they are which may be why social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook have been so successful amongst teenagers. Independence is important for teens but that doesn’t stop us from wanting to make sure they are safe.
"The UK Council for Child Internet Safety, Childnet and Child Exploitation and Online Protection have great online guidance, information and resources for children and parents."
So penguins are easier to animate! :D Billybob also said that Club Penguin is made for 6-14 years but I'm 14 now and I don't plan on quitting anytime soon, Club Penguin is AWESOME!!
Click here to see the interview on ukparentslounge.com
Also, If you hadn't noticed, I have taken down the SWF page for editing and put up a new page where I get interviewed by some strange person! (Pages are the links under the header at the top of the blog)
Yours Waddling
Daprankstar
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