With the rise of college kids across the United States realizing their Webkinz are still alive and well, not to mention extremely hungry, I think we should all show a little love to a game well-deserving of a place in our childhood memories: Poptropica. It was the game that let us live out our cartoon dreams of saving the world as a spy or superhero or just another animated figure with disproportionately crooked eyes.
Only a real 2000s kid endured the stress of sitting in your fifth-grade class during the free time after a test, struggling to play the impossibly difficult song on your pipe in order to lull the monster to sleep and save Mythology Island. We have all been there. I am there once more.
It all began one Saturday afternoon when I was discussing my ten-year-old obsession for the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series, which I still love dearly. I felt my enjoyment for those books had been a key in my success of taking over Mythology Island on the newly popular Poptropica.
Did this website still exist? And if it did, would I still have the skill needed to beat the game?
Two hours later, I had once again defeated Zeus and saved the citizens of Mythology. It was a good feeling to know I was still in touch with my ten-year-old self.
If only I had stopped there.
I now find myself longing for opportunities to play the game, eager to return to Spy Island and make my journey to Super Power Island. I skip out on movie nights to advance to the next step in my mission. I dream in animation (I actually don't do that, but would it not be cool?)
I am addicted to Poptropica.
I know. I know. It sounds bad, but it's not really that bad. Over the past few weeks, it has turned into a form of stress relief. Maybe I am too antsy to read, or can't think of anything to write about. There is no point in just staring at the wall of my dorm, so I open a new tab and return to the world my inner-elementary-student feels at home in.
It has now become a bonding experience between me and my roommate, as well as a great ice breaker when I run out of things to say to someone I have been paired to do an assignment within class. After all, everyone loved Poptropica!
In addition, it is a fantastic form of stress relief. There is just something about jumping off the buildings of Spy Island and catching yourself with the grappling hook that never fails to calm me down after a long day.
Maybe Poptropica is a waste of time. I'm sure that's what my mom thought when I used to play it after school. Even so, it has brought a little glimpse of my childhood into my college dorm room, reminding me of how far I have come and the child-like personality I will carry with me as I grow up.
