Since freshman finals season ended for me a few days ago, I've been really careful about how I spend my free time. My brain has even flip-flopped back and forth between deciding on reviewing for my 8 AM calculus classes next semester (which I need to, because I haven't done calculus since junior year of high school), catching up on all my favorite CW TV shows, binging movies (which I pirate, not pay for), or continuing practicing violin again...instead, my brain and heart have compromised on spending almost every waking minute having two tabs on my computer open: one for watching The Office, and one for playing Poptropica, the best game ever.
Poptropica is characterized by Google as "an online role-playing game" that was created by Jeff Kinney in 2007 and targeted towards children ages 6-15. There are two things to pay attention in that last sentence. 1) Jeff Kinney? Yeah, that's the genius behind the amazing series of Diary of a Wimpy Kid...too bad the movies didn't quite live up to the same glory (an opinion to explore for another day). 2) Children ages 6-15? Pssh, yeah right. If you don't think I'm still going to be playing this is my twenties, you are dead wrong.
Poptropica could be considered the gold of internet games. Why? Well for one, it's free. I'm all for not having to pay for entertainment, since I'm a broke college student and all that jazz. Another plus side is that while Poptropica is a game, it's also not. What I mean by that is that it's more of a "quest-driven" set of adventures that follow different plot lines and require different skills for each level/island. Oh yeah, did I mention that levels are actually islands that you travel to on a hot air balloon? Talk about "180 Days Around the World" vibes- the only thing missing now is Jackie Chan and a stole Jade Buddha. Sorry, that's a 2004 movie reference.
Poptropica prides itself on this narrative-based quest layout, with data showing that players only spend about 30 minutes at a time. In other words, you can't really get "addicted", unless you're me. I'll be honest, I may or may not have stayed up for the past few days until 4:00 am getting through Atlantis Island. To be fair, I don't have much else to do other than have a life crisis about life as a pre-med student.
The online game is also kid-friendly since it's all pre-written chats and dialogue, so there's no room for any one kid messing it up for the rest of us. It's also educational! I'm sure some parents who probably won't read this article will find that relieving. Unlike current day games like Fortnite (or as I like to call it, Fork-Knife) or... I don't know, whatever games teens play nowadays, Poptropica explores genres from mystery to sci-fi and fantasy. I don't know, I'm not a gamer. Anyways, themes include everything from history and time travel to world cultures to mad scientists. It's essentially more of a puzzle game that is also educational.
Sure, a con could be that it's mainly a single-player, but there are a few mini-games where you can interact with other players. And there can be a lot of advertisements in the actual islands, but for the most part, they don't interfere with the main "quest".
One of the best parts about Poptropica is that it is constantly being improved and built. New islands are always being developed and previewed to players as opposed to games that are a one-and-done kind of deal. To translate, this means that I could potentially be playing Poptropica even in my thirties...wow. If that isn't amazing, I don't know what is.
Okay, as you can probably tell, my creativity levels are kind of drained from finals season, but I hope you find this review of Poptropica from a sleep-deprived, slightly depressed and anxious pre-med college student good enough to give it a try (or a second try, if you're a 2000s baby).
