The Club (Nickelodeon)
| Nicktropois logo, March 6, 2007-present | |
| File:Nicktrop homepage.PNG The site's design as of May 2007. | |
Type of site | Online games |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | Nickelodeon |
| Created by | Nickelodeon |
| URL | Nicktropolis |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required for game |
Nicktropolis (also known as NT, Nicktrop or Ntrop) is a game on Nick.com where users with a NickName (username) and password may safely chat to their friends by using either pre-written messages or the Nick Safe Chat dictionary, which blocks out offensive language. Users can also chat with chatterbots posing as Nicktoons such as SpongeBob, Danny Phantom, and Jimmy Neutron. Users may buy items in Nicktropolis "stores" with NickPoints, which is the Nicktropolis currency. In August 2006 the beta period of Nicktropolis ended. In January 2007 Nicktropolis reopened and emerged as a full release of the game.
History of Nicktropolis
Nick.com began construction on Nicktropolis in February 2006, and it went Alpha, or Pre-Beta, on March 14, 2006. At that time, Nicktropolis' population was limited to about 500, thus Nicktropolis was fairly quiet. However, Nicktropolis was open to non-users at the time.
On June 18, 2006, Nicktropolis was closed for a short time to begin its beta phase. Also, Nicktropolis was closed to non-users, and only open to users with NickNames. All went smoothly in Nicktropolis until somewhat of a Nicktropolis tragedy, which was August 18, 2006 at 5:00 PM.
From 5:00 PM on August 18, 2006 to 10:30 AM on January 6, 2007, Nicktropolis closed to the general public. Many NickNames hosted electronic "riots" against Nicktropolis creators on the message boards. They were under fire until finally opening Nicktropolis to the beta testers on January 6, 2007 at 7:00 AM.
After almost 1 year of being closed, Nicktropolis was opened to the original testers. There were two ways to get on Nicktropolis then, one through Wikipedia, another through a person's post on the message boards.
On May 11, 2007, the Nicktropolis home page was remodeled to fit in with Nick.com's new look, which was applied two days before.
As of June 28, 2007, the Nicktropolis population was 3,839,257 which made it bigger than Manhattan by population.
On June 28, 2007, the N.S.C. or the Nicktropolis Space Center was opened. It took four months to build the space center. The N.S.C. features new game functionality like a fully expanded walkable area, rooms scrolling and new full screen artwork.
As of July 3, Nicktropolis had over 4,000,000 registered users.[2]
Nicktropolis' population is over 5 million as of September 7.
News is now emailed to users who choose to sign up for the Nicktropolis Newsletter.
Versions
| version | date |
|---|---|
| Alpha | March 14, 2006 |
| Beta 1 | June 18, 2006 |
| Beta 2 | January 6, 2007 |
| Full Release | January 30, 2007[3] |
Places
There have been 81 rooms in Nicktropolis, some of which have been removed.
TeeNick Point
The Naked Brothers is the only place for now. It has the Fuzzy Room, Apartment, and The Studio. In the Fuzzy Room, players put up a disco ball and dance. In Apartment users can play the guitar, Piano, and Drums. They can also play the Naked Bros. game "In Girl Trouble", and listen to full-length songs. In the Studio users can look at the band's instruments and make a NBB mash-up.
Downtown
The downtown area of Nicktropolis has 5 distinct areas. These are the Rec Center, The Aquarium, Market Street, Treasure Hunt and Metro Park. The Rec Center contains the Lounge as well as an inside and outside virtual recreation center. The Aquarium contains the undersea volcano, the castle ruins, the lost ship, and the store. The Market Street area contains Decor nation, the Seasonal Store, Wild Walls and floors as well as Gadget Universe and gamer HQ. The Treasure Hunt has unique prizes that kids get for free by locating artifacts around Nicktropolis. The last area in Downtown, Metro Park, contains The Bridge, The Fountain, The Forest and the Softball Field.
The Pier
The pier area contains several sections as well as 2 sub-sections. The Pier has the Front Gate, Midway One and Two and the Fortune Teller and the House of Horrors.
The Midways contain both in game casual game play and also more robust game overlays.
The Nicktropolis Space Center opened on June 28, 2007 at 3:00 PM. It lets users go to Launch Site Alpha, the alien planet, the Space Station, and the Station Air Locks, where they exit into space. Space suits are now available at both Launch Sites for 50 nickpoints. Users voted for the space center, over two other locations titled Prehistoric Nicktropolis and Nicktropolis Underground. Out of nearly one million votes in one week, 46% voted for the new space world. Users will also be able to play the first true multiplayer Nicktropolis game.
Nicktoons Boulevard
The Bikini Bottom area includes 7 rooms, which are the General Store, the Krusty Krab, The Reef, Conch Street, which is a portal to SpongeBob's house, Patrick's house, and Squidward's house.
Miracle City (El Tigre)
Miracle City consists of 4 rooms, which are Leone, which is Manny's school, the Riveras' living room, the General Store, and Manny's Bedroom.
Amity Park's zone consists of 3 rooms: Fenton Works, Casper High, and the General Store.
Avatar Nations (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
The Avatar Nations zone is rather large, consisting of 6 rooms. Those rooms are the Planetarium, Water Palace, Fire Tent, Air Temple, General Market, and Ba Sing Se.
Retroville (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius)
Retroville consists of 4 rooms, which are the Candy Bar, General Store, and Jimmy's Lab.
Pupununu Village (Tak and the Power of Juju)
Pupununu Village's area is made up of Juju Bizaar, Jibula's Hut, Juju Temple, and the village itself. This section is also different, as you pick a character, you do not create one yourself.
This section is also the first to utilize the backpack tool, which is used by collecting items in the rooms, placing them in the backpack, mixing the items together to form spells, and then casting them.
Barnyard (Back at the Barnyard)
The Barnyard's area is made up of the Mill, Pig Pen, House of Humans, Back of the Barn, and the Feed Store.
Former places
During its time in Nicktropolis, the zone consisted of the Orange Carpet, Voting Room, Control Room, and Backstage. For the first time users could vote on the Kids' Choice Awards from within Nicktropolis. Voters cast 10 million votes for the award show.[4] It is currently unknown if this area will return for the 2008 Kids' Choice Awards.
Winter Park
During the winter of 2006-2007, the Winter Park consisted of the Igloo, Ice Cave, Snow Fort, and Bumper Burgs. The area closed on April 5, 2007 and it is not known if the zone will come back.
NickPoints
NickPoints are the official Nick.com currency. They can be used to buy trading cards or buy items in a Nicktropolis store. Nickpoints can be found all over Nicktropolis and spent in many different ways. Points are awarded by playing games, doing actions, rewards for signing up for the newsletter and by finding "blobs." Points are spent by buying items to decorate your room.
Inside of Nicktropolis there are hidden NickPoint blobs to get points. There are 5 types of NickPoint blobs which are the Blue Blob, the Black Blob, the Yellow Blob, the Red Blob and the Green Blob.
Message Boards
Nicktropolis has several message boards which fall into one of four sections. These sections are Ask MrTropolis where Users ask MrTropolis who is one of the Nicktropolis engineers any questions they may have, Nicktropolis where users post general purpose comments on this board, Nicktropolis Gaming where Users post gaming experiences in this board and Nicktropolis Party Board where Users post information about parties they and their friends may be planning.
References
- ^ Mike Shields (2007-06-18). "Nickelodeon Launches Nicktropolis Web Playground". AD Week. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
- ^ Joanna Roses (2007-06-18). "Nickelodeon's Nicktropolis Reaches Almost 4 Million Unique Registered Users in Just Four Months". Press Release. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
- ^ Mike Shields (2007-06-18). "Nickelodeon Launches Nicktropolis Web Playground". AD Week. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
- ^ Joe Garofoli (2007-05-27). "Online social networks marketing to preteens". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-06-20.