Penguin, provide children with opportunities to develop literacy and communication skills while having a powerful impact on their social relationships and identity formation. One literary practice involved players frequently engaged in semiotic analysis of other player profiles, which was a display of that player's identity within the game. Other literacy and communication practices included the use of the in game postal service and the of emoticons, which served to build social cohesion and structure. Coins for Change was an in-game charity fund-raising event which first appeared in 2007. The fund-raising lasted for approximately two weeks each December during the game's annual "Holiday Party". Players could "donate" their virtual coins to vote for three charitable issues: Kids who were sick, the environment, and kids in developing countries. Players were able to donate in increments of 100, 250, 500, 1,000, 5,000, or 10,000 virtual coins. At the end of the campaign, a set amount of real-world money was divided among each of the causes based on the amount of in-game currency each cause received. At the end of the first campaign, the New Horizon Foundation donated a total of $1 million to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and Free The Children. In both the 2007 and 2008 campaigns, two-and-a-half million players participated. In 2009, Club Penguin donated $1,000,000 Canadian dollars to charitable projects around the world. In 2010, Club Penguin donated $300,000 towards building safe places, $360,000 towards protecting the Earth, and $340,000 towards providing medical help. Lane Merrifield said: "Our players are always looking for ways to make a difference and help others, and over the past five years they've embraced the opportunity to give through Coins For Change, it was exciting to see kids from 191 countries participate together. In 2011, the amount of money donated was doubled to $2 million, ostensibly in response to an unexpected increase in participation. Franchise Disney's franchising of the brand began with its acquisition of Club Penguin in 2007. In addition to the Club Penguin Island web-based video game, the franchise has also included console video games for Nintendo DS and Wii, television specials in the UK, and a series of books. Critical reception Club Penguin received mixed reviews. The site was awarded a "kids' privacy seal of approval" from the Better Business Bureau. Similarly, Brian Ward, a Detective Inspector at the Child Abuse Investigation Command in