the United Kingdom, stated that it was good for children to experience a restricted system such as Club Penguin before moving into social networking sites, which provide less protection. In terms of simple popularity, the rapid growth of Club Penguin suggested considerable success, although there were signs that this was leveling out. Nielsen figures released in April 2008 indicated that in the previous 12 months, Club Penguin traffic had shrunk by 7%. One of the criticisms expressed by commentators was that the game encouraged consumerism and allowed players to cheat. While Club Penguin did not require members to purchase in-game products with real money (instead relying on a set monthly fee), players were encouraged to earn coins within the game with which to buy virtual products. Furthermore, Club Penguin was full of advertisements for their paid membership that repeatedly encouraged children to subscribe in order to gain access to the full range of activities. These advertisements included notices that certain levels of games and items were reserved for paid members and even included paid members that unwittingly acted as recruiters. Additionally, Club Penguin merchandise was sold through the website and in Disney retail stores that would unlock items and coins in the game. In this way, critics believe that Disney positioned children as economic subjects that became acculturated to shopping as a key cultural practice. Others argue that the use of in-game money as possibly helping teach children how to save money, select what to spend it on, improve their abilities at math, and encourage them to "practice safe money-management skills". In addition, the "competitive culture" that this could create led to concerns about cheating, as children looked for "shortcuts" to improve their standing. It was suggested that this might influence their real-world behavior. To counter this, Club Penguin added guidelines to prevent cheating, and banned players who were caught cheating or who encouraged cheating. In spite of the attempts to create a safe space for children in Club Penguin, concerns about safety and behavior still arose within the media. While the language in-game was filtered, discussions outside of Club Penguin were beyond the owner's control, and thus it was stated that third-party Club Penguin forums could become "as bawdy as any other chat". Even within the game, Club Penguin had a unique form of anti-social behavior and cyberbullying that presented as angry emoticons, relentless throwing of snowballs at other