Club Penguin to attempt speedruns to see how fast users could get banned from the site; the fastest world record was a tool-assisted speedrun (TAS). Days before the shut down, Club Penguin announced that on the final day of the game's operation, all users would be given a free membership until the servers were disconnected. Multiplayer transmissions stopped and twenty seconds later on March 30, 2017 @ 00:01:39 (07:01:39 ), Club Penguin's servers were officially shut down. A message would appear on screen for all players, saying "The connection has been lost. Thank you for playing Club Penguin. Waddle on!" Design Business model Prior to being purchased by Disney, Club Penguin was almost entirely dependent on membership fees to produce a revenue stream. The vast majority of users (90% according to The Washington Post) chose not to pay, instead taking advantage of the free play on offer. Those who chose to pay did so because full (paid) membership was required to access all of the services, such as the ability to purchase virtual clothes for the penguins and buy decorations for igloos, and because peer pressure created a "caste system," separating paid from unpaid members. Advertising, both in-game and on-site, was not incorporated into the system, although some competitors chose to employ it, including: Whyville, which used corporate sponsorship, and Neopets, which incorporated product placements. An alternative revenue stream came through the development of an online merchandise shop, which opened on the Club Penguin website in August 2006, selling stuffed Puffles and T-shirts. Key chains, gift cards, and more shirts were added on November 7, 2006. In October 2008, a series of plush toys based on characters from Club Penguin, were made available online (both through the Club Penguin store and Disney's online store), and in retail outlets. As with one of its major rivals, Webkinz, Club Penguin traditionally relied almost entirely on word-of-mouth advertising to increase its membership base. Child safety Club Penguin was designed for the ages of 6–14. Thus, one of the major concerns when designing Club Penguin was how to improve both the safety of participants and the suitability of the game to children. As Lane Merrifield stated, "the decision to build Club Penguin grew out of a desire to create a fun, virtual world that I and the site's other two founders would feel safe letting our own children visit." As a result, Club Penguin