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Lane: Whole process took 4-6 months. He didn't deal with the valuation. Went out looking for what company has the infrastructure we can tap into without having to do it ourselves, and same goals/values as them. Lots of rumours during the deal, was annoying to not be able to get out there and set ppl straight. They answered every question honestly and openly. Nothing has changed post-acquisition that wasn't discussion pre-acquisition.

Moderator: How often do you get creeps on the site?

Lane: The metric = # of incidents. In all their history, not a single reportable incident. That was their goal from Day 1. A lot of that comes down to filtering and technologies. Lots more under the hood than what most ppl realize (in terms of safety technology). Is it 100% safe? Noone can ever say that but it's much safer than other places. Have police agencies testing all the time.

Question: How did you guys figure out all these technology techniques?

Lane: Lance had been working on a lot of that stuff before Club Penguin in the gaming sphere. Lots of RandD long before. Those were the building blocks they built Club Penguin around.

Question: Hard to take out credit card to pay for an igloo. Now with Disney in the loop, are you looking to change any of your model about how kids acquire things, earn credits?

Lane: Ppl thought they were nuts when they used the subscription model. Were told by others: "Kids don't have credit cards...Let the advertisers foot the bill." His son was trying to play a game, but his screen was covered in ads and had 15 items in a shopping cart. For him as a parent, that was so frustrating: doesn't want his kids exposed to that many ads (before they have the skills to understand advertising). Club Penguin continues to be adfree; subscription model was the only one they could figure out at the time. Disney has other "cool" models now they are looking at "for sure".

Question: Free vs. pay model. Does Disney put pressure on you to convert free users to subscribers?

Lane: Didn't want pay model to deter kids from playing in a safe environment. Chats, events, parties are free (core of fun, safe environment). Velvet rope = when kids want to start customizing. Was expecting Disney to start pressuring them (ultimately they are a business). For us, never about "how are we converting?" They don't publish updated numbers. Put up great content =will drive subscriptions.

Question: (Toronto Public Library) Ever considered integrating Club Penguin into other streams of learning?

Lane: Working on a curriculum piece. His mom/sister are teachers. Don't want it to be seen as a marketing ploy. Want to pull out educational aspects of Club Penguin, to teach, to learn. Wants to challenge the kids; add more puzzle games.

END/applause

This is from my phone