My favorite newspapers are in virtual worlds
Local news is still thriving in Kinzville.
Updated April 11, 2025
One of my favorite hyperlocal newspapers has everything a solid daily should have: neighborhood updates, resident features, scoops. There’s just one catch—the town it covers doesn’t exist. At least, not in the physical world.
The Kinzville Times delivers timely updates to the Webkinz community—about new pets, upcoming events, and special item drops. It even includes recurring short fiction in a section called “The W Tales.”
The Kinzville Times isn’t the only publication to come out of a virtual world. Newspapers—with varying degrees of user participation—have existed in Neopets, Moshi Monsters, Second Life, and other platforms. But my personal favorite is the Club Penguin Times, which ceased publication when the platform shut down.
According to the Club Penguin Wiki, the paper was published every Thursday until 2016, when it switched to a biweekly Wednesday schedule. It was originally known as the Penguin Times until its 100th issue in September 2007. The final edition, Issue 566, was published on March 23, 2017.
Unlike the Kinzville Times, which devotes much of its page space to new game features, the Club Penguin Times had a full cast of reporter characters and an editorial lineup including breaking news, features, spotlights of island hangouts, business updates, and “secrets,” or scoops, about the island.
In a September 2008 article for Wired—with one of my favorite headlines ever, “Penguin Paper Doing Better than Some Real World Rags”—Chris Snyder reported on the paper’s success, noting that its user-submitted content was among the most successful features, drawing 30,000 daily submissions.
“While the news may be based in fantasy, their model is similar to what many real papers are using to attract more readers online, incorporating social networking devices and encouraging interactivity,” Snyder wrote.
Related reading:
“The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse”—By Peter Ludlow and Mark Wallace (MIT Press, 2009)
Creators and brands are hopping on the latest AI meme trend
Another AI image trend has arrived: creators, influencers, and brands are using ChatGPT to generate Barbie box versions of themselves—featuring hyperrealistic dolls and accessories like handbags, matcha lattes, and sunglasses.
Reactions have been mixed. Some commenters called the trend cute and said that they wanted to try it, while many others were disappointed by the use of AI and said they would unfollow.
Update: Since publishing, I’ve come across several more examples, some of which I’m adding below.
E.l.f Cosmetics’ version of the trend received many comments expressing disappointment with the use of AI. “In the spirit of trying new things (bold disruptor much?), from the photography to Photoshop, our creative team was hands-on to bring the e.l.f.ie figure to life. We totally agree that the beauty-verse shines brightest when artists are expressing their e.l.f. in bold, inspiring ways,”@elfcosmetics replied to one comment.
Farmacy Beauty took a different approach, posting an illustrated version of the trend. “P.S. - lovingly designed by our real-life creative team,” @farmacybeauty wrote in the caption.
Another perspective on museums and “authenticity” culture
PHONE TIME reader and friend Stella Brown left this insightful comment on yesterday’s newsletter:
Re: instagram museums- it feels like we've almost reached a point where we're craving the "nostalgia" of the curation provided by activations like an instagrammable setting. Like we're so exhausted by the "authenticity" culture (which is actually pretty fake especially when pushed on to us by unrelatable influencers) that we're missing the simplicity and orchestration of curated vibes.
I’m glad Stella made this point. I saw some of that nostalgia in the comments section under a post of the pink wall by one of my favorite meme pages, @left4rat.
Niche internet corners
The r/Situationism subreddit is dedicated to discussing the Situationist International, which it describes as an "internationalist group of revolutionaries based mainly in Europe with very restricted membership,” founded in 1957. I joined last year after reading a seminal text of the movement, “The Society of the Spectacle”—and started noticing something funny. People kept posting about their situationships.
I’ve been collecting examples of people on Rednote making meme-inspired yogurt bowls (there are a lot of cats).
This Instagram account has gained over 160,000 followers by posting daily videos of cutting food until it turns into paste.
Memes of the day (follow my Instagram for more)
The Webkinz newsletter omg love
The situationism I’m so dead I love that