When you see a silver paw, that is something which can be unlocked with a Full Membership or a Deluxe Membership. You can get a Full Membership by adopting a new Webkinz Pet. Each new Webkinz Pet adoption extends your Full Membership for 1 year from the date that you adopt them.
The gold badge is for Deluxe Membership only. Deluxe Members get access to everything that Full Members do, and much, MUCH more, without needing to adopt any new Webkinz Pets (but you still can adopt as many as you want to!)
You can learn more about Deluxe Membership by visiting the Ganz eStore here.
If you want to compare all of the different features between Webkinz Free, Full and Deluxe Membership, check out our comparison chart here.
As someone who’s been playing as a child, I find this to be a shock to me seeing as Webkinz is a game that brings me much joy and nostalgic comfort. I learned of this yesterday looking at all of my pet meters. As I expect from every company to be money-hungry, I did not think Webkinz would be a part of that. Children/parents who do not have money to keep buying Webkinz to extend their membership a year may not have money, cannot even get a living pet, nor a Deluxe Membership. I certainly have not forgotten about this game and I do not intend to in the near future. Thus being said, there should be a free membership with NO expiration and a Deluxe membership as well. Also, expect an email from me a code that seems to be invalid but I have double checked and entered 3 times and still no success.
Free membership does not expire. Free membership does not get you access to everything, however. Prior to our tiered memberships, players would need to adopt a pet every year to maintain access to their accounts. Now you keep access no matter your membership level and it is only access to certain activities or areas that is limited by your tier.
I agree with WonderianAJkinz in that I have 3 children now in their early to mid 20′s and we purchased at least 100 hundred stuffed Webkinz pets over the years that they were in grade and middle school! My husband and I also had accounts with a handful of pets! I’m now an empty nester and they have finished college and working on their careers or doctorate degrees and I’m finding myself needing to go back to Webkinz playing! I still enjoy it. We were crushed yesterday to learn that our pets no longer worked or our accounts from years ago. What did we spend all that money for if we can’t now have a deluxe membership? Every new Webkinz that came out for a holiday, we purchased and everyone had a code. Where are those accounts now and why can’t we access them? I’m on a fixed income now and don’t have extra money for a deluxe membership every year with what we thought should have been carried into our accounts all these years. What else is there? I’m frustrated that for the past 24 hours, I am limited to what I can do even in employment jobs because I don’t have a deluxe membership. So unfair!!!
If your account is still active, you can still play with every single pet on it. Each pet gives one year of full membership from the date of adoption, but it does not stack. Purchasing a plush has never given Deluxe membership. If you haven’t logged into your accounts in a long time, they may have been purged as we comply with privacy laws. You can contact webkinzsupport@ganz.com with your usernames and secret codes and attempt to track them down.