Habbo
Habbo Hotel is a virtual community that combines the concept of both a chat room and online game, owned and operated by Sulake Corporation. The original idea behind Habbo Hotel, Mobiles Disco, was created as a small project by two young Finnish men, Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrölä. It was intended to promote a rock band called Mobiles. The pair later sold the project to the Finnish telecom giant Elisa Oyj.
The major launch of the service in Finland saw it dubbed Hotelli Kultakala, Finnish for Hotel Goldfish, in August 2000. The company soon decided that a more neutral name for the service would be required to attract larger recognition. The word Habbo was chosen following the submission of a team member.
The second member of the Habbo brand was launched in the United Kingdom in January of 2001. Since then, the Hotel chain along with its user base has continued to grow, and Habbo Hotel is currently one of the largest non-violent online game communities on the internet, operating in 17 countries.
Features
To play Habbo Hotel, one must first create an avatar. The sign up process includes the selection of a desired Habbo Name and Mission, a tagline displayed underneath the user's avatar when clicked by other users. The newly registered Habbo now has the option to choose from a variety of clothing, shoes, hair and skin colour. These options, and the mission option can all be modified at any time.
In the Hotel
The chatrooms that make up each Hotel are large computer-generated graphics using isometric projection. There are two main types of rooms: Public Rooms and Guest Rooms. Public Rooms are those that supposedly could be found in a normal hotel, including lobbies, a kitchen, pools, lounges and a theatre. The selection of public rooms will differ from hotel to hotel. Guest Rooms are fully customisable rooms made by Habbos. The creative possibilities are endless, though many examples include nightclubs, gaming rooms, trading rooms and even whole houses. There are templates for the size and shape of the room, which can be painted and filled with virtual furniture.
Habbos can keep in contact with others via use of the Console, which allows Habbos to send messages between each other. It also allows them to keep track of who is online. There is also a Navigator which allows Habbos to select a public or guest room to enter. The navigator holds lists for a Habbo's own rooms and their list of favourite rooms, as well as a search feature enabling searches by room or room owner's name.
Furniture for guest rooms can be purchased from the Catalogue. Catalogue items can either be purchased with credits or traded from Habbo to Habbo. Credits must be purchased with real currency. Habbo Hotel offers various payment methods that differ between countries. Habbos can purchase a wide selection of items for their guest rooms from the catalogue. Every so often, rare items are offered for sale in the catalogue for a short period of time. There are also seasonal items available for purchase at respective times throughout the year, for example, Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas.
Habbo Club
Habbo Club is a popular subscription in Habbo Hotel that offers additional incentives that are unavailable to non-members. Some examples include a wider array of hairstyles and clothing; a special rare piece of furniture for each month of subscription; additional guest room layouts; member-only Public Rooms; 3 extra dances, and more.
Two very useful additional features of Habbo Club include the Chooser (accessed by typing ":chooser"), which lists all occupants of a room, and Furni command (":furni"), which lists all furniture within a guest room. Members of Habbo Club are also able to turn their badges on and off at their own discretion.
Moderation/Guidance
Office staff
Each branch of Habbo Hotel has an office associated with it. Operated by Sulake employees, this office is the workplace of the respective hotel's senior staff. These staff generally include a 'Hotel Manager', or Content Manager, who oversees the hotel as a whole by communicating with the players through newsletters, creating competitions, and managing the content of the website; a Community Manager, who is responsible for moderation and guidance throughout the virtual community by managing in-game Moderators and Habbo eXperts; and a Country Manager, who manages the business side of the community such as sales, finance and administration.
Office staff may also consist of player support staff, who respond to queries sent via contact forms by players; and pixel artists who create the vast amounts of imagery used both in-game and on the community's website.
Moderator staff
Habbo Hotel's moderation is covered by paid moderator staff. Moderators are police vetted Sulake employees who work from home. Office staff moderate the hotel during local office hours, and are relieved by moderator staff outside these times. Moderators will always have the prefix "MOD-" in their account name and have a Habbo Staff badge.
Moderators utilise in-game commands as well as a seperate web based tool known as Housekeeping. These tools allow moderator staff to send messages to Habbos in the hotel, which appear as in-game popups. These prove to be effective in preventing minor infringments of the Habbo Way, the guidelines that govern the community. As well as this ability, moderator staff can also kick Habbos from any room, mute them (prevent them from talking), and ban them from the hotel entirely. Bans are placed on individual Habbo accounts, however, many more serious offences are punished by a Macromedia Shockwave ID or IP address ban.
Habbo eXperts
Habbo eXperts are commonly known throughout the hotels as Habbo Xs. This recently devised system is designed to present Habbo Hotel as a welcoming environment to new members. This is done through the selection of a number of regular Habbo players of any age, who are known to have a solid understanding of the Habbo Way and the Hotel in general. These players receive a special badge to identify them to new players.
The system, although praised by many, is also disputed by some Habbos as a form of favouritism, with many Habbos well known within their respective communities being selected for the program. The system has not yet been implemented on all hotels worldwide, however is in operation throughout all English speaking hotels.
Hobbas
Hobbas were volunteer Habbo users who assisted with moderation of the hotel. Hobbas were split into three groups - silver, gold, and super - each of which had different levels of powers. Hobbas received many of the same commands as moderators use, as well as access to a limited section of Housekeeping. Hobbas applied for their voluntary position through the Hotel websites, and had to meet selection criteria (including a minimum age of 18 years) in order to file a valid application. The application process also involved telephone interviews, as well as a written contract between the individuals and Sulake Corporation.
Due to security concerns, the Hobba system was phased out worldwide on December 31, 2005. All Hobbas and ex-Hobbas were given a special Habbo Memorial badge to acknowledge their service to the hotel.
Language
There is a filter in place to block certain objectionable words and phrases. It has become to be known as the Bobba Filter on the most prominent hotels, due to its replacement of all offensive text with the simple word "bobba" (various hotels, mainly those not in English, use a different word). Replacement comes anywhere from benign words like "poop" and "ass" to highly offensive words, phrases and even websites. The level of censorship varies from hotel to hotel.
Habbo Hotels
Current Hotels
There are currently 17 Habbo Hotels in operation:
| Country | URL | Opening Date |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | http://www.habbohotel.com.au/ | November 2004 |
| Brazil | http://www.habbohotel.com.br/ | February 2006 |
| Canada | http://www.habbohotel.ca/ | June 2004 |
| China | http://www.habbochina.com/ | January 2006 |
| Denmark | http://www.habbohotel.dk/ | November 2004 |
| Finland | http://www.habbohotel.fi/ | August 2000 |
| France | http://www.habbohotel.fr/ | November 2004 |
| Germany | http://www.habbohotel.de/ | March 2004 |
| Italy | http://www.habbohotel.it/ | November 2003 |
| Japan | http://www.habbohotel.jp/ | February 2003 |
| Netherlands | http://www.habbohotel.nl/ | February 2004 |
| Norway | http://www.habbohotel.no/ | June 2004 |
| Singapore | http://www.habbohotel.com.sg/ | December 2004 |
| Spain | http://www.habbohotel.es/ | September 2003 |
| Sweden | http://www.habbohotel.se/ | December 2003 |
| Switzerland | http://www.habbohotel.ch/ | August 2002 |
| United Kingdom | http://www.habbohotel.co.uk/ | January 2001 |
| United States of America | http://www.habbohotel.com/ | September 2004 |
Future Hotels
These hotels' domains have been purchased by Sulake. Opening dates are unknown.
- Habbo Hotel Belgium
- Habbo Hotel Czech Republic
- Habbo Hotel Greece
- Habbo Hotel Latvia
- Habbo Hotel Liechtenstein
- Habbo Hotel Lithuania
- Habbo Hotel Poland
- Habbo Hotel Romania
- Habbo Hotel Russia
Fan Sites
Some Habbo Hotels maintain an official fan site list. This is a list of the best sites dedicated to Habbo Hotel as voted by the members of that hotel's community or selected by members of staff.