Howrse

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Howrse
Studio Owlient
Publisher Owlient
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 September 2005
platform Web browser
genre Browser game
control Keyboard & mouse
language multilingual, u. a. German

Howrse is a computer game by the French company Owlient about horse keeping and horse breeding . Technically, the server-side online browser game belongs to the massive multiplayer online games on a LAMP platform. The game has been translated into over 20 languages ​​so far. The German version was published in November 2007.

history

On September 8, 2005, Vincent Guth and Olivier Issaly , two budding computer scientists from France, founded Owlient. On the same day, they began to put their joint project, in which they had already invested more than a year of development time, online: Equideow , the French version of Howrse. The international version Howrse followed later . The German version was activated at the end of November 2007. After a week Howrse had more than 5000 players in the German-speaking area, after six weeks 50,000 players were registered.

In order to not only care for virtual horses, the community took over the sponsorship for two care horses at Gut Aiderbichl in September 2008 . By June 2009 Owlient was able to donate over € 35,000 to the animals thanks to the players' willingness to donate . Also in September 2008, the player base grew to 501,000 players.

In a Christmas campaign in 2008, trading cards were sold for the first time in Howrse , with which extras could be unlocked in the game. This was the first time that real objects were sold for the game. Another card campaign was started on June 9, 2009. Due to various problems when sending the cards, the following card campaigns only took place with digital cards that were paid for with passports instead of real money.

At the end of 2009, the breakeven point was exceeded for the first time.

In July 2011 it was announced that Ubisoft had acquired Owlient (and thus their game Howrse) in order to expand their portfolio in the area of free-to-play games. In July 2013 Owlient celebrated 50 million players.

Over time, the game has been recommended by various famous riders, who have been shown accordingly on the home page. Ludger Beerbaum promoted the German version in 2008, his sister-in-law Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum became an advertising medium for the international Howrse version in 2009. Nicolas Touzaint could be won over for the French version . In 2014 it was announced that Zara Phillips will appear in the game not only as an advertising medium, but as an auxiliary character who accompanies the players through the tutorial. According to press reports, Zara Phillips is the first member of the royal family to appear in a video game .

Gameplay

Howrse

The aim of the game is to care for and breed virtual horses and to develop the quality of the animals from generation to generation.

The horses bred can be traded among the players. To accommodate the horses in the game, the players run riding centers. The majority of their consumer goods such as litter or feed can be grown and traded by the players themselves. Horse trade and large parts of the equestrian center's agriculture function according to the laws of supply and demand .

In addition to an internal game currency that can be worked out during the game, there are so-called passes. In the game they are primarily used to acquire so-called black market items , which can give the breeders more or less clear advantages. These can either be purchased with real money or earned in the game.

Howrse quiz

In March 2009, a separate quiz page was started as an offshoot, which dealt with questions about horses and equestrian sports. The site was loosely connected to Howrse, although it dealt with questions on a similar topic and players could move passes between the two sides, otherwise there was no connection. The aim of the game was to answer most of the questions correctly in a direct duel with another player. In addition, you could create your own mini quiz on any topic.

In the meantime this page has been discontinued. When this happened, the most active players were given small rewards for their Howrseaccount.

Howrse Cup

In July 2012 the start of another offshoot, the so-called Howrse Cup , was announced. This was a new game from Owlient , which was based heavily on Howrse, but had differences. The game has now ended. In contrast to Howrse, the game world was limited to seven months from the start, so there was a clear winner at the end of the game. Also here was not bred alone, but in a team. Other teams could be challenged directly.

It was also special that a total of six communities played on one server, while Howrse provided a separate server for each community . In this way, German, French, Polish, Czech and Russian players could face each other. At the end of the cup, the participants of the game received various rewards, which they could redeem on their Howrseaccount, depending on their place in the championship.

In the meantime, only a list of the winning teams can be viewed on the Howrse Cup website.

Inside Howrse

As of August 22, 2013, Howrse had a blog called Inside Howrse . This has since been discontinued. The blog showed what goes on behind the scenes at Howrse. For example, it was written about why some changes were made to the game or how actions for the game are created. The texts were only written in English so that the blog could be understood by most of the Howrseusers of all versions.

Community

According to Owlient, there are currently more than 55 million player accounts internationally, and in the German version there are around 70,000 (as of September 30, 2018) player accounts.

In the German version in 2009, the following age structure was shown:

  • Players under 10 years: 7%
  • Players between 10 and 15 years: 55% with a peak among 13 year olds
  • Players between 15 and 20 years: 20%
  • Players between 20 and 30 years: 11%
  • Players over 30 years: 7%

A good 90% of the players are female, 82% come from Germany, 8% from Austria and 5% from Switzerland.

criticism

Due to the rather younger target group (horse-loving girls), the game is often criticized for the content it can buy. In October 2010, the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer center published a warning against free games with additional content that could be purchased and described them in the title as "Perfidious rip-offs with childish play instinct". Howrse was named as one of the examples. The promotion of the game by celebrities such as Ludger Beerbaum and the representation that the game is largely free of charge and, because of its simplicity, also suitable for younger players without hesitation, was particularly criticized , even though there is paid content. It is also speculated that the existing advice that players need parental permission to purchase the paid content would often ignore. It has also been criticized that the game encourages players to recruit new players through rewards. In the television magazine Frontal21 on December 11, 2012 criticism was raised about the financing of the so-called “passports”. The possibility of buying passes using value-added service numbers would take advantage of the carelessness of the mostly very young players. In the specific case, a girl is said to have dialed a corresponding number according to the report after 267x. Spiegel Online received further criticism in 2014 . Here, Howrse was cited as an example of games that use gameplay events to encourage players to purchase paid content, such as resurrecting dead horses.

Awards

In February 2009, Howrse with the price Browser Game of the Year Award for 2008 in the category "Best Business Simulation" and won the same competition in addition to the Audience Award .

In March 2011 Howrse was voted Browser Game of the Year again, this time in the “Community Relations” category.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gamesphere: Sponsorship for Horses in Need , accessed June 4, 2013
  2. ↑ Gamesphere: More than 35,000 euros already donated! , accessed June 4, 2013
  3. ↑ Gamesphere: Christmas Promotion for Horse Lovers , accessed June 4, 2013
  4. ↑ Gamesphere: New trading card series "Olymp" , accessed on June 4, 2013
  5. ↑ Reitwelten: Internet Community: Owlient reaches break-even point , accessed on June 4, 2013
  6. ↑ The official press releases from Ubisoft | Forum , accessed June 4, 2013
  7. ↑ a b company page , accessed on June 4, 2013
  8. ↑ Owlient wins Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum as a testimonial. In: OGLabs. Accessed November 2, 2014 (German).
  9. ↑ Ludger Beerbaum supports Howrs online game. In: press box. Accessed November 2, 2014 (German).
  10. ↑ Zara Phillips In 'Howrse' Game For Horse Fans. In: News Sky. Accessed November 2, 2014 (German).
  11. ↑ Gamesphere: Owlient Launches Online Horse Quiz , accessed June 4, 2013
  12. ↑ Ultimate Howrse (blog): Howrse Cup. Retrieved June 21, 2020 .
  13. ^ Howrse homepage , accessed October 19, 2014
  14. ↑ Reitwelten: User structure shows: Online game Howrse appeals to all age groups , accessed on June 4, 2013
  15. ↑ Warning against free games on the Internet: Perfidious rip-off with childish play instinct , Consumer Center North Rhine-Westphalia. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved November 5, 2019. 
  16. ↑ Youtube: ZDF - Frontal 21 report on online games
  17. ↑ CONSUMER PROTECTION Checkout, children! , Mirror online. Retrieved November 5, 2019. 
  18. ↑ Browser Game of the Year - Hall of Fame 2008 , accessed on May 6, 2013
  19. ↑ Browser Game of the Year - Hall of Fame 2010 , accessed on May 6, 2013