MR22
02-04-2008, 05:01 PM
The makers of the "gameless game" known as Habbo Hotel want to get inside the heads of people who spend time in the virtual community.
Sulka Haro (http://www.sulka.net/), lead concept designer for Habbo Online, began Day 2 of the Austin Game Developers Conference with an entertaining lecture about how Habbo fosters open-ended play. Understanding teenagers is the key, he said. To that end, Habbo interviewed 42,000 teens from around the world last year, with some interesting results.
The company identified five types of teenage users of Habbo Hotel: "rebels" that like to do things differently from the norm, "creative types" that like to create new items in the Habbo world, "achievers" that will spend a lot of money on micro-transactions to look good in the virtual world, "loners" that come online to make friends as "they may not have friends in the real world," and "traditional types" that are "keen on helping other people" and like to do things the traditional way.
Which countries are dominated by which type?
According to Habbo's research, Finnish kids are predominantly traditional, Japanenese kids tends to be "loners" and U.S. kids predominantly fall into the "achievers" category.
The survey also threw up some conflicting results. For example, while 70 percent of kids globally that play Habbo Hotel want a foreign friend, only 44 percent of them had a positive attitude toward foreigners. Go figure.
Haro said he doesn't like the terms "Web 2.0" and "Game 3.0" being used to describe the Habbo Hotel experience. Instead of those "silly terms," Haro prefers "gameless game," as there is no gameplay.
One last note: There are people in a virtual fast food restauraunt in one of the Habbo Hotel rooms "that are role-playing a minimum wage job ... which is kind of fun," Haro said. You have to dream.
Lol i feel like some ****** now :(
Moved by ,Jess, (Forum Moderator) from UK News and Rumours, please post in the correct section in future.
Sulka Haro (http://www.sulka.net/), lead concept designer for Habbo Online, began Day 2 of the Austin Game Developers Conference with an entertaining lecture about how Habbo fosters open-ended play. Understanding teenagers is the key, he said. To that end, Habbo interviewed 42,000 teens from around the world last year, with some interesting results.
The company identified five types of teenage users of Habbo Hotel: "rebels" that like to do things differently from the norm, "creative types" that like to create new items in the Habbo world, "achievers" that will spend a lot of money on micro-transactions to look good in the virtual world, "loners" that come online to make friends as "they may not have friends in the real world," and "traditional types" that are "keen on helping other people" and like to do things the traditional way.
Which countries are dominated by which type?
According to Habbo's research, Finnish kids are predominantly traditional, Japanenese kids tends to be "loners" and U.S. kids predominantly fall into the "achievers" category.
The survey also threw up some conflicting results. For example, while 70 percent of kids globally that play Habbo Hotel want a foreign friend, only 44 percent of them had a positive attitude toward foreigners. Go figure.
Haro said he doesn't like the terms "Web 2.0" and "Game 3.0" being used to describe the Habbo Hotel experience. Instead of those "silly terms," Haro prefers "gameless game," as there is no gameplay.
One last note: There are people in a virtual fast food restauraunt in one of the Habbo Hotel rooms "that are role-playing a minimum wage job ... which is kind of fun," Haro said. You have to dream.
Lol i feel like some ****** now :(
Moved by ,Jess, (Forum Moderator) from UK News and Rumours, please post in the correct section in future.