[!!] Paul Steps Down as CEO

[October]

WHAT A GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT

http://blog.habbo.com/2012/12/31/paulwalla-departing/


After 15 months of leading the Habbo community it is time for me to hand my Staff badge to new leadership. My time as Paulwalla has been amazing, working with a group of industry veterans to support one of the most vibrant and energetic communities on the internet. We have had our ups and our downs together, and through it all Habbos have stood strong in being proud of their community and making it about friendship and fun. I’ve learned much and truly enjoyed engaging with the community. Whether our work to improve the community was popular, or controversial throughout we have heard clearly that Habbos understand their community and know what they want. The interaction has been important. The voice of the community is the strength of the community. Proof of this was clear in the summer. The community weathered a tremendous storm together, and Habbos stood strong. The way you reacted with one strong voice was inspiring. You will be left in good hands. Our new Community Team will lead Staff in the Hotel to serve you. Engagement will increase, and the spirit of Old Habbo will rise again.
All the best,
Paul LaFontaine

[Red]

OMG. ahhh wonder who will replace him

[Luke367]

YESSSSS! Happy new year! Not sure if this as been posted on habbox but on: http://www.sulake.com/blog/entries/habbo-returns-to-its-roots/


Habbo Returns To Its RootsLaunched over 13 years ago, Habbo Hotel was one of the first online communities. Since then the market for online communities has changed considerably. Habbo has always been for teens and we are aware that continuous development and renewal is key to successfully serving the teen audience.

Habbo is going back to its roots. It has always been a place to meet and enjoy time with friends. We are going to focus specifically on the features and services that makes finding new friends and sharing with old friends enjoyable. This means new features, fresh themed entertainment and a variety of games. And we will keep elements of the service Habbos have always loved.

As we increase our focus we are going to streamline the business. The Sulake organization will be restructured to better serve the community needs. These necessary changes will allow us to maintain Habbo as an iconic and safe service for our users.

The 12 local Habbo sites will keep running as usual and the service will continue to be moderated and free to play. We will launch campaigns monthly as we always have and we will continue to offer new, exciting games on the recently launched game platform.

I hope they bring old things back :)

[sex]

HOPEFULLY SOMEONE ELSE WHO HAS EXPERIENCE WITH HABBO

[October]

HOPEFULLY SOMEONE ELSE WHO HAS EXPERIENCE WITH HABBO
IS IT TOO LATE TO BRING BACK DIONYSUS?

[Matt]

Didn't see that one coming!!

[Red]

IS IT TOO LATE TO BRING BACK DIONYSUS?

I agree. I wonder if he was forced to step down? lmao

[FlyingJesus]

"Our new Community Team will lead Staff in the Hotel to serve you. Engagement will increase, and the spirit of Old Habbo will rise again."

ie: we're not gonna have one person in charge again, instead there'll be a nameless faceless committee of people making the same decisions with no accountability while pretending to take in the opinions of the userbase

[GoldenMerc]

I guess this is a great positive

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[October]

"Our new Community Team will lead Staff in the Hotel to serve you. Engagement will increase, and the spirit of Old Habbo will rise again."

ie: we're not gonna have one person in charge again, instead there'll be a nameless faceless committee of people making the same decisions with no accountability while pretending to take in the opinions of the userbaseI doubt he meant for the company as a whole (though, knowing the decisions he has made as CEO, I wouldn't put it past him), but for the hotel. I mean, someone has to take charge of Sulake itself, right?

[sex]

I doubt he meant for the company as a whole (though, knowing the decisions he has made as CEO, I wouldn't put it past him), but for the hotel. I mean, someone has to take charge of Sulake itself, right?

board of directors probably

[JerseySafety]

Hopefully the next person does a much better job. About time he left though, he had no idea what he was doing.

[Mikey]

That didn't last long, don't blame him to be honest. Habbo is going to the ***** and I suppose he got out while he could. Hopefully this brings in new developments within Habbo and whoever takes over actually brings it to life somehow.

EDIT: Just looked on Twitter and he's deleted his Twitter account.. dun dun dunn

[Bails]

HOLY MOTHER-BOBBAING BOBBA!!!!!!!!!

HELL YES, FINALLY HABBO WILL GET BACK ON TRACK! NO MORE CREDIT DEALS, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT! WHAT A CHRISTMAS PRESENT! HELL YEAH!!!

[Martin]

Yay I think this is good news, and providing someone good is chosen as a replacement then Habbo good indeed be back on the up! :D

[Nooses]

it's a miracle.
merry late christmas habbo indeed.

[xxMATTGxx]

Don't get your hopes up, Habbo has been damaged for a while. Habbo won't get good again instantly or maybe not at all. A high member of management leaving should be more worrying than good.

[Succubus]

Best that's happened for Habbo for a long while :P

[Okeanos]

I feel sorry for all those habbos (you know who you are) who spent the last year and a half tweeting him non-stop, now they will have to begin the suck up process all over again. How frustrating life is sometimes.

[-Nick]

Does this mean we can party :D :D:D:D:D::D:D:D:D:D:D:D YESSSSSSSSS HE IS GONE!!!

what happens if he looks at this thread PSML

[xxMATTGxx]

Does this mean we can party :D :D:D:D:D::D:D:D:D:D:D:D YESSSSSSSSS HE IS GONE!!!

what happens if he looks at this thread PSML

It's been noted that Paul and other members have Sulake staff read quite a lot of Habbox threads. Then they get "mentioned" in tweets they send out but don't say the Habbox name. He wasn't the most liked staff but there a much bigger picture to this than just him leaving as CEO.

[RyRy]

The sinking ship just lost its captain. Like xxMATTGxx; said, this doesn't look good for the Habbo brand. It might be where Sulake get the most income, but it's damaged beyond repair now.

Just a matter of time until it shuts down.

[zombies]

Wow, didn't see that one coming!

[tm]

I'm very glad to see him step down but I think it's much too late and I'm apprehensive about the future. IMHO he should have stepped down after the 'pedo scandal' report. They're not even going to try to replace Paul, at least not straight away and I think that's going to lead to even less community interaction at least until something is properly in place.

Sulake really do need some staff that actually understand how online communities work and experience of Habbo or somewhere similar would obviously be helpful. A small team of community leaders led by someone similar to Dionysus - only someone that still works for Sulake - could have the potential to revitalise Habbo somewhat but I'm not sure if it might be too late even for a miracle recovery now.

[zombies]

Bring back Justine Hill

[Yourgame652]

I've been wanting this clown out of the picture for far too long! He was out of touch and CLEARLY didn't know what on earth he was doing and, as a result, practically ruined the communities that held Habbo together. IMO, things started turning pear-shaped post merge anyway...

I hope they find a decent replacement soon, someone that actually has some in-game experience and hopefully knows how to right this terrible mess we're in!

[Zak]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA YES **** YOU PAUL

[cameron354]

I hope the new CEO will sort customer service and moderation out like most companies. However as others have said Paul leaving could actually be a bad sign and meaning Habbo is doing worse than thought. Also although he never really listened to the community he was the first CEO of Sulake to engage with the community on twitter.

[Samantha]

Aww just as I'm selling my paulwalla trophy, I'm glad he realised and stepped down but I'd have preferred someone taking his place immediately.

[Abdicators]

Don't get your hopes up, Habbo has been damaged for a while. Habbo won't get good again instantly or maybe not at all. A high member of management leaving should be more worrying than good.

In the last 2 weeks, more than 1 member of senior Sulake management has departed. The games in more trouble than many of you guys realise.

[MKR&*42]

Oh wow, woke up to this. I'm glad he's stepped down - but as many others have pointed out, it might be too late to actually "save" the game.

I just sincerely hope they don't go and choose a CEO who hasn't worked at Sulake before.

[Pigperson]

I always had the impression he was a good CEO but I must have been confused. I'm curious to see who replaces him though.

Will

[Abdicators]

I always had the impression he was a good CEO but I must have been confused. I'm curious to see who replaces him though.

Will

I agree that he was a good CEO. It's not just you.

[dbgtz]

He was probably facing the sack anyway.

[David]

A high member of management leaving should be more worrying than good.

should we be worried about hx then :P

[GommeInc]

Good. He was a lousy CEO and the only problem now is that there's not enough champagne and it's far too late to plan a party to celebrate his departure. Good riddance to that piece of rubbish, not that it will make any difference seeing as Habbo has been without a CEO for 15 months - Paul was just a Twitter user and was more a communications manager than a leader.

The damage is done now and the next step would be to completely dismantle Habbo and build from the ground up. It's a tainted mess, filled with a few years of rot and rust.

[Abdicators]

Habbo has been without a CEO for 15 months - Paul was just a Twitter user.

*REMOVED*

Edited by runeaddict99 (Forum Moderator): Please do not be rude to/about other forum members!

[geo]

so glad he stepped down and for anyone wondering who's going to take over, it's me.

[BigtimeRyan]

WOOOOOO HE'S GONE YAYY! Who will the new CEO be?..

[GommeInc]

*REMOVED*
How so? You call me a moron yet you do not explain yourself - are you sure you're not the moron here? Evidence suggests Paul LaFontaine has done nothing but bad for Habbo, and like many poorly trained leaders he resorts to using social media to try and keep his customers happy yet completely ignores his company which those very customers use. The C4 report exposed how stupid he is and he deserves all that is directed towards him from this thread. The majority of people who have posted in this thread have showed how pleased they are he is gone - only a handful have said he was good (though why they do not say - the evidence is in the service and the service has been let down by his hand).

Also I do know how organisations work - I'm not going to give you the ins and outs of business functions. Labelling people a moron with no justification says more about the sayer than it does the receiver -.-

[Nige]

Finally, he was arrogant, rude and an utter disgrace to the Habbo community. I won't be missing him.

[lawrawrrr]

Although I don't think he was the best CEO ever I really doubt Habbo will go much further - who will step up and take over a sinking ship? I can't imagine Habbo lasting for that much longer, unless someone puts in the time and effort (which I doubt they will). Don't think that just because you all hated Paul his leaving will make Habbo better because tbh it's probably the exact opposite, for onw anyway.

[Plebings]

while the communication between him and habbos has been mostly abysmal, a few of you are acting like he's a madman in the office, while the developers are cowering on the floor screaming "no paul, don't do this!"

he didn't run the hotel, and things like the credit promotions and limited rares were great moves in a business sense. while he is not 100% innocent, paul the scapegoat has finally been rid of.

if habbo come up with more ideas you don't like, or just fades into oblivion, will you still blame him?

if these are some of the last months on here, let's hope it's an enjoyable time. both us and them could really use it.

[Red]

while the communication between him and habbos has been mostly abysmal, a few of you are acting like he's a madman in the office, while the developers are cowering on the floor screaming "no paul, don't do this!"

he didn't run the hotel, and things like the credit promotions and limited rares were great moves in a business sense. while he is not 100% innocent, paul the scapegoat has finally been rid of.

if habbo come up with more ideas you don't like, or just fades into oblivion, will you still blame him?

if these are some of the last months on here, let's hope it's an enjoyable time. both us and them could really use it.

Well he did oversee the removal of what, 2/3 of the staff?? People that were a real asset to Sulake, so yes his actions are going to have long term repercussions. Going to be hard to come up with creative ideas when there is no staff left to suggest them.

[Plebings]

Well he did oversee the removal of what, 2/3 of the staff?? People that were a real asset to Sulake, so yes his actions are going to have long term repercussions. Going to be hard to come up with creative ideas when there is no staff left to suggest them.

i don't think we'll find out, but i doubt it was 100% his decision without getting feedback from people behind the scenes.

[noddy]

Glad he stepped down, however I doubt we will see any change to Habbo. The only think on the mind of a corporation like Sulake is how to maximize profit with limited cost.

[sex]

i liked the credit / diamond promotions he came up with lol

[SackRace]

Good riddance

[GommeInc]

i don't think we'll find out, but i doubt it was 100% his decision without getting feedback from people behind the scenes.
He is at the forefront being the CEO, and the lack of remorse over the removals was painful to see. He made himself the face of Habbo as far as communications go on a grand scale (his over-use of Twitter and the dodgy Habbo blogs, for instance). He may not of been the one in charge of the removals, but he could of halted them or restructured the organisation so removals need not take place. Slim-lining is important in this economic climate - John Lewis can do it, and they're a much larger organisation.


Glad he stepped down, however I doubt we will see any change to Habbo. The only think on the mind of a corporation like Sulake is how to maximize profit with limited cost.
Which got them in this mess :P Old Habbo was far better, they maximised profit while also maximising on customer relations.

[Okeanos]

In a few years no doubt some of you will be complaining about a new staff member and reminiscing about Paul. You guys always moan about habbo, doesn't it ever get tiring?

[Plebings]

He is at the forefront being the CEO, and the lack of remorse over the removals was painful to see. He made himself the face of Habbo as far as communications go on a grand scale (his over-use of Twitter and the dodgy Habbo blogs, for instance). He may not of been the one in charge of the removals, but he could of halted them or restructured the organisation so removals need not take place. Slim-lining is important in this economic climate - John Lewis can do it, and they're a much larger organisation.


completely agree, just felt the need to defend the post. i don't believe him to be at all innocent, but it's not all his fault.

[GommeInc]

completely agree, just felt the need to defend the post. i don't believe him to be at all innocent, but it's not all his fault.
True, but he has a lot of control and could of taken preventative measures. My impression of him was that he spent too much time on Twitter lying to his customers (or blocking them) than noticing what's happening with his business.

[Inseriousity.]

I do not think he is the devil incarnate that some posts in this thread would suggest, I am also cynical about how much of it was him. We can't pin the excessive/obscene profiteering solely on Paul, I think. It seems to be the direction that Habbo has moved in long before he took charge. Community-driven profits is hard work. It's a lot easier to say "buy 1 credit, get 2 diamonds" or "buy pumpkins" and whatever else has happened so I hope the next CEO or board of directors are willing to put the hard work in.

[Yupt]

YUPT FOR HOTEL MANAGER


I'm looking forward to seeing if theres an immediate impact following this! I don't think there will but it'd be nice to see them put effort back in and bring back spirit and enjoyment of the game.

[God]

PRAISE DA LORD!
I just hope that habbo changes for the better.

[Kardan]

In before Habbo gets worse and people start praising Paul...

[Empired]

I’ve learned much and truly enjoyed engaging with the community
Well seeing as he blocked most of Habbo from his Twitter I don't understand how he managed to engage with us all??

[xxMATTGxx]

Habbo was going downhill before Paul came onto the scene. The whole Channel 4 case wasn't all of his fault as that was always a problem on Habbo as well. It will be interesting to see what Sulake does to the company now in terms of who replaces him and if any changes take place in the first X amount of months. I wish them the best of luck with it though.



should we be worried about hx then :P

I actually knew you would comment on that haha :P

[Zak]

In before Habbo gets worse and people start praising Paul...

Habbo will get worse no doubt but praising Paul? What you been smoking ;) :P

[Shorty]

Did post a thread 9 days ago, but requested it to be removed until a public announcement. Markus from 2004 should of also departed from Sulake too.

http://new.tinygrab.com/396988b3697441d80051b6d3e20e03d4c1de2e1057.png

[Abdicators]

Nice email address thur.

Edited by Matts (Forum Super Moderator): Please don't post pointlessly!

[GommeInc]

Habbo was going downhill before Paul came onto the scene. The whole Channel 4 case wasn't all of his fault as that was always a problem on Habbo as well. It will be interesting to see what Sulake does to the company now in terms of who replaces him and if any changes take place in the first X amount of months. I wish them the best of luck with it though.
It sort of is. You wouldn't take charge of a ship that's got a few holes in it from the previous Captain and just leave them there. They begin to rot and get bigger, causing inevitable problems in the future. He was given the C4 report a week before its release and just ignored it - he had it coming and could of solved the problems or made it clear his intentions were to ignore all these bizarre ideas he had and focus on resolving security issues. Habbo went down hill way before him, he just made it tumble quicker :/

[andoo89]

It would be funny if Callie came back as the new CEO

[.:TaylorSwift:]

I'm kinda excited who goin to be the new CEO and how is this going to put any type of changes to Habbo

[Luke367]

Does this mean we can party :D :D:D:D:D::D:D:D:D:D:D:D YESSSSSSSSS HE IS GONE!!!

what happens if he looks at this thread PSML

Find out hes defo hate from habbo :)

[October]

So do we have any chief officers left?

[Luke367]

That didn't last long, don't blame him to be honest. Habbo is going to the ***** and I suppose he got out while he could. Hopefully this brings in new developments within Habbo and whoever takes over actually brings it to life somehow.

EDIT: Just looked on Twitter and he's deleted his Twitter account.. dun dun dunn

https://twitter.com/PaulwallaTweets

He updated his twitter account.

[:Markster:]

As was mentioned throughout this thread it's good to see a change but I'll try and not jump on the bandwagon of hating Paul just yet. Habbo has been getting worse, well to be honest, ever since the merge. Paul as the CEO can't be solely blamed on that and as far as leading a company goes it's not the CEO who makes all of the decisions. As much as Habbo is like North Korea right now, getting banned for every single thing basically, and Paul is the Kim Jong-Il of it all, hopefully the change of leadership will calm down the bans that are thrown around all over the place right now. Now the thing is, as FlyingJesus put it, for now at least Habbo will be managed by a "nameless and faceless group of people" and there isn't one person we can blame if things go wrong. Is this a good thing? I guess we'll have to wait and see...

[October]

As was mentioned throughout this thread it's good to see a change but I'll try and not jump on the bandwagon of hating Paul just yet. Habbo has been getting worse, well to be honest, ever since the merge. Paul as the CEO can't be solely blamed on that and as far as leading a company goes it's not the CEO who makes all of the decisions. As much as Habbo is like North Korea right now, getting banned for every single thing basically, and Paul is the Kim Jong-Il of it all, hopefully the change of leadership will calm down the bans that are thrown around all over the place right now. Now the thing is, as FlyingJesus put it, for now at least Habbo will be managed by a "nameless and faceless group of people" and there isn't one person we can blame if things go wrong. Is this a good thing? I guess we'll have to wait and see...

oh
my
god

I didn't consider this before but I think that may be the single most accurate description of Habbo right now.

[BigtimeRyan]

As was mentioned throughout this thread it's good to see a change but I'll try and not jump on the bandwagon of hating Paul just yet. Habbo has been getting worse, well to be honest, ever since the merge. Paul as the CEO can't be solely blamed on that and as far as leading a company goes it's not the CEO who makes all of the decisions. As much as Habbo is like North Korea right now, getting banned for every single thing basically, and Paul is the Kim Jong-Il of it all, hopefully the change of leadership will calm down the bans that are thrown around all over the place right now. Now the thing is, as FlyingJesus put it, for now at least Habbo will be managed by a "nameless and faceless group of people" and there isn't one person we can blame if things go wrong. Is this a good thing? I guess we'll have to wait and see...

Completely agree well said

[Cerys]

All i can say is about time. Lets hope it goes back to normal :)

[Aaron]

Things can only get worse now as others have said.. with Sulake's senior staff leaving in the last two weeks..

With a bit of luck Sulake Board of Directors decide to bring back a previous/current staff member and let them lead the role and do something worth-while rather than block users from twitter for disagreeing with what they of the site itself.

Hopefully something worth-while will happen, we'll just need to wait and see!

[Luke367]

Things can only get worse now as others have said.. with Sulake's senior staff leaving in the last two weeks..

With a bit of luck Sulake Board of Directors decide to bring back a previous/current staff member and let them lead the role and do something worth-while rather than block users from twitter for disagreeing with what they of the site itself.

Hopefully something worth-while will happen, we'll just need to wait and see!

Sorry, I don't understand. Why can it get worse? Sulake got to have backup in staff. But agree bring back lost_witness ect... old staff.

[Aaron]

Sorry, I don't understand. Why can it get worse? Sulake got to have backup in staff. But agree bring back lost_witness ect... old staff.

Sorry didn't elaborate on that point much.

It can get worse because if the CEO decides to step-down from his role and a Senior staff member has left something has gone wrong.. unless we're completely wrong and he was asked to leave by the Board of Directors, something we'll probably never know.

With a bit of luck they do have backup staff, decent ones that is. I'd like to see Habbo step-up and prove the users wrong and better the Habbo sites and listen to users opinions. It'd be good to see old faces return! Hope that explains it abit.. kind of tired so may all sound like crap! :P

[Luke367]

Sorry didn't elaborate on that point much.

It can get worse because if the CEO decides to step-down from his role and a Senior staff member has left something has gone wrong.. unless we're completely wrong and he was asked to leave by the Board of Directors, something we'll probably never know.

With a bit of luck they do have backup staff, decent ones that is. I'd like to see Habbo step-up and prove the users wrong and better the Habbo sites and listen to users opinions. It'd be good to see old faces return! Hope that explains it abit.. kind of tired so may all sound like crap! :P

Aww yer true, But on the main site says "Habbo Returns To Its Roots" so touch wood they are doing what the title says. :)

[Samantha]

I commented earlier but I don't believe Paul was always in the wrong, one time he did attempt to help with the Habbo Council yet that failed with me knowing loads of player's email addresses, the fact Puffin was on more than him and of course the limited ban period we were allowed to take on. However, I think what didn't help was, perhaps the development team might have suggested features such as Articles, Homepages etc. were coming back, Paul jumped the gun and announced it yet we're still waiting for some of them, causing immediate back lash for him. Of course it might have been him who aimed to bring them back but what's going to happen now? With half the workforce gone, the gaming platform is taking over slowly and sometimes it feels like a chore to log on, I'd prefer another CEO and before Paul I didn't even know Sulake had one, he was the one who communicated yet sometimes his attitude was appalling, we can't tell if it's beyond repair until the process of improving it has begun.

[Nige]

Everyone saying bring back old staff, it won't happen, don't get your hopes up.

They have better jobs.

[Shorty]

Nice email address thur.

Edited by Matts (Forum Super Moderator): Please don't post pointlessly!

He wasn't posting pointlessly, he was replying to my post on the other page where I used his screenshot. Pay more attention moderators. :(


Did post a thread 9 days ago, but requested it to be removed until a public announcement. Markus from 2004 should of also departed from Sulake too.

http://new.tinygrab.com/396988b3697441d80051b6d3e20e03d4c1de2e1057.png

[Abdicators]

He wasn't posting pointlessly, he was replying to my post on the other page where I used his screenshot. Pay more attention moderators. :(

d/w. I get it all the time

[Leviaton2]

I heard they have employed legendary and popular habbo Leviaton2 :O

[BigtimeRyan]

I heard they have employed legendary and popular habbo Leviaton2 :O

I've never head of Leviaton2 but its good if they employ an experienced habbo user (if they are an adult of course) because they know a lot about the community. I hope they promote good staff instead of employing people that have never worked at sulake and have never heard of habbo before.

[Ardemax]

The only way to "save" Habbo is to un-merge the hotels.

[BigtimeRyan]

The only way to "save" Habbo is to un-merge the hotels.

I never played habbo before it was merged. Why does it make a difference?

[Ardemax]

I never played habbo before it was merged. Why does it make a difference?

Someone mentioned it before but it essentially destroyed all the small communities that were regional-based. Don't get me wrong I have a lot of international friends now but there is something missing which connected local people.

To be fair I've probably thought too deeply into it but it's sad to see all these individual hotels with their individual setups with preferred tastes and hotel managers being squeezed into one big profit for Sulake. Money before people, I guess.

[karter]

I feel sorry for all those habbos (you know who you are) who spent the last year and a half tweeting him non-stop, now they will have to begin the suck up process all over again. How frustrating life is sometimes.

this post is perfect +rep lol

[Kardan]

Wow, you obviously missed the point he was referring to himself, and that he's joking.

Sulake don't employ Habbo players.

[karter]

http://i.imgur.com/xK40s.png
Image taken from : http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?p=7733820#post7733820

For those who said "Everything went downhill since merge".. Now I don't know what your definition of 'downhill' is. The period after Paul (marked by the red dot) joined can be the real definition of downhill. Signing up on twitter and pretending to listen to habbos does not make him the "Ideal CEO". Sure, he squeezed out profits till the last and may have brought in a lot of profit from additional currencies. Great idea, yes but this is just pathetic looking at how much they have exploited players for profits. There are 4 additional currencies I am aware of - peanuts, pumpkins, clouds , diamonds. And then desperate attempts for more and more profit - a flood of LTD rares, events for credits, power ups for games for credits (some of which were laughable like purple colour in the art game for 50 credits and Duck vehicle in speedway for 100 credits). Okay I accept the fact (I don't, really) that sometimes it was helpful to have him on twitter to get updated with the upcoming releases and campaigns but most of the time he was calling players stupid, calling their ideas silly and insignificant, telling them to get their facts right. No one likes a man who is rude to children. "Ideal" for getting more profits, probably yes. "Ideal" for developing the game and increasing the quality of gameplay, hell no. At one point he was showing off how powerful the Uservoice tool is but when people told him to follow the most popular ideas in Uservoice, his replies were so immature and arrogant which is not what we expect from a professional. By "Engaging with the community" he actually means engaging with suck ups and fooling people and blocking all those who question. He has ruined Habbo and without a doubt, things will not be as good as they were in 2011. Of course he is not the only person to be blamed and there are still people in Sulake who will continue to mess Habbo up (for example Lin/Puffin/Ellie who declines the best ideas in uservoice which could actually revive a lot of players and accepting random ********..I believe she's been here since 2004 but still has no clue what the players want). It will be interesting to see till how long they can carry on exploiting users for more profit, some day people will obviously be fed up of them and leave.

[Kardan]

http://i.imgur.com/xK40s.png
Image taken from : http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?p=7733820#post7733820

For those who said "Everything went downhill since merge".. Now I don't know what your definition of 'downhill' is. The period after Paul (marked by the red dot) joined can be the real definition of downhill. Signing up on twitter and pretending to listen to habbos does not make him the "Ideal CEO". Sure, he squeezed out profits till the last and may have brought in a lot of profit from additional currencies. Great idea, yes but this is just pathetic looking at how much they have exploited players for profits. There are 4 additional currencies I am aware of - peanuts, pumpkins, clouds , diamonds. And then desperate attempts for more and more profit - a flood of LTD rares, events for credits, power ups for games for credits (some of which were laughable like purple colour in the art game for 50 credits and Duck vehicle in speedway for 100 credits). Okay I accept the fact (I don't, really) that sometimes it was helpful to have him on twitter to get updated with the upcoming releases and campaigns but most of the time he was calling players stupid, calling their ideas silly and insignificant, telling them to get their facts right. No one likes a man who is rude to children. "Ideal" for getting more profits, probably yes. "Ideal" for developing the game and increasing the quality of gameplay, hell no. At one point he was showing off how powerful the Uservoice tool is but when people told him to follow the most popular ideas in Uservoice, his replies were so immature and arrogant which is not what we expect from a professional. By "Engaging with the community" he actually means engaging with suck ups and fooling people and blocking all those who question. He has ruined Habbo and without a doubt, things will not be as good as they were in 2011. Of course he is not the only person to be blamed and there are still people in Sulake who will continue to mess Habbo up (for example Lin/Puffin/Ellie who declines the best ideas in uservoice which could actually revive a lot of players and accepting random ********..I believe she's been here since 2004 but still has no clue what the players want). It will be interesting to see till how long they can carry on exploiting users for more profit, some day people will obviously be fed up of them and leave.

Does the graph show the number of headlines that Habbo has been in? Well, that's obviously a load of crap, because surely there should be a peak in Summer 2012 because of the Channel 4 investigation ;)

[Red]

Does the graph show the number of headlines that Habbo has been in? Well, that's obviously a load of crap, because surely there should be a peak in Summer 2012 because of the Channel 4 investigation ;)

Not sure where Richie; got them from or if it was before the scandal but member numbers didn't peak during that. It wasn't until months after that we even reached 6000 players online.

[Kardan]

Not sure where Richie; got them from or if it was before the scandal but member numbers didn't peak during that. It wasn't until months after that we even reached 6000 players online.

Well firstly, the graph isnt a graph of the number of Habbo players, and secondly we have a graph that cuts off where it rises dramatically? So it's a bias graph, showing what you want it to show :P

Graphs and statistics are a funny thing, not very good for using in arguments really.

[Red]

Well firstly, the graph isnt a graph of the number of Habbo players, and secondly we have a graph that cuts off where it rises dramatically? So it's a bias graph, showing what you want it to show :P

Graphs and statistics are a funny thing, not very good for using in arguments really.

Doesn't it stop there because that was the date when the screenshot was taken. When I posted that image it was already a few months old and I went to look and the figures had dropped even further from those seen there.

[Kardan]

Doesn't it stop there because that was the date when the screenshot was taken. When I posted that image it was already a few months old and I went to look and the figures had dropped even further from those seen there.

Yes, so taking the screenshot and putting it in that thread was relevant for the time, but it's no longer relevant now :P

And if you look at those stats now, it shows a value of '0', so this graph suggests that Habbo is now longer in any news headlines.

My point is, who is to say that news headlines are a thing that has any relevance? If I get a chart on the amount of HC sofas is Habbo, does that have any relevance?

[Red]

Yes, so taking the screenshot and putting it in that thread was relevant for the time, but it's no longer relevant now :P

And if you look at those stats now, it shows a value of '0', so this graph suggests that Habbo is now longer in any news headlines.

My point is, who is to say that news headlines are a thing that has any relevance? If I get a chart on the amount of HC sofas is Habbo, does that have any relevance?

They are in a worse position than ever. Those were used because other statistics such as revenue are not available to us but if they were, they would no doubt show the same thing.

[Kardan]

They are in a worse position than ever. Those were used because other statistics such as revenue are not available to us but if they were, they would no doubt show the same thing.

Probably, and I agree that Sulake are in their worst times, but it's just that people seem to use random graphs, as long as there's a downwards trend, it's okay to use it!

[Jorc]

Pauls communication wasn't terrible, but there are some things that should be brought back. Especially community team interaction. I noticed all the 4 new community team members are from spain. Hopefully their english is well enough to communicate. Also someone mentioned Puffin earlier. I am pretty sure she is gone now, hasn't logged in close to a month and her motto is something along the lines of G'bye and thanks for all the fish! So I think she is no longer with us. Haha Hopefully this new guy is good.

[karter]

Also someone mentioned Puffin earlier. I am pretty sure she is gone now, hasn't logged in close to a month and her motto is something along the lines of G'bye and thanks for all the fish! So I think she is no longer with us. Haha Hopefully this new guy is good.

oh is she, that's good then.

[Faceless]

Oh dear, i'm so behind it's unbelievable... I clicked on the Habbo staff group page the other day and didn't know a single one! When did they all get layed off and replaced? And now the CEO. As long as Habbo moves forward with some new features. Even if those features were from years back :)

[Diga]

Pauls communication wasn't terrible, but there are some things that should be brought back. Especially community team interaction. I noticed all the 4 new community team members are from spain. Hopefully their english is well enough to communicate. Also someone mentioned Puffin earlier. I am pretty sure she is gone now, hasn't logged in close to a month and her motto is something along the lines of G'bye and thanks for all the fish! So I think she is no longer with us. Haha Hopefully this new guy is good.

True, Guaja who is a staff team member on the page is actually Estarqui, a longtime Spanish staff on .es

[Aiden]

I'm sure he will be missed.... :/

[Bob1]

I'm a little late to the party but.....LOL. I'm surprised it took this long to happen. Between him leaving and Mark getting the heave too I'm actually gonna give myself a hernia through laughter.


It would be funny if Callie came back as the new CEO
LOL LOL, no.

[Habbz]

OMG best christmas present ever, hopefully the new ceo has better knowledge than this one

[GommeInc]

Does anyone actually miss him? It's amazing it took so long to get rid of him - he should of stepped down or been booted out in Summer when it was clear he was neglecting his duties as CEO, by ignoring the duty of care he owes his customers and investors...