HAS HABBOX HELPED YOU OVER LOCKDOWN?

[RGladwin]

I'm wondering if any of you guys have found that habbo / habbox / other gaming communities have become a way for you to cope with lockdown and all the issues surrounding coronavirus.

I know for a fact gaming is something I've leaned into personally. Do you guys feel the same?

I'm wanting to make a TV news package out of this for my uni course. I'm interested to hear from everyone but if you're down for an interview that'd be extra sweet! Equally, if you know anyone I should contact as a possible interview I'm all ears.

[lawrawrrr]

I have been (at least at the beginning of lockdown) for sure, it's given me something to focus on in down time and new things to learn (from a habbox point of view, the changes we made to the site during lockdown #1) which was really good. Habbo wise it's half and half, lots more people around and old users coming back which brought a LOT of negativity at times!

It's always fun to be on games with other people though and when I'm online it's nice to interact and play games with people. Other things like building or hosting (or even LOSING A GAME) I've found that my tether is a lot shorter and I get annoyed much quicker cos of the stress of lockdowns!!!

[RGladwin]

I have been (at least at the beginning of lockdown) for sure, it's given me something to focus on in down time and new things to learn (from a habbox point of view, the changes we made to the site during lockdown #1) which was really good. Habbo wise it's half and half, lots more people around and old users coming back which brought a LOT of negativity at times!

It's always fun to be on games with other people though and when I'm online it's nice to interact and play games with people. Other things like building or hosting (or even LOSING A GAME) I've found that my tether is a lot shorter and I get annoyed much quicker cos of the stress of lockdowns!!!


Why did old users coming back bring negativity?

[FlyingJesus]

Habbo has certainly given me something to do over these long long months, it's very easy to just do nothing at all and sit staring into nothing so it's nice when there are people online to interact with. Agree that at the very start the influx of old players made me very wary and I actually stayed OFF the hotel for a good while to avoid the attitudes, but luckily that fizzled quite quickly and moooooost of the worst of them disappeared again soon enough

Habbox itself is obviously something I rather like too so yeah it's been nice being able to get stuck in with stuff, first lockdown I did the updated wiki banner which was a good project while I was feeling sorry for myself and then obviously HxSS which is a massive task all round. The community here is pretty decent too which massively helps, and I hear the community GM in particular is a great chap

[lawrawrrr]

Why did old users coming back bring negativity?

There was a lot of “lol you’re so pathetic that you still play I quit YEARS ago” mixed with “habbo/habbox is so bad now, it used to be huge!!” like yes the userbase has shrunk that doesn’t mean it’s bad!

[Triz]

100%...

During the first lockdown, when I was off work for the best part of 3 months, I got stuck in with this forum, making changes and updates/improvements purely out of boredom, whilst simultaneously forever annoying laura because she was (and still is) WFH. This time also got me a lot closer with most of the staff and Habboxers here too, as normally I only login to Habbo once a week (if that) yet during lockdown I was always online, participating in Hx events and mostly on zoom calls with a lot of people here from Habbox..

All this helped me not lose my mind!

Things are a little easier during lockdown v2. As I was moving house during the first week and the 2nd week of it is just a nice little break, and then I'm back at work come the 30th (hopefully)

[LUCPIX]

Check the Show Off Your Habbo Creations's latest threads and you'll get my definitive answer! Obv everything that I'm going to say will be from a common-ground-yet-different perspective as I've been reading stuff about the covid statuses in the UK and I can say you that Brazil has already been through its worse until the moment I'm typing this. Even if, in the majority of the times, I've actually found myself in a position of privilege if we compare my situation with the people around me's then (by being able to remain working informally as an artist or at a local pharmacy which for obvious reasons is the only type of place in the whole town that would be operating during those crucial times), I literally had to interrupt or postpone EVERY SINGLE plan and big things that I did grind for and that would somewhat come true about these days, would they be career-oriented, getting in touch with people again and, most importantly, academic-wise. That ruined my volatile mental health in such a way that I spent a fair deal of what I had to find a way of returning to the onlinesphere before the expected when I finally decided that I should decrease the amount of work and reconnect myself with all the places and things that moved me again, Habbox included. 2020 is the worst year of my life pretty much for the same reasons it is for most of us, but I've always been good at being uncomfortable :-P

[Cerys]

moooooost of the worst of them disappeared again soon enough

Soz I know I'm one of the worst I'll poof away again pls4giv

Returning to habbo/x definitely helped me at the start, as the start of the year was a bad time for me regardless of global events so it was a good retreat and distraction! Hopefully I wasn't one of the terrible returnees though eh haha. But yes I found it really helpful to keep myself socialising with old and new friends, and having those certain people that I reconnected with and talked to pretty much daily at the start of lockdown helped soso much! If you know who you are then just know I'm grateful for your lil tushies x

I have withdrawn myself *almost* completely from habbo/x this lockdown though because I inevitably ran into the same bad experiences which caused me to leave originally all those years ago. Luckily though I built up enough friendships and support networks from lockdown 1 so this time doesn't feel as bad!

[RichBoiSam]

Yeah it's definitely helped me especially during the first one. I'm not sure how I would've managed being stuck indoors with no work without Habbox to be honest. Although I may have become an alcoholic during the daily Zoom calls...

[Ekelektra]

Absoloutely. The first lockdown was great because of the Habbo Reunion with lots of old people coming back and lots going on. And I joined HabboxLive then just for something to do and now I am in so deep lol but that kept me motivated because I just put music on and do jobs at the same time without getting distracted.

HxSS this year was very special too and came at exactly the right time. I was really feeling those lockdown 2.0 blues and it kept me from feeling so lonely that was the highlight of my year.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Weirdly during lockdown months I actually visited the forum less than normal. Probably as I was busy doing the garden/being stuck on a laptop on Zoom for work so didn't want to be glued to that chair for longer than I needed! Then I had a breakdown in mid-summer and obviously had no interest in anything.

[RGladwin]

Habbo has certainly given me something to do over these long long months, it's very easy to just do nothing at all and sit staring into nothing so it's nice when there are people online to interact with. Agree that at the very start the influx of old players made me very wary and I actually stayed OFF the hotel for a good while to avoid the attitudes, but luckily that fizzled quite quickly and moooooost of the worst of them disappeared again soon enough

Habbox itself is obviously something I rather like too so yeah it's been nice being able to get stuck in with stuff, first lockdown I did the updated wiki banner which was a good project while I was feeling sorry for myself and then obviously HxSS which is a massive task all round. The community here is pretty decent too which massively helps, and I hear the community GM in particular is a great chap

I am looking for someone who really got stuck in with the community throughout lockdown to help deal with lockdown boredom/loneliness. You sound perfect for the piece ! Would you be down to have a quick zoom interview with me sometime this week? Will be super laid and fun ... promise !

[jamiexo]

I definitely think it has.

I became more active in the community again once I graduate from college (that was back in December), and then with lockdown in the US starting in March, I was working from home and had a lot of time to come online. I've been on a ton of video calls with a lot of my friends from Habbox, and I have to say that they've become some of my closest friends, and I can't wait to meet them one day <3 <3 <3

Lockdown and corona definitely kicked in my anxiety, so it helped knowing that I had people around, and spending time with people always helps. :)

[Empired]

Luckily though I built up enough friendships and support networks from lockdown 1 so this time doesn't feel as bad!
you're welcome baby xo

Sorry lads I didn't stick myself into habbo/x when the lockdowns came round all that much. I played the mole during lockdown 1 which was fun but still didn't really interact with anywhere outside the mole stuff all that much, then disappeared again. I think the habbox hole in my life has just closed over forever and it's not coming back </3

BUT saying that actually I do log in maybe once a week/fortnight or so and just look to see if anyone's posting anything interesting. I know the forum's dying down cause y'all use discord now or whatever but I still enjoy lurking in some threads and seeing the gang merrily bickering away as always

[LUCPIX]

There was a lot of “lol you’re so pathetic that you still play I quit YEARS ago” mixed with “habbo/habbox is so bad now, it used to be huge!!” like yes the userbase has shrunk that doesn’t mean it’s bad!


YES and, as old as time, I believe that one of the most TOXIC elements for a habbo community is the one that precisely is the hardest one to tell at first and makes one to feel a bit awkward: the figure of the player who wants to ignore completely the current situation of the game and the base of members but still has this urge of using the nostalgic element as an instrument of self-importance

It is one thing not to play the game anymore, as we don't really have a moral code that forces somebody to do so in order to prove their point of how they love the game (being a player is not the ONLY one), but you'll always be wrong if you want a player to feel bad about themselves for still being a player. Logically speaking, talking down about a Habbo player would also imply someone to do so about old mmos' players such as Sims Online, ToonTown, Tibia, Club Penguin or even Starcraft, but it doesn't happen! Why is it trying to tell us?, how BADLY has the (*average*) base of members aged over the years so they have such position towards something that is a center of potential creativity? Habbo is a funny game, has its visual identity with its pixel art style that no other game has ever managed to replicate successfully, it brings an intuitive building language so you can take advantage of an almost infinite possibility of games (even if this potential might be eclipsed by the normally used formulas), it made people to interact with Taylor Swift without even needing to pay for it when livestreams weren't very affordable...

Theoretically and practically, it is great! The only problem is the current culture that, above the minds of highly influenced people, send stats and more pointless, straightforward data about the game how it is and how it was in order to prove how the hotel "isn't cool anymore", based on distorted affetive memory, just because they're mediocre enough not to make a positive change towards what is reachable to them. Sadly (...or not), we players been put in the position of making the game interesting ever since we've been silently (or not) given this responsibility. If its pathetic to enjoy the game... I'm pathetic then, yknow

[Shannon]

Personally during the first lockdown it was a huge outlet especially with my job and with all.the stress I was under. It was nice to just log on and have bants with everyone (especially as I was a noobie).