TIME FOR BLOOPS INPUT WOO
i have only been away for the weekend and so many things happened so i'm gonna respond to points mike, jen and dan made as well as give some priceless feedback yay.
also ripieno, i'm not trying to be cool fyi
here goes my lengthy post and broken english bear with me x
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Originally Posted by
Inseriousity.
I have decided to resign and leave Habbox. I'll still pop on. When I say leave, I mean more active involvement like being staff or writing lengthy feedback threads (this is my last one, promise). I have been staff for a long time now. My first job as a News Reporter was back in April 2008 and I've only had roughly 4 months since then where I haven't had any Habbox job. Before Habbox, I had been involved with another fansite called HabboNation and -[H]- (a Habbo Hogwarts, yeah don't judge lol). I mention this because I stayed at them both until they closed and so I think I know the life cycle of a successful online community very well. Admittedly, this cycle applies more to -[H]- than it did for HabboNation (I know some of them lurk here) but generally speaking, it works.
1. The founders open the new community and work their socks off to make it a success.
2. The hard work pays off and the community becomes a success. Attracts hundreds, thousands of people to its site. Management do not have to work their socks off and their efforts (yes, ofc they still work hard but their focus tends to shift) focus on pleasing the community they've got because recruitment of new faces is not really an issue. People are willingly joining.
3. Over a long period, that changes as the community's popularity drops. More and more older users leave but not enough newer users join. Management are now back at number 1 but still have the mindset of number 2 and are not really equipped to deal with the issues.
4. Management are aware of the issues but make little changes here and there which do not really address the problem. The community closes.
I believe Habbox is between number 3 and 4 in this scenario. I know that these 'Habbox is dying' threads have been happening for a long time, even during its peak years for some reason, but Habbox is quite unique in that its community is often split into two groups: Habbo and forum.
- the Habbo community.
Usually younger, more likely to enter competitions, attend events, listen to HxL but not necessarily use the forum. Will give feedback more spontaneously and via discussion rather than the rather rigid feedback forum. Also more banter, gossip and ********.
- the forum community
Older, don't regularly use Habbo, less likely to get involved with Habbox activities and stick to discussion, using Habbox more out of habit than because they're active on Habbo or care about creds etc. Active around the forum.
I've copied that from a previous feedback thread where I said the same thing. Whenever anyone said 'Habbox is dying', I'd disagree with them because even if the forum community was decreasing (older faces leaving), the Habbo community usually stayed strong. I am aware that there is overlap but actually, I do think that is the issue. The overlap has got too much. Habbox's Habbo presence is usually just the old faces who are already part of the community using Habbo to talk to other members in the community. This did not used to be the case. There were also a lot of Habbos who attended events, hung out in the help desk but rarely used the forum.
When I say Habbox is dying, I mean Habbox's Habbo community is wilting down to very little. I think the only reason the forum community is still looking fairly stable (although there's been a noticeable decrease here too) is that there hasn't been such a big exodus of older faces as would be expected. We just can't help but stick around!
The effects of this are plain for all to see:
- Fewer posts around the forum.
- Recruitment is more difficult, practically impossible. I think it's obvious that there's been a lot of recycling going on with regards to staff appointments. The same faces cropping up everywhere.
- Fewer events
- Competitions getting less entries (personally, this has been depressing to watch. Comps used to get 10-15 entries with little effort at all now you're lucky to get 5 even if you're practically begging everyone to enter).
- Help desk almost empty at peak times. It can sometimes get to 15+ if you're lucky.
- HabboxLive off for most of the time and when it's on, very few listeners.
when i first joined, i remembered i had 4 pages of new posts to read but now there are barely two. its quite sad really as what we've all been told (and lied to ourselves) that it was during the "exam season" a few weeks/months back. i'd assume the exam season in the uk is over, yet activity have still not been picking up. our members online in the past 24 hours could hit as low as 140 from above 200 before. with lesser new members, there would of course be lesser staff and most of these points raised are usually interlinked and its like a game of dominos. when one falls, everything else does. so is the same thing about the decline of various habbox aspects - as soon as one decline, the others would follow suit.
HOWEVER, i feel the events situation is steadily improving and i feel that meanies is doing something right, at least. nowhere near a packed events timetable like hffm, but we are already cruising ahead of fansites like habbcrazy and i hope it continues to pick up with the likes of new staff members like cabl and mrsplant.
i havent entered comps myself for ages, mostly because its getting kinda stale sry. i would like to see more of the fun kinds like yupts balloon popping thing during the carnival and spot the difference etc, not just boring comps written in the same format over and over again. (i'll b joining comps soon though, i swear after i have finished two interviews winkz alicia)
about the help desk, i will be going into detail later so i won't be saying much and as for habboxlive, this has been brought up numerous times but i see nothing being done about it. one of the previous times this has been brought up, i think it was during the reign of izzy, thr was feedback that djs shld also have a better client presence, sell themselves and make people tune on for support.
i do see more dj's getting on habbo while they dj but tbf its the same old people, the habboxers ie rhyss, tom etc.
also i had suggested autogames and kyle had added on saying a totally habboxflavoured autogame. i got numerous rep for that feedback post and the autogame thing was accepted with open arms by many but
have it been done?
it seems like feedback is just thr to shade and make sly remarks and diss members, but not actual feedback. are any of the feedback even taken into consideration hmmmmm. i hope feedback is not turning a place just for the rep bandwagon
so far, i had only saw sam having some interest in the autogame idea but it didn't fell through i would assume, but having spent one year in the hotel so far i would like to self-proclaim that my wiring skills r fab so if u need help, just shout.
the habboxlive situation is getting worse and worse and i must admit i have not tuned in for months lolz. also reference to lemons sig for a brilliant representation of the entire radio situation.
so anyway here goes again, a repetition of my autogame suggestion woo
auto-game
auto games are like an events hosts way of saying s/hes lazy and in an autogame all they have to do is to just sit in a vip area and give out prizes and that is why it is effective. autogames are usually more fun than normal hosted events mainly because u dont have annoying hosts who makes half-hour introductions which no one really listens and also thr isnt much trolls to deal with if wired properly. also the person just have to sit in the room and promote an event and people would come and play - and with the bots and wired messages and minimal advertising by the host in the room, players might be, say, inclined to tune in the radio while they play. also throw in onair comps and boom, everyone wins. its also a less credit heavy option as compared to giveaways so this could get more people to tune in and also help with the habbox events situation.
auto dj
why do all my suggestions start with auto hmm. anyway, i would love an auto dj, im pretty sure there is a poll about it a while ago but i have no idea what the outcome is and i wont go on more lest ripieno/lesbon comes -reppin me.
also beats having to stay tuned for dj no dj.
habboxlive marathon
i think to get hxl back on track, it would be good to do something pretty crazy and over the top which calls for a *+*marathon*+* WOO. get djs on air for say 24 hours straight or just long periods of time, (with dj rotations ofc!) have everyone on the client and just partay and have a good time. do something that will grab attention like charity fundraising or massive giveaways and give people something to talk about. tom djed for 7 hours straight a few days ago but most of it was happening in flyingjesus party room with them two only which could use a repetition, just done in a larger scale. basically, have fun and let others know you're having fun. this way, attention can be drawn to habbox's radio scene.
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I wish I had a magic wand to fix everything as it's been super depressing to see the fansite I've put so much time into go out with a whimper like this. What would make me feel better though is if it felt like general management were doing something, anything, that they had even some semblance of a plan or a vision to improve things and make Habbox better. I know it's become a running joke that I ask for an action plan all the time but truthfully, I never expected one. I do not believe management have any clue what to do. Chris is best suited to rules, regulations and bureaucracy (the staff AGM role was a perfect fit for him) but he has little creativity or ideas of his own. His ideas are often just rehashes of what other people have suggested and he tends to tread water until one comes along he can jump onto. If they posted an action plan, it would expose that they are working on nothing of any substance. If you want proof of that, I posted the last action plan thread in November. It is now July and I can name the number of new things they have released on 1 hand (Community Challenge or Arcade Tournaments, for example) and that's not to say they're bad things but they are not really about attracting new users and more about improving the current community slightly. I'd have never needed to ask for an action plan from Oli or nvrspk4 or Sammeth. Those guys knew what they wanted doing even if you didn't always agree with them.
to be fair, im not sure whether or not chris is making the effort to improve client presence but i think and i hope he is - i have seen him once in recent days so far hanging out in an event and actually talking omgz so improvement??????
but no having a pacman game that may or may not be hosted due to frequent lastminute cancellations is not the only thing that can pass of as a "client presence" and i do not believe you can wire a pacman game soz. but yeah nice try lol.
the new implementations like community challenges are, to me, an utter failure LMFAO and the arcade tournament... really? much wow thats rly original and fun and nonrepetitive and creative.
chris u need to come up with newer and more creative ideas and an ACTION PLAN. also stop being so hostile to everyone who undermines your abilities as gm because tbh while i didn't so before, i do think so now that they might be, well, true. also i think laura had this guides thingamee a while back which apparently took lots of time but it seems to be a complete flop, sorry laura not to be offensive. who knows, maybe having an action plan can PERHAPS give the community some insight and im sure you wont be flamed if something fails, the community might be even be able to add on to the ideas WOW!!!!!!
ps chris im still waiting for u to post in the donations thread
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On that note, I think the issue with Habbox as a whole (some members are included in this) is that it is believed that things can be fixed with structural changes. If you ask AGMs what they've done, their list will normally be overwhelmingly based about reforming departments (and often behind the scenes which has little impact on what the community sees). As if tinkering around with a department - changing job titles or introducing new rules - will improve things. That's not to say that doing these things should be ignored but bigger picture, they have little effect on the community. I will also include hosting big events in that too. Aside from HxSS, where the high energy often attracts newer users to Habbox, most big events are also about pleasing the current community rather than attracting new people (the Habbox Pokemon event included although I have to say the event planning has been the best part of the job).
So what is the solution? Habbo, Habbo, Habbo. Events like Hx in the Park are a good idea because it gives Habbox an opportunity to showcase what it can do. I am actually writing this thread before the event has even started so we will see what comes of that but big events are short-term, Habbox needs to start thinking long-term. For the last time, I will be suggesting an action plan filled with long term ideas, not as some sort of promise or tying things down, but just to show the community that there is a plan, there are ideas and if you want to be a part of that, you can get involved. A message to general management, you do not have to do everything alone. Chances are you will have to lead and do the bulk of the work (The Box being a good example of that) but those big long-term projects are not easy and there is nothing wrong with turning to the community to help if obstacles are too much for 1 person rather than brushing it under the carpet. Maybe they will fail but at least the community will be able to acknowledge that general management are not sleepwalking through Habbox's problems. It is currently too easy to just drop a project if it gets too tough because no-one knows about it. How many good ideas have fell by the wayside?
for me, the problem does not lie (entirely) on the improvement of client presence anymore but more of establishing an international base of habboxers. the majority of habbox resides in eu and i dont think any effort has been made to focus on any other regions apart from the uk. as a result, most of habbox activity are usually only concentrated at one time (uk times) and at other times, habbox simply go quiet.
i think im one of the few oc people aside from nick who are still active and the activity during these times are beyond pathetic. STOP being so uk orientated and remember that .com is now INTERNATIONAL. international-ise your events etc! i have never been to a snq before or any weekly events even though some might seem lie fun not because i don't want to, but 7pm bst is 2am for me and i'm a schooling kid sorry to disappoint.
also seeing that an improvement in the events situation did not necessarily improve habbox activity in general, it might be time to switch gears. while most departments are of equal importance, you might want to focus on one department - hxhd.
gm's and hxhd management i have a challenge for you. improve presence in hxhd on the whole.
easier said than done ofc, esp. since with what i had said of the domination of uk members so morning in the uk might have zero people in hxhd altogether. however, it can be done and i hope it can be done! push hxhd as a goto chill place etc, and with the right buttons pushed im sure hxhd can revolutionarise the habbo help desk scene. of course, take on large scale events! go wild! hxhd is no different. i quite liked the sleepover and hx in the park sounds like fun but heres a couple of suggestions.
last habbo standing
always attract a good number of participants due to a decent bounty and also brings activity to the help desk. nuff said, get hosting people.
hxhd hosting
events hosted in hxhd. self explanatory really.
basically habbox needs something big once in a while to break back into the scene. this includes more of other events like the mole and campaigns by comps.
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But what should the action plan contain? I believe strongly that offering a service that Habbos can flock to is the key to attracting new users (like when rare values was that service). Like most entrepeneurs, most of these schemes may not work but all it takes is one service to hit jackpot that it would hopefully improve things. In my experience, money tends to be a good motivator. I think it may be worthwhile for Habbox to open up an SS/army type place with ranks and pay. Those rooms seem to be really popular with newbies and we need to get them to our side. From there, we can attract them to the forum and the wider Habbox community. Now that we have Room Builders, we have the skills to do this (my lack of room building skills hindered me, I really wish I'd thought of this) and it's not like Habbox hasn't done it before (Habbox Hogwarts, anyone?). It wouldn't be easy but basically, any rooms that can be made to attract newbies need to be on this list.
YES. ROLEPLAY. HABBOX HOGWARTS. DO IT.
roleplay do attract quite a couple of... earnest habbos LMFAO. chris permission granted to steal mikes ideas.
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I know I've often been accused of being negative. Judging by the long thread so far of doom and gloom, that is definitely true so I'd like to end on a high note. Habbox has taught me so much. I have learnt about managing a team of volunteers, office politics, standing up for myself, debating skills, events planning and organisation blah blah blah. I take Habbox super seriously sometimes because I care about it, want it to succeed and it has some amazing talent here that should be reaping the rewards but is being let down by others not pulling their weight. I have met some wonderful people that I hope to keep in touch with and keep track of how you're getting on in life.
While I think if Habbox continues on its current path, it's going to end up closing, I also think that that moment is still a while away from now and there is still hope that things can pick up if the community works together. I really hope you do even if I am no longer a part of it.
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I decided to resign about a month ago. I wrote this in advance (about a fortnight before the Habbox Pokemon event started) and some things have developed since then so instead of editing, I'm just going to add these footnotes to address them.
1. Hx in the Park hasn't been released as expected so that little section of my huge essay doesn't make much sense but I decided to leave it in because it was mentioned in the HabboxOaks video. I give Kelly permission to edit that part out if she wishes.
2. Speaking of Kelly, I have been impressed with what I've seen so far. She has a lot of good ideas in motion so perhaps the message above does not apply to her as much as the rest. The problem remains, however, that if I were not party to this information like a lot of members are not, it would appear that general management were not working on very much. This has an impact on staff/member morale (see point 4).
3. I noticed in MattG's interview that a) he sort of proved the point I made about rules above - I swear, I wrote this in advance - and b) he mentioned a battleplan. I didn't cream my pants lmao but similar to point 2, I believe that it needs to be made public. The problem with working as an AGM is that it's isolating. Even if the team talks constantly, the work is still ultimately one person's responsibility and it doesn't have to be. There was a time when someone at Habbox could revive a department alone with hard work, effort and perseverance. That is no longer the case. The Events Manager can't "revive" the Events Department single-handedly because the problems that it faces are much bigger than the department manager can control. Anyone that does it alone will often feel like it's been one step forward and then two steps back. I am sure many department managers will know what I'm talking about here. It requires a co-ordinated effort with everyone playing their part. That means that these battleplans/action plans/ideas need to be public, they need to be communicated to the public: this is what we are going to do but we can't do it alone.
4. My final point is this. Like Empired mentioned, I was surprised at how defeatist a lot of people were in the recent 'What made you join Habbox' thread about improving Habbox. Yes, it is true that Habbo is not at its peak and that means neither is Habbox but I think people use this as an excuse. There are other fansites that are on Habbo and do well, there are Habbos that never use fansites, there are Habbos that don't know what Habbox is. They are out there and we're doing absolutely nothing to go get them. People aren't stupid, they can see the troubles Habbox are facing, even management are openly admitting these things and yet they don't see action or any sense of vision/ideas to improve things. I really hope this "battleplan" (come on guys, just admit I was right and call it an Action Plan ;)) works out.
Good luck. :)
few more things to add.
1. open the spam forums
activity mainly occur in the spam forums and it would be gr8 if you could make it public, like visible, but guests still cant view threads.
cuz curiousity kills the cat and if i see a 20 page thread i cant view i will eventually sign up just to view it js.
2. hx rv
bring back rare values ASAP. rare values have been highly underestimated and the amount of people at lost with teleporter prices as well as ltd and rares (as the mp can be rigged easily) is ridiculous it needs to come back like SOON.
3. debates and arcade
debates and arcades shld be merged with comps or have some people to look after them they are features with potential so they dont get neglected hopefully.
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Originally Posted by
buttons
Why?
Obviously, life is happening and Habbo(x) isn't a priority for most of us. However, it does seem to me that more and more people are becoming less active. I'm talking about people who have been here for 7+ years all seem to be becoming less active.
I wanted to give some insight into this from my own experience (and from what I've heard from others) and hope other people could do the same as hopefully it could be one step to rectifying activity levels, other than looking for new members.
1) Too much personal grudges and vendettas. The whole forum is full of snide comments and this personally is the reason I became less active. Seeing people making sly comments about me and being repped for it doesn't make you feel the greatest. Especially if it comes from management:
this.
heres the latest one; someone who repped hayden.
im not really bothering too much tbh but it is getting annoying, and its always the same old people ahem. (-repping me and +repping others, evem in cases whr it doesnt have to do with anything LOL)
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2) Too unprofessional. I'm sorry, I know, IT'S A HABBO FORUM!!! and I was the first person to scream that when people would cry over staff having their own opinions. However, this management comes across too much like they don't care about the site or their members and seeing them getting repped for their rudeness is really off putting, even as an older member who once encouraged it. I know you all are entitled to say what you want and defend yourselves (which most staff do so calmly) but the upper management seem incapable of doing it in a polite way and don't care about the consequences. Why are you even staff? What makes you stay here? Cause it sure aint for the people. I remember going to ClubHabbo and how much of a douche the owner and the management was and I was SO GLAD Habbox seemed to have some standard when it came to management but now it's going down the drain.
sounds totally like habboquests and the other crap fansites out thr even though its all good (ish) with me and a couple people from hq now
i dont really think management have much issues LOL except for perhaps mattg. every other management just likes to get their opinions across by repping (- or +) others
also great example of a smod
http://imgur.com/drkOmpt.jpg
mdport for gm
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3) Nothing attracts me. Granted, it's a habbo fansite and I don't play habbo, I will be limited in what I will want to play but even then, when there is forum events I rarely want to play? They seem pretty interesting and unique (eg the pokemon event) but the advertising is really weak. I know that this is likely just me personally since others do play but I just wanted to give an insight into why I myself, and maybe others, are using the forum less. Things I do like for example, was when Inseriousity. did the valentines event where he matched people up with one another because it actually felt like us as members and people were being taken into account. It's something that gets everyone involved regardless of whether they played habbo or not. Hopefully HxSS can bring people back together and hopefully it won't just fall flat.
yessss more large scale events. both on the client and forum yay
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Now, I don't know how to overcome the first option. Remove the rep counter so people can't go on an ego-trip and create a negative environment for other members? Management not having to HAVE their say at the end of every argument but just dealing with the arguments and closing the threads? Management not staying in a role they clearly have no 'passion' for?
I barely see @
Bolt660;, @
lawrawrrr; @
The Don; @
Yuxin; @ms aquamarine; @
GoldenMerc; @
CrazyLemurs; @
Aiden; around anymore - these are people I used to see daily and now I rarely do? So, I'm wondering if anyone can give me an insight into what makes them less active? Or what turns them off the forum?
while speaking to @Daltron; a few days ago, he said he did not see any point in using hxf anymore because it wasn't appealing anymore, especially with client forums. (he also said something about the community being mean af or smth PMSL). i do hope habbox starts to gain back its popularity, starts to gain back its activity. i think hxss would be a great chance to push habbox to its limits, managers go ALL OUT! a difference can be made x
also, stop driving members away. rules are rules, but what are they when the owner himself doesnt abide by it, and what are they when they are on a HABBO FORUM? loosen up a little, but dont ever take the fun out of the forum. chris and mdport both have to get off their high horses and stop dishing out infractions like free candy. i think threatening to ban dan for a flag that nobody cares about is too funny stop trying to take the mickey out of someone when they wants to express their opinions and views on the forum.
unless thrs gonna be a new rule made by chris thou may not have freedom of speech
rip
also the gay pride flag is highly offensive to me pls ban everyone who uses the flag because this is highly hetero-ist and there isnt any heterosexual pride flags so stop selling icons promoting a sexuality that is highly satanic otherwise i'll make a big fuss out of it and you will all be fired and ill make chris close any threads tryna question my rule and dictatorship and also any light about the crap smod
js
