Habbox Productions/Shows - What went wrong?

[Hecktix]

I disagree, there are always ways of capturing people's attention, you just need to find the right way. I understand that society has changed but surely that just requires things to change to suit society and if one thing doesn't work you try another.

It's like with HxHD, clearly it was affected by the lack of need for Help Desks anymore and something was changed to coincide with this.. now look at HxHD - it's quite successful.

The key to shows always used to be audience participation. We based our shows on our audience and in all honesty 'show' was a loose term to use.. because a 'show' implies performing... and we weren't performing at all.. we were just fuelling the audience.. and the audience carried the show... our plans would be basic, but the shows would be extensive due to the audience...

At the end of the day millions of people.. including children who may use Habbo watch TV shows such as Ant & Dec's Saturday night takeaway?

I think this point alone is sufficient evidence that people do find this sort of thing interesting and there must be some sort of rescue plan that could come about.

Habbox's presence on Habbo has decreased, there would usually always be three or four official Habbox rooms FULL on Habbo... now there's just HxHD and maybe an event if one is happening.

You just need to find people dedicated enough to the idea who will try everything possible to grab an audience.. and then let the audience take it from there.

Looking at announcement from the shows last year, I think some of them may have been at inappropriate times.. weeknights tend to bring homework.. saturday is generally a day people spend out... When the smaller Shows Department was around we ran a normal show every friday night then specials on sunday afternoons. We never failed to get an audience.

I just think it's a waste of a lot of peoples' hard work. I'd love to see something done.

[Sammeth.]

The key to shows always used to be audience participation. We based our shows on our audience and in all honesty 'show' was a loose term to use.. because a 'show' implies performing... and we weren't performing at all.. we were just fuelling the audience.. and the audience carried the show... our plans would be basic, but the shows would be extensive due to the audience...

The shows that were held by the department up until the end were these type of shows where we did a basic time plan and that was it. We had certain topics up for discussion and the audience would be the main part of it, we did competitions etc to keep them entertained but the numbers drop and drop and drop and when it gets to the point where you're doing everything you can yet only 6 or 7 people turn up (mostly staff) then I think that's more of an insult to peoples hard work and dedication.

At the end of the day millions of people.. including children who may use Habbo watch TV shows such as Ant & Dec's Saturday night takeaway?

I think this point alone is sufficient evidence that people do find this sort of thing interesting and there must be some sort of rescue plan that could come about.

There is a humongous difference between big budget talkshows and entertainment shows that are produced by people who work in television for a living and are 100% professionals in their trade, than a few teenagers holding a show on a teen social site. Comparing the two is a little over the top.

Habbox's presence on Habbo has decreased, there would usually always be three or four official Habbox rooms FULL on Habbo... now there's just HxHD and maybe an event if one is happening.

There are events every day, HxHD, HxL will have party rooms for its shows. Habbox is very much alive on Habbo Hotel itself. In fact technically Habbox is always present as the main feature of Habbo, trading, goes hand in hand with the rare values which happens to be one of Habbox's best features so there'll always be someone needing or using Habbox alongside Habbo. With the seasons and festivities we always pull out all the stops. In fact in about 4 days you'll notice a huge difference when the details of our Easter Extravaganza will be posted.

You just need to find people dedicated enough to the idea who will try everything possible to grab an audience.. and then let the audience take it from there.

Looking at announcement from the shows last year, I think some of them may have been at inappropriate times.. weeknights tend to bring homework.. saturday is generally a day people spend out... When the smaller Shows Department was around we ran a normal show every friday night then specials on sunday afternoons. We never failed to get an audience.

I just think it's a waste of a lot of peoples' hard work. I'd love to see something done.

It all sounds so easy on paper to say "We can do such and such like this and it will work" but in actual fact is a lot harder than it looks when you start putting things into practice. Habbo changes a lot, and so do the trends that come with it. I think the majority of Habbos don't go on Habbo and think "Ooh, I could do with a nice debate and a talkshow". It's just not what's current.

Maybe one off shows would be good every now and again as a novelty, but I don't think a whole department needs to be dedicated to it.

[luce]

I used to love productions but i can see what Leah and Jake are saying i don't think i would want to sit around for an hour watching people fool around. People comes to events because they know they can win something and it's more interactive. But maybe we could have like shows every so often like the Cinderella or something because they sound really good fun to produce

[leah]

It's like with HxHD, clearly it was affected by the lack of need for Help Desks anymore and something was changed to coincide with this.. now look at HxHD - it's quite successful.

Thanks

You just need to find people dedicated enough to the idea who will try everything possible to grab an audience.. and then let the audience take it from there.

The last set of productions staff were extremely dedicated and hardworking, that comment totally undermines their efforts and suggests that they weren't trying hard enough. People just weren't interested anymore.

I just think it's a waste of a lot of peoples' hard work. I'd love to see something done.

I don't see how it is a waste of peoples hard work? The department got closed because it wasn't working, that takes nothing away from how it ran in the past or the staff that put work and effort in?

[PriceTags]

As a former manager, i miss it to however the demand for it was no longer there. Shows started in my opinion to become a bit tedious and boring. It was also had to get a full room for the show. It seems habbos dont want to sit around 1 an hour having a laugh anymore.

Miss the good old days, Me (under Glen-Powers) Sam, PriceTags, Matt (Test:tube:baby) scott (galaxay). Had some good fun

You were manager for what, a week? A week is barely enough time to call yourself 'a former manager'.

You don't know how disappointed I was when you left, because you always seemed to have a passion for the department and so many good ideas, but you just left to work on your own site. Someone who left after a short moment without making an impact has no right to begin their posts with 'As a former manager...".

[Hecktix]

The shows that were held by the department up until the end were these type of shows where we did a basic time plan and that was it. We had certain topics up for discussion and the audience would be the main part of it, we did competitions etc to keep them entertained but the numbers drop and drop and drop and when it gets to the point where you're doing everything you can yet only 6 or 7 people turn up (mostly staff) then I think that's more of an insult to peoples hard work and dedication.

I've been looking into this and I've been in several discussion rooms on Habbo and I've found a number of lively discussions.. so clearly it's not down to people not wanting to discuss topics.
You refer to competitions to "keep them entertained" - you basically mean give them free stuff to keep them coming. Now I understand that greed in Habbo has grown tremendously, and people do expect free things. The "competitions" within shows shouldn't be "competitions" as such, we've got the competitions department for that, and lets face it if people just wanted to win stuff they would participate in competitions, or events. Shows were to entertain and for some reason the methods used were not entertaining users. When we used to do 'Games' in our Shows, the audience were more lively than the selected participants who may win prizes! In all honesty I think you tried a bit too hard with your shows, they were very often, and I believe this is what people got bored with. In the 6 months I was Manager, we did about 8-10 shows... all packed, and it's fair enough that was a long time ago, but I've seen similar things to this going on around Habbo today, you just need to go in at the precise angle to capture an audience... which correct me if i'm wrong... is what any bloody organisation does... God for crying out loud I work for the Theatre in Lincoln and some groups struggle to bring more than 20 people in, where others have a full house every night. There is always a way to entertain people, we just have to find what that is at the moment.

There is a humongous difference between big budget talkshows and entertainment shows that are produced by people who work in television for a living and are 100% professionals in their trade, than a few teenagers holding a show on a teen social site. Comparing the two is a little over the top.

I beg to differ, comparing the two is completely fine... kids (and lets face it, we are dealing with an audience of kids here) aspire to be sat in the audience to these kind of shows... obviously this is a rare opportunity therefore if they find an opportunity to go to a show like this on Habbo, they'll go, and probably come back and try to get involved with the running of it. Habbo is used by so many as a subsitute of Real Life, yes this is a worrying factor however these people are our target audience therefore we must aim to please them.

There are events every day, HxHD, HxL will have party rooms for its shows. Habbox is very much alive on Habbo Hotel itself. In fact technically Habbox is always present as the main feature of Habbo, trading, goes hand in hand with the rare values which happens to be one of Habbox's best features so there'll always be someone needing or using Habbox alongside Habbo. With the seasons and festivities we always pull out all the stops. In fact in about 4 days you'll notice a huge difference when the details of our Easter Extravaganza will be posted.

Habbox has no presence on Habbo in comparison to a year or two ago. There is no denying that. Yes rare values will always be a major presence, but lets face it I look for a Habbox room everytime I go on Habbo and usually the place with most people in is HxHD, or an event which is full so you can't really go anyway, and there is no alternative - which there always used to be.

It all sounds so easy on paper to say "We can do such and such like this and it will work" but in actual fact is a lot harder than it looks when you start putting things into practice. Habbo changes a lot, and so do the trends that come with it. I think the majority of Habbos don't go on Habbo and think "Ooh, I could do with a nice debate and a talkshow". It's just not what's current.

You think you are some sort of expert in this? I know it's not easy, I spend my life organising events for children in secondary schools, I know the kind of entertainment they like varies week by week.
And no, people don't think "i could do with a debate & a talkshow" but more than often do people think "oh I'm bored I could do with something to do.." then stumble across the room or an advertisement for the show, think it may sound interesting and come in. So what if it's only people floating to start with, you have to build a fan base somehow.

Maybe one off shows would be good every now and again as a novelty, but I don't think a whole department needs to be dedicated to it.

A "whole department" was never a lot until it was blown out of proportion by 8Freak8 after my departure in 2006. I had 5 people working on shows :rolleyes: and we were extremely successful.

The last set of productions staff were extremely dedicated and hardworking, that comment totally undermines their efforts and suggests that they weren't trying hard enough. People just weren't interested anymore.

Well people have interests, you've got to keep trying until you find them, people haven't just lost all interest in everything all of a sudden!

I don't see how it is a waste of peoples hard work? The department got closed because it wasn't working, that takes nothing away from how it ran in the past or the staff that put work and effort in?

Several people put a lot of effort into shows, myself and managers after me. The department we dragged up to something successful was just chucked down because people became bored with the type of shows being produced... if you have a show which doesn't attract many people, you give up on that show, learn from your mistakes and build another, and you keep going until you find one that generates a small audience, then you keep going along that line, and the small audience will invite more people, and through word of mouth you become popular again.

Habbox Productions was never turned into what myself & 8Freak8 planned, infact you never changed it from Habbox Shows, so stop calling it Habbox Productions as that was a name I gave to a department which was going to be built, which never got built... it just remained as a small Shows department, and I dont think the majority of people referring to "Habbox Productions" know what Habbox Productions even was - this is the work that was wasted. And in all honesty, Habbox Shows produced the biggest Habbox event ever to be held on Habbo.. yet there is nothing to recall this, or celebrate it apart from a small paragraph on the website.

[Sammeth.]

You think you are some sort of expert in this? I know it's not easy, I spend my life organising events for children in secondary schools, I know the kind of entertainment they like varies week by week.

Well... yeah I kinda do. I was management of the department for all of 2007, and mid 2008 up until its closure. I've also spent the last two years of my life in college learning about childcare which pretty much revolved around activities for 0-16 year olds, child psychology, importance of play and the such like, so I know a bit about that too, heck I'm qualified in it if anything.

Im not going to individually pick out points and post counter-counter arugments to them as I'll simply be repeating what I've already said and I will always stick by what I say. After being with the department so long, especially through its later days it was clear to anyone that it wasnt what it used to be. There were discussions of closing it which I didn't know about but I suggested it myself and so that was that.

What I do find baffling is that although you do post quite a bit round the forum and are still active enough, its taken you 6 months from the closure of the department to actually start saying and doing something. As you can see from the posts in this thread you are in quite a minority, and I welcome you to create a poll to see just how many people are interested in seeing this department reopen. Hypothetically if it does actually reopen or something comes of it, I think you would be one of few people to turn up to watch it as part of the audience along with a larger amount of empty seats.

[Hecktix]

Well... yeah I kinda do. I was management of the department for all of 2007, and mid 2008 up until its closure. I've also spent the last two years of my life in college learning about childcare which pretty much revolved around activities for 0-16 year olds, child psychology, importance of play and the such like, so I know a bit about that too, heck I'm qualified in it if anything.

Learning about it means nothing. Try organising events for 11-16 year olds on a monthly, then you'll understand what they like & don't like.

Im not going to individually pick out points and post counter-counter arugments to them as I'll simply be repeating what I've already said and I will always stick by what I say. After being with the department so long, especially through its later days it was clear to anyone that it wasnt what it used to be. There were discussions of closing it which I didn't know about but I suggested it myself and so that was that.

You were wrong to give up. There would have been a way.

What I do find baffling is that although you do post quite a bit round the forum and are still active enough, its taken you 6 months from the closure of the department to actually start saying and doing something.

I've only been active on this forum again for just over a month, and one of the first things I spoke to Nvrspk about when I started getting involved with Habbox again and he told me some of the arguments presented in this thread and I then researched those arguments to find if these are true, and they are only partly true. Not completely by any means.

As you can see from the posts in this thread you are in quite a minority, and I welcome you to create a poll to see just how many people are interested in seeing this department reopen. Hypothetically if it does actually reopen or something comes of it, I think you would be one of few people to turn up to watch it as part of the audience along with a larger amount of empty seats.

The only reason I am part of a minority is because the majority of the arguments are coming from people who weren't around when Habbox Shows started, so they don't actually know how easy it was, and why people shouldn't give up on it. As for me not turning up to watch, I watched several of your shows . And I would be fully supportive of any attempt to kickstart Habbox Shows, I would attend shows and help out in the department if possible.

But no, if Sammeth can't do it nobody can?

[Sammeth.]

Learning about it means nothing. Try organising events for 11-16 year olds on a monthly, then you'll understand what they like & don't like.

I did, as part of the course you had to work in various different schools. Cheers for apparently knowing more about my life than I do though.

But no, if Sammeth can't do it nobody can?

I don't believe anyone in this thread has ever made such a silly assumption and you've picked that out of thin air. Crazy.

One thing that does get me as well is the fact that you were quite friendly with me until you learnt that I wasn't supportive of reopening Habbox Shows/Productions. Since then you've been nothing but aggressive and very rude towards me. If it were ever to reopen, it would be classed as a community department and therefore it would be in my area at Habbox. As dedicated as I am to the community I know for a fact that for the last 6 months we have coped perfectly fine without it, and we can continue to cope without it for many moons to come. It seems so much more hassle than its worth. We have five fantastic community outlets and they all offer very different things. We don't need a sixth. I really doubt that anything will come of this, so I'm sorry for that.

[Titch]

You were manager for what, a week? A week is barely enough time to call yourself 'a former manager'.

You don't know how disappointed I was when you left, because you always seemed to have a passion for the department and so many good ideas, but you just left to work on your own site. Someone who left after a short moment without making an impact has no right to begin their posts with 'As a former manager...".

Excuse me, was manager for over 2 months thank you! and i left to presue my own site which i am still glad i did. Otherwise my site wouldnt be where it is today.