Habbo caught up in child sex scandal / Habbo Mute

[GoldenMerc]

LOL, well...

Is that actually real

[Mathew]

For my posts - Yeah, that was me who immediately told the girl I was having sex with her ;/ sorry. I've let down the hotel.

LMFAO FINE OK. Right (martin died on msn), my mum found out '09 that i was playing Habbo ye right and I thought she thought I'd stopped playing ages ago but apprently she didn't and for my 16TH BIRTHDAY. she bought me one of those bloody cards LMFAO.

-Crawls into a shell-

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL AWWWWW that is SO cute!!! aww! *pinches your cheeks*

They already have:

http://www.itv.com/news/2012-06-12/h...dophile-haven/

I think it's funny how they take a photo of the computer screen instead of just a screenshot. Makes it seem so much more dramatic!! !!!

[Storking]

The real problem is Habbo not taking the cyber sex issue too far. If they're aiming the game at people as young as 13, they should not be tolerating strip clubs and cyber sex at all. There is no way round it and i'm glad it's been exposed!

[MKR&*42]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL AWWWWW that is SO cute!!! aww! *pinches your cheeks*


I think it's funny how they take a photo of the computer screen instead of just a screenshot. Makes it seem so much more dramatic!! !!!

SHHHH LOL. It's not my fault . Slightly worried she'll see the news tomoz though.
@Martin; you're such a **** for trying to convince me it was closing LOOOOOOL.

[Mathew]

I don't think Channel 4's taken it too far? I think it's Habbo, it's like they punish everyone for a few individuals like the Easter Egg competition last year. Yeah Channel 4 chose to go in them rooms but Habbo allowed them.

What happened at Easter?

Habbo allowed them because Habbo is simply a platform. You don't blame Facebook for inappropriate photographs that might appear on your newsfeed. The same applies here.

[Jordy]

I've come back on HabboxForum to air my views on the matter seeing as it's on virtually all the major news outlets, a headline 10 minute report on Channel 4 News in prime time, trending at #4 on the BBC and it's also being spoke about a lot on Twitter (Although I don't believe its trended).

This is incredibly damaging for Habbo Hotel and I honestly don't think it can bounce back from this. It's been pointed out growth in Habbo has been stagnant for around 5 years and if I'm honest I think this marks the decline of Habbo Hotel and I don't say that to scare people or just to make an outrageous comment, I firmly believe this. The whole things about it being closed down are utter rubbish however, that won't happen any time soon. Investors pulling out and Tesco supposedly pulling the sale of the gift cards are particularly bad news though and will only contribute further to its decline.

Habbo has always prided its self on the safety of it's users and for years to come whenever "Habbo" is Googled, these incredibly damaging news reports will be right near the top of search engine results. Any parent who wants to check out whether the game is safe for their child will first of all Google it, when they see a Channel 4 article near the top of the results calling it a paedofile's haven, that's it, game over.

The media has ruthlessly attacked Habbo and it's reputation is permanently in shatters, it will be remembered as a paedofiles haven thanks to this and as has already been pointed out, there's a risk more paedofiles will simply be attracted to it (even if Sulake do start clamping down, which I suppose they have already). The PR response from Sulake to this matter is awful, Paul Lafontine declined an interview with the news and instead has just sent out rubbish "tweets" in defence of the company, there's been no immediate or solid reversals in Habbo policy, for instance if he were to announce the end of moderation being outsourced and the filter returned, Habbo might have a chance of a future but the damage limitation exercise by Sulake to limit the bad press surrounding Habbo has been awful to none existent.

Has the media been unfair in the way it's treated Habbo though? No. Habbo is not the same safe place it was when I joined it in 2005, whilst it's changed in virtually every way, the only way the safety of it's users has gone is down. The extreme cost cutting by Sulake has compromised it's safety by outsourcing to useless moderators in foreign countries on a poor wage with a poor grasp of the English language, there also appears to be a lot less moderators on the game as there used to be and the quality has also gone down seeing as they've got to race quickly through the call-for-helps (CFHs). The removal of the filter for "older users" was also a step too far, the Bobba filter was far more effective, especially when it was universal. There's also been a general laziness to remove the "sex" and "dating" rooms. As well as that there has been an encouragement around "dating/flirting" in the hotel, more explicit clothes than ever before (which just encourages it really) and a decline in the furniture standards with "vibrating" furni. Habbo used to have far stricter standards and was known as a 24/7 safe haven as a result. Of course it's always possible on the internet for people to get around filters or be banned later but Habbo was generally at the top of its game in the past and cost cutting measures show this is no longer the case, it is widespread throughout the hotel.

Good riddance, your reputation has been ruined by your constant demands to change everything about the game and the cost cutting has gone too far. Safety was a key selling point to the teenage social network, now it will forever be known by the media and parents as a paedofiles heaven. It's taken 11 years to build up a reputation and now it's gone.

[Lagg]

Also If you think about it, Moderators can examine pm's closer now that nobody can speak in rooms and ban necessary users who speak out of turn. This may be one of the reasons due to the world wide ban, Also they can examine cases in the help tool that have gone back a while?

[Ravingducks]

How long are they planning on having us muted? Lol.

[MKR&*42]

I've never seen an issue with adults on the game cybering on PM (but there is the problem of whether they are actually adults or not ) as long as they've known each other for a while I suppose? But teens doing it is slightly creepy and with people who fake their age, it's just eugh.

[iBlueBox]

Edited picutre.