Have Sulake ran Habbo into the ground?

[Samantha]

Indeed, gambling is illegal in Singapore or something - they had no choice but to do that.

The fact remains, any attempts they have made are incredibly half-hearted - they don't really give a damn. This is evident with the "sex talk" that exists on the hotel, as in all seriousness, they have made it harder to sign up and bugger all else. They haven't really tried - the game pretty much encourages under age gambling, which is a seriously dangerous thing to do (believe me, I know - as up until recently it had cost me hundreds of pounds). Gambling is genuinely an addiction - and Sulake are sick for not stopping it.

You don't seem to realise that gambling on Habbo IS losing in real life. Players buy credits, thrones - and lose them. This is underage gambling and illegal in every single country Sulake operates in. The company is so unethical it is untrue.

I'm talking about those who don't buy credits, but it looks like gambling has decreased over a period of time and I'm unsure why, perhaps scamming has increased I'm not sure.

Habbo hasn't made it harder to sign up, they've taken away the security captcha to sign up for a start so it's easier for spammers just to come in, it's not hard for someone to lie about their age if anything and it actually wants players to be sexual. During the Habbo Stars campaign they had a table, and they put a Light Pole on it and, yes, they meant it to be shown in that way, which is so annoying, they don't give a damn, they don't listen and frankly Paul Lafontaine was really rubbish in doing that. Thinking he was God's gift and everything, Sulake last year went down, so down that now there's not that many players or not as many people are used to, it frankly just keeps getting worse instead of better and then when we think they've actually one something positive it just goes belly up.

[GommeInc]

What went wrong with habbo?

• The exchange stopped people buying credits
• The marketplace DESTROYED trading
• Channel 4 Paedo report caused a large drop in users
• The merge ruined many aspects, including;
• The HC sofa currency on .co.uk
• Users dropped, probably due to mucked up values

This list sums it up perfectly.

The Channel 4 report revealed how truly unsafe and vulgar the website and community really is. What's shocking is how badly die-hard Habbo fans took the report, claiming it was biased when it wasn't, because the report was about how easy it was to talk dirty with clearly under aged people with very little resistance from those who are meant to keep the community safe - the report confirmed it. It shouldn't exist at all, when it clearly does and has done for years. C4 had safety and security experts that work in these very industries, and they were appalled!

The merger seems like the biggest culprit as it was around then when it was clear that Habbo were focusing on profits before customer satisfaction. America, the UK, Australia, Singapore etc all have different demographics - different cultures. Merging them all into one big community was never going to work, even if they tried. Not forgetting what you clearly outlined - different items of furniture had different values, and with the merger the whole Habbo economy crashed and the exchange and marketplace just added salt into the already large wounds. I don't even play the game and I can still see there are repercussions from that. The only attempt to solve this problem seems to of been to create ugly looking furniture to create a new value system, although that doesn't seem to of worked as there is no "gold" value - not like the HC or the Throne values.

[AgnesIO]

This list sums it up perfectly.

The Channel 4 report revealed how truly unsafe and vulgar the website and community really is. What's shocking is how badly die-hard Habbo fans took the report, claiming it was biased when it wasn't, because the report was about how easy it was to talk dirty with clearly under aged people with very little resistance from those who are meant to keep the community safe - the report confirmed it. It shouldn't exist at all, when it clearly does and has done for years. C4 had safety and security experts that work in these very industries, and they were appalled!

The merger seems like the biggest culprit as it was around then when it was clear that Habbo were focusing on profits before customer satisfaction. America, the UK, Australia, Singapore etc all have different demographics - different cultures. Merging them all into one big community was never going to work, even if they tried. Not forgetting what you clearly outlined - different items of furniture had different values, and with the merger the whole Habbo economy crashed and the exchange and marketplace just added salt into the already large wounds. I don't even play the game and I can still see there are repercussions from that. The only attempt to solve this problem seems to of been to create ugly looking furniture to create a new value system, although that doesn't seem to of worked as there is no "gold" value - not like the HC or the Throne values.

In response to the bit in bold, jesus christ that sounds uncanningly like the issues in Europe!

Spot on in regards to the Channel 4 report - personally I am glad they aired it, it is about time Habbo got a kick - just a shame no one has attacked them for their pathetic response to dangerous (and I mean it) underage gambling. Where habbo failed with the merge, as merging economies takes years - on a real world example, the Euro took a long time to actually get ready - the Exchange Rate Mechanism being just one of the many stages involved - yet Habbo just threw the games together. I know it is difficult to compare a game to the real world - but basic economics like this apply everywhere (and Habbo seem more than up for real world style gameplay with taxing for every action on Habbo!)

[GommeInc]

In response to the bit in bold, jesus christ that sounds uncanningly like the issues in Europe!

Spot on in regards to the Channel 4 report - personally I am glad they aired it, it is about time Habbo got a kick - just a shame no one has attacked them for their pathetic response to dangerous (and I mean it) underage gambling. Where habbo failed with the merge, as merging economies takes years - on a real world example, the Euro took a long time to actually get ready - the Exchange Rate Mechanism being just one of the many stages involved - yet Habbo just threw the games together. I know it is difficult to compare a game to the real world - but basic economics like this apply everywhere (and Habbo seem more than up for real world style gameplay with taxing for every action on Habbo!)

When it aired I was more surprised it hadn't appeared sooner! They deserved everything they got thrown at them. The investors were insane to back the business if they were blissfully unaware of the unethical approach to teenage based media that Sulake/Habbo had. It makes you wonder what was happening in the background for it to happen so long. There's no way Habbo/Sulake executives just said in meetings and reports "everything operating smoothly, minimal problems" when priority should be on customer safety, given the age range of your customers. Not forgetting the response by the CEO at the time - I have never seen such an idiot in charge of such a large business before, completely unaware of what business he runs and how he should run it. Sulake should of kicked him out ages ago.

It's amazing how economics can work with children and teenagers, and although it's a bit difficult to apply them to real world economics it's amazing how influential they can be. Pokémon cards had their own non-monetary values, for example. Some cards were worth a hell of a lot more to collectors in the same way as antiques and art. Habbo furniture has its own values and in some respects everyone is a collector and the fewer items in the mix the more valuable they are. It's shocking Sulake execs didn't know this - it hints that they pay very little attention to their community and just see the systematic side of the business - the back room of a store, without knowing what's happening out front.