Sulake cracking down on VIP

[Black_Apalachi]

Erm, has there been any further information or ideas on this topic? I don't feel like sifting through half a ton of posts, a lot of which are just people arguing anyway. Thanks.. anyone .

[VaporSkill]

Why are they enforcing this rule, members dont mind? No one on this forum nor clubhabbo have complained about having to buy VIP? So whats the problem?

Idk, maybe there worried people might buy V.I.P instead of habboclub

[Black_Apalachi]

Edit: I read back a few pages.

Thanks Ross for Redtiz's letter .

My comments are in purple:

Ahh I think there's a bit of confusion here. It's not about whether a
fansite is official or unofficial...or even whether it's a fansite in
fact. Every graphic, article and piece of code on Habbo's sites is owned
by Sulake as is the trademark 'Habbo', and as the owner Sulake governs
how these things are used (or not used) by anyone else.

Why are they no longer allowing fansites to sell items/premium services?
Unfortunately because a significant number of fansites around the world
were doing such things as selling t-shirts with Habbo images on or
charging users to access clones of certain features such as Habbo Homes.

+rep to first person that posts a link to a site selling Habbo t-shirts :@. Even if a site were doing this, who in their right mind would be buying them?!

Just as you can't download Rhianna's latest hit and decide to charge
others 30p a time to download it from your own site, so you can't use
Sulake's intellectual property, copyrights or trademarks to generate
income. Sulake decided to make it clear that this couldn't be done via
the Fansite Way as the Terms are quite 'heavy reading'.

More like they CBA looking around for sites that have these features and shutting them down. Besides, the only fansite I've seen with a "clone" of Habbo Homes is HabboRemix I think. And didn't ClubHabbo do it for a bit but then stopped? And I've never seen anyone selling Habbo t-shirts.

Some fansites do need to generate money to offset costs and they can
STILL do this via the following methods (and probably more they can
think of):

* User donation - they can't give a premium service or an item in return
as that's simply 'selling' by another name, but they can thank the
donator by giving them greater exposure on the site....badges, banners,
name printed somewhere, different colour on username, radio shout-outs etc

Err... isn't that called "VIP" love? :S What features does Habbox VIP have other than greater exposure to the site and different name colours? THAT'S ALL IT IS! WTH IS SHE ON ABOUT? FGS.

* Site sponsorship (eg approaching some company with all their site
stats and seeing if they'll cover hosting costs in return for ads or a
branded site)
* Ad revenue

Obviously this doesn't generate enough as Habbox has adverts but is still facing a problem.

If they don't want to do the above then they can continue to charge but
not use any of Sulake's intellectual property on the site

So basically, get rid of the banner, Habbox avatars/signatures and the Console icons and you're sorted? Any alts etc. posted by users is out of Habbox's control and therefore can not beused against them by Sulake .

Hope that explains clears things up.

No, not really (that doesn't even make sense) :rolleyes:.

So couldn't Habbox just remove all Habbo-related images from the forum and then it's sound? Or of course, show Sulake that according to Redtiz, they're doing nothing wrong?

[HotelUser]

It's a bad move by Sulake, but really, Habbox, or other fansites in general shouldn't be trying to avoid it in any way. Nothing they can do will fix this issue.

There are plenty of ways to make a decent amount of money online without resorting to premium services anyway. Fansites are just going to have to explore those instead.

I wouldn't say plenty. We'll just have to see if advertisements are going to be enough to keep Habbox up. If money from advertisements is poor, downgrades to the Habbox server are inevitable.

[Shawnstra]

Yes i know but there has to be a reason that they want to stop fansites charging for premium services. ie scammin' could be the reason, but i believe that would be the excuse they would give when really they have another alternate reason mainly aimed to kick fansites in the privates area.

Yeah. Everything has a risk. When you eat, you risk getting choked. When you go out, you risked getting attacked by a mugger. (exaggeration much? ) But, how probable are these? Habbox is a very large site, and will not ruin their reputation over a few dollars. Habbo should really see the big picture and realise that without this method of income, (adsense pays little, and most people use FF and have adblock plus), fansites will not be able to support themselves, and the Habbo community will crumble.

Let's all pressure Habbo!

[Yonder]

Yes we should.

Some fansites do need to generate money to offset costs and they can
STILL do this via the following methods (and probably more they can
think of):

* User donation - they can't give a premium service or an item in return
as that's simply 'selling' by another name, but they can thank the
donator by giving them greater exposure on the site....badges, banners,
name printed somewhere, different colour on username, radio shout-outs etc

Err... isn't that called "VIP" love? :S What features does Habbox VIP have other than greater exposure to the site and different name colours? THAT'S ALL IT IS! WTH IS SHE ON ABOUT? FGS.

What the ... so all we have to do is change name to "donators/donations", pathetic much?

[GoldenMerc]

Emma is gna hate me for leaking this LOL.
Anyways i dont think there going to back out now all this fuss has happned, I personally think fansites should pay a small charge a year to be able to operate a 'habbo' fansite then they should be allowed to sell VIP
that would be pretty sweet.

[GommeInc]

I do like the way she says "You can give them a premium service *by donating*."

I'd just keep selling VIP, if someone like RedTiz has clarified that premium services are allowed, then keep selling them and refer any complaints to RedTiz :rolleyes:

[Yonder]

Emma is gna hate me for leaking this LOL.
Anyways i dont think there going to back out now all this fuss has happned, I personally think fansites should pay a small charge a year to be able to operate a 'habbo' fansite then they should be allowed to sell VIP
that would be pretty sweet.

Thats gonna make starting up a fansite which is meant to be a fun hobby hard and turn it into a job.

[nvrspk4]

I just got a reply back from Redtiz who says "You can't sell premium services on a site USING Habbo content or images etc."

For those who say to make HabboxForum sans-Habbo images, we would also have to remove all links to HabboxForum on Habbox and HabboxLive.