An Introduction

[Okeanos]

Good news: I got Rakker back on the team, helping us in room design!!

What is the point of having official room builders on habbo.com (which by the way have much less resources than the dutch room builders) if you're just going to use Rakker? ugh

P.S. there is only one thing you can do which would make habbo better for me, and that is better competitions with better prizes (i.e. not lame badges)

[Lewis]

yea lmao quite a lot of people told me they started reading it cause of removal of articles

I used to always read habbox news until this new version came out. I don't know why, I just hate the new mainsite, it's glitchy and super slow. That's the only reason I don't read habbox news now

[Zelda]

I used to always read habbox news until this new version came out. I don't know why, I just hate the new mainsite, it's glitchy and super slow. That's the only reason I don't read habbox news now

that should hopefully be fixed with v7

also why we are planning on bringing our articles to forum too hopefully

[Kyle]

I would also like to ask about this 'we can't reply to your ban as it has been over 6 months' I mean this is completely a joke?

1) Especially when it was a mistaken ban and has been corrected by the person who reported that it was a flaw and a misunderstanding.
2) 0rca (previous community service manager or w.e) said to respond in 6 months and the ban would be lifted (she was the person who placed the ban) she said to have 6 months break then come back and appeal to get the account back. This was in 2010...

Pretty sure he's a designer so won't be able to help you there...

It would be nice to have a slightly larger team (larger than the current team of 1? 2? anyway) of player support staff though. It's all well and good to focus on making everything look pretty but it goes to waste when the customers aren't getting the support they need. This isn't just for bans either, everyday issues are getting unhelpful responses even after 2-3 weeks waiting for a response. sobs

[Hidden]

What is the point of having official room builders on habbo.com (which by the way have much less resources than the dutch room builders) if you're just going to use Rakker? ugh

P.S. there is only one thing you can do which would make habbo better for me, and that is better competitions with better prizes (i.e. not lame badges)

I agree, and also weren't .nl supposed to keep their 'building accounts' a secret? I am sure somebody has broke that rule

[Infinitif]

Interesting..

[Demi]

Actually nice to see a staff member active.

[Rakker]

I agree, and also weren't .nl supposed to keep their 'building accounts' a secret? I am sure somebody has broke that rule

That is not true. The rules for Dutch construction team, were different than habbo.com. the construction team of the Netherlands was not officially for hotel public rooms. We made ​​rooms for advertising agencies. That's because habbo.nl was part of Telegraph Media Group. The Dutch construction team was only meant for advertising rooms. Habbo Netherlands has been a cooperation between Sulake and TMG. Habbo.com is totally different. So the way you compare the teams is not right. Wait and we'll see what the plans are. it will amaze you.

Rakker (habbo.nl)

[Hidden]

That is not true. The rules for Dutch construction team, were different than habbo.com. the construction team of the Netherlands was not officially for hotel public rooms. We made ​​rooms for advertising agencies. That's because habbo.nl was part of Telegraph Media Group. The Dutch construction team was only meant for advertising rooms. Habbo Netherlands has been a cooperation between Sulake and TMG. Habbo.com is totally different. So the way you compare the teams is not right. Wait and we'll see what the plans are. it will amaze you.

Rakker (habbo.nl)

Thanks for the reply, I will be happy to wait and see what happens. Will be interesting to see where Habbo goes with the new management.

[painimies]

Hi again,

Wish I could do this far more often, lot of good questions piling up…
So without further anything, let's get to them. First, an important one:

What is the point of having official room builders on habbo.com (which by the way have much less resources than the dutch room builders) if you're just going to use Rakker? ugh

The first answer is kind of embarrassing: I didn't know there were official room builders on habbo.com. BUT NOW I DO (!!!) So, sorry about that.

Second, I have been following Rakker more closely, since they used to do our (ad) campaign rooms. He was one of the first to sort of "get" what I was trying to do with many of my stuff, like USVA, which then started selling a lot better. So I'm also thankful.

On the plus side, now that I know you're there, you won't be forgotten. Just be careful what you wish for.

One question I kind of have is will habbo ever return our beloved forum groups? Where many of us had our own little communities based around things we love such as music, tv and art?

I bet we will. One way or another. The thing is, there's no point in just "bringing forums back", they need to be brought back vastly improved, and much more integrated. And in a way that benefits fan sites as well.

There was some discussion around this subject. I'll just say this:
Even if we're slowly opening up, there will still be a ripe market for speculation. Of course we're also going to be more open toward fan sites, so if they're good, they may still be able to pry some exclusive info out of us.

I think this quote is pretty observant:

Habbo articles are more factual, whilst Habbox's articles are more opinionated…

…at least that's a good starting place, I think.

When is this planned to arrive to every hotel (the new UI concept), or will it be introduced step by step just like Ilumina wanted to be introduced?

I'm not really sure yet. There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of heavy planning still to do around the subject.

There will be some changes to the UI in the coming weeks, and they might or might not have some vague elements of HITCH, but they're mainly just band-aid & lipstick. Also, most of the changes concern only the new user flow. (The very first things a new user sees and does, from the registration to the, let's say third visit.)

By the way, how do you like the new registration page? I must admit there was not too much time in designing it, but I personally feel it's still an improvement to the old one.

Any plans for some hidden painimies balls?

Now that sounds dirty.
No balls planned, sorry. In fact, I would very much like to change the whole hotel view into a much more usable, readable tool, rather than a noisy promo page that takes a lot of resources to construct. (I told you some of this stuff would upset. )

How far have you got with HITCH

That's maybe too broad a question to answer now, but: I think I have a really, really good big idea for Habbo's future, and I have a solid concept for an UI overhaul. It looks like the concept has gotten ok'd everywhere, and the groundwork for it has already begun. But we're a small team, and I have no competence to speak for the programmers, so I'll just say that it's too early to tell exactly.
I will be telling much more about the whole thingamajig in the coming months, weeks even.

Also if you want ideas on how to improve habbo, it would be listening to the old users on what they liked best and getting some more interesting insight of what the history of habbo was about (I know you played it, but from others point of view).

I absolutely agree, I have lots of listening to do. In the end, though, my focus is still to create something new and better, rather than succumb to nostalgia.

Can we have the old catalogue back? I am very disappointed in the LACK of stuff to buy from the catalogue...

Also, lets have some more staff > user interaction, events, fun etc...

No, you can have the NEW catalogue back! Joking aside, let's see what can be done with the current one first.

More staff interaction, events, fun etc... That much I promise.

Will you be designing a new habbo home page too?

I should hope so. I also desperately want to bring Habbo Homes back, in a big way. So there's that.

Ok my question would be can Habbo go back to having major updates every so often? I remember when it took 6 months to a year for an update - but it was always mega and really exciting - this is something that habbo has lost.

Definitely not exactly like it was; 6 months is way too big a wait in today's world. But I too would like to see a really big update every now and then, amidst a steady stream of smaller ones.

Also I will buy credits again when Habbo take scammers seriously - why should anyone buy credits if Habbo don't care if they effectively get stolen? Users can openly admit after scamming people, as the staff do NOTHING.

As you probably understand, I'm not the right guy to talk about these things, but I do take slight offense in the suggestion that we wouldn't take scammers seriously. We do. We can do considerably more, and we will, but we do not take scammers lightly. Never have. In addition to making scamming more difficult and solving the scamming issues more easy, we also need to do a better job in teaching our users not to get scammed in the first place; It will be a huge advantage when older.

Of course the biggest thing I would like to see would be sorting out the customer service. The whole idea of the no dealing with it 6 months after really annoys me as well, considering I was also at first told to give it a year myself and then when I go back they say they can't deal with it?

This is really out of my reach at the moment, but trust me; Im totally with you on this. I personally don't think prisons solve things, anyway. I'll keep you posted.
I do have a lot of symphony for our customer service, though; they don't make the rules, there are clearly not enough of them, and if I would bet vast majority of all the complaints are bogus.

I don't like how homepages were brought back and nothing was done with them

Me neither.

Moreover, why haven't forums returned yet?

I haven't figured them out yet.

Oh man, look at that time... I really must try that 'sleep' -thing now.
Well, it's been extra nice typing to you. Until next time: Keep on keeping on.

Timo