Have Sulake ran Habbo into the ground?

[-:Undertaker:-]

In the world of the internet, games can come and go in a second and to some extent Habbo has done very well to still be with us here in 2013. The game has in many ways managed to stay alive because of its retro gaming look.

In recent years though, Sulake (the owners of Habbo Hotel) have begun to make very deep cost cutting moves which signals that revenue from the game has been falling. In 2012, the hotel came under scrutiny and criticism in the press because many felt it left children vunerable to online predators and didn't have sufficent controls or oversight to help protect its users. At the same time as impacting its visitor numbers, one investor even pulled out of the project altogether.

Some, usually older members, argue that the hotel has been ran into the ground over the years and that the game has lost the 'community' feel it once had - with much loved institutions and features being abandoned or radically changed such as the old Rares page, Habbo Club, Snow Storm and Battle Ball, the public rooms.. and so on. Other criticisms also include that Sulake has poor customer service.

On the other hand, you could argue that Sulake has done very well in keeping the game alive in what is a harsh market - ie, the replacement of Bebo, MSN and Myspace by Facebook and Twitter in a few short years. One argument is that Sulake needs to make changes often enough to prevent the game becoming 'stale' or boring - and that the community feel was lost because of the growth in the size of the hotel.

So what are your thoughts? have Sulake ran Habbo into the ground, or have they done rather well in managing the game? Do you think the game has been too radically changed or do you like it that way?

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The debate is open to you.

[Matthew]

I voted "no" as for me the game was at its best before it updated to flash.

Having said that, I could live with that update. It made the game look more modern and fresh and perhaps I only disliked it so much as I'd been so used to the old graphics and layout.

For me, sulake have ruined the game in its search for money and cost cutting measures.

The marketplace screwed up rares values (not only the values themselves in cases but also, I suppose Habbox RV!)
The merge messed with, again, many values and made the hotel lose its "community feel"
More expensive credits- gone were the days when you got credits for a fair price.
Extremely poor moderation to save money
A lack of active "hotel managers"- back when habbo had active managers like ludus or L_W was when the game was at its best

I could go on and on.

Some updates were probably necessary (i.e the merge as some of the hotels were very small and perhaps one bigger hotel would be better) however in many cases I think the game has just failed to improve, in fact has done the opposite!

Or maybe I'm just saddened by the constant pointless updates which ruined the "oldschool" feel of the game, like updates to make old games like mocha theft or pressure stop working (many of which I hosted )

I used to love the anti-merge/anti-flash riots, haha

[Kieran]

Eurgh. I should have read the poll question. I assumed it was the same as the thread title and so selecte yes! I meant to put no for the actual question that is there.

[Samantha]

I think there should be a both option or something along those lines as it depends which way you look at it. If you're looking at targeting a bigger audience than before and attempting to gain more members then yes, it has improved indeed. However, if you're talking about other things such as the lack of active managers like Matt mentioned, the fact that it is more revolved around gaming and the like then no it hasn't.

When the BETA stages originated players were all for it, wanting to be a BETA tester and looking forward to it, but after it came the opinions withered and it began to grow old quickly - speaking as one of the original BETA testers I found the new Habbo amazing, I loved being on it, but like I said, eventually it grew tiresome - then I couldn't literally go on the old Client due to the lag. The BETA test came at a good time, for me, but those before had grown accustom to the older Habbo. Basically, it doesn't really matter about changing versions, interfaces or moving on to a different stage those who were there beforehand will not always welcome change, and Habbo might lost some members there, but there were so many new users signing up before - to the newer Habbo that they would get used to and that would outweigh those who left.

Players grow older and although change is usually imminent, perhaps they're changing in their real life therefore think that being online is escapism - thinking it won't change but eventually it does; likewise when they will get bored of games they play like Habbo.

Moving on and making different interfaces, moving onto other stages has kept Habbo going, if they were still using the layouts and Client from 2009 then I think more players would have been gone - the lagginess, the old graphics and the like would have grown boring and always, change is needed to expand. Speaking about expansion, when Paul Lafontaine came to Habbo and Sulake it was a very bad move - this wasn't always down to him but the removal of articles and the easier way of contacting staff; players knew who they could talk to if they needed unbanning or had an unanswered question and now it seems we only have 2 managers amongst other unknown staff - the managers using favouritism again and giving those on their friends list and so on special things - fansite reps, room builders inc? We don't need that rubbish and it should be available for everyone, alienating many just to cater for a chosen few that can't even be judged fairly - that's not improved Habbo in the slightest and if they continue to do so they will run it into the ground. When Paul Lafontaine was the CEO - he did conduct favouritism mainly with FieryCold, 5N etc. instead of caring about Habbo he went on to talk about food and random stuff - only replying to a selected few again. After the merge when the new hotel managers began to leave, SmoothCriminal and Fozzie more favouritism began - the only one left was Puffin, who actually cared about Habbo, set up the Habbo Council - something that seemed elite of course, but when I was in it I didn't believe it was, yeah the staff should have sorted it out themselves instead of allowing volunteers. Basically, I've waffled on, but favouritism is running it to the ground too - why cater for a select few, you need to try suit everyone and although that's impossible you need to try to do it as best as possible.

The merge was a curve that did improve Habbo in terms of numbers until 2012 when the mute took place, it allowed few new items onto all the hotels, giving a better trading system if they didn't have the MarketPlace and overall it did help for a while - it allowed more people and such.

Overall, Sulake are running Habbo into the ground with the favouritism of some players, yet when the acting CEO was in charge he turned Habbo around, something that should have stayed as Habbo progressed further into 2013 and continued to improve. For once Habbo was improving, but it goes to show that only one person was namely doing that at the time - it needs to be a continuous thing which at the moment it isn't. Currently, Habbo is running into the ground, but it doesn't need to and it can be improved.

[sexpot]

I definitely think that Sulake has run habbo into the ground in terms of the community aspect. The community in pre-2007 was a lot better. There weren't any pointless updates every week that did nothing for the hotel, the staff were more involved, moderation was better, etc.

[Samantha]

I definitely think that Sulake has run habbo into the ground in terms of the community aspect. The community in pre-2007 was a lot better. There weren't any pointless updates every week that did nothing for the hotel, the staff were more involved, moderation was better, etc.

Definitely, it seems the community aspect is only for that select few, you know those who could probably talk to the hotel managers or any staff they knew to get what they want. Yet, some who ask get cast aside - it seems that, looking at the ThisHabbo Badges thread, some members can ask for their rooms to be advertised, yet a fansite owner wanted an extension for a room limit, but was waiting ages for a reply, seems fair? Probably not .

[Special]

it's defiantly not improved, that's easy to see with the attitude of the old players & also with the players decreasing

why fix something if it isn't broke?

[Matthew]

it's defiantly not improved, that's easy to see with the attitude of the old players & also with the players decreasing

why fix something if it isn't broke?

I don't think that really applies as really the game had to update (in certain areas at least) to keep the game fresh and modern looking.

However I think that in many places, Sulake haven't just updated their game, they've fundamentally changed it.
There's a massive difference between updating and fundamentally changing IMO- as one keeps the same "morals" and "feeling" whereas the other changes it completely. The merge is a massive example.

[Demi]

Yes, they keep digging.

Edited by j0rd (Forum Moderator): Please do not post short pointless comments in this forum!

[Shockwave.2CC]

I say no as it was better like in 2007/2008 and since they've had these updates and that, it got worse