Kids have phones, they entertain themselves with their phones. If Sulake doesn't invest in phone games and apps, or something it wont surprise me the day that I hear of them going out of business, unless their IRC-Galera or w/e keeps them flowing. Really, Habbo wont live forever, if it does then I'll be shocked, they completely destroyed their economy long before they got rid of "casinos".
No. It all starts with money and ego which causes actions to be taken as a reaction.Originally Posted by ovflowd
You're one to talk about ego.
You're all stuck in old ways/habbo retro minded and making this way too complicated. Think outside of the box, and possibly look at it with an angle that's professional as if you're a expert marketer.
First do a competitive analysis.
- You need connections and friends who have friends who will all tell each other about this game for them to join. Once they join, how do you keep them to stay? Constant fun and events hourly.
(Note: to have these connections well.. you'll need to already have them and friends who have friends who will all play. Unless you're 12-15 years old you'll have a hard time with this)
- Where are you marketing? If you're marketing your retro on top sites, other retros, forums, or Habbo.. well you're competing with a saturated market with other hotels that are well.. more fun than yours.
- Overall.. quit Habbo retros but stay in online communities. If what an online community is what you desire, then don't be lazy and make your own damn game with one of the few HTML5 .png/.jpg image library servers. Then when you market it people will join because it's a new experience, and they'll want to share that experience.
You won't be limited to marketing to other petty Habbo forums or retros, and you can market to get organic users. This alone will probably boost up your marketing effectiveness 75% at least.
- Think realistically. Think about what kids do these days. There's Leage of legends, minecraft, world of warcraft, etc. It's a lot more fun than making a room and talking to people. People are so anti-social these days with all the technology there is out there already.
I've never taken any marketing classes, so I don't know where you pulled your numbers from. Regardless, if you're aiming to make a brand new social-ish building game like Habbo - you might as well give up. We had games like Lasuni and Bitty Bay for a few years which looked and functioned alot like Habbo (but were obviously not Habbo retros), and Lasuni was arguably better in the gameplay dept. for some time even. Now, they're both gone because they simply couldn't compete with Habbo or retros. So I disagree with this part of your post, but the rest seems reasonable.
I saw someone mentioning a revolution, I believe. But what needs a revolution is Habbo, not retros - unless Sulake/Elisa surrenders Habbo's copyright. If Habbo can regain some popularity - then so can retros by yet again stealing them from Habbo. Retros cannot survive nor gain popularity without Habbo.
This "community" has never created anything good (not counting the technical crap) - like a furniset or a clothing set in the recent years that can even closely compete with that of Habbo. Personally, I think that hotels should create graphics teams, and start producing their own custom content. Who gives a rats ass about CMS features? No one. I think that if a user could find stability (in a long lasting retro) and good new clothing, furni and interesting events and other happenings in a new hotel - their chance of staying is much greater then atm with just bullshit and the same bloody experience from the past houndred retros they played.
Now, I might be very wrong about everything I've said - but that's what a discussion is for, isn't it? To get the best answers.
Apologies for crap English - it's very late.
I pulled my numbers from a guess since I have taken online marketing, competitive analysis, and user experience classes.
I said originally to think outside the box.
- Bittybay was the idea of Habbo but with animals. They didn't utilize the full possibilities of one's imagination to make the experience of being an animal truly fun. They could have had dog training, level ups, and much more.
- Lasuni was just the idea of Habbo but with maple story graphics.
Both are nothing new and stimulating enough to compete with overall video games. Look at league of legends and warcraft though. Kids want a full role play experience where it makes their imagination think for a split second that it's real. Habbo was the role play experience created by users for users.
Why not create a open concept role play game. Each map is a different city (aka server depending on database size) and you can purchase properties in certain areas. There may be places you can go to for go kart racing, mazes, and more all created by staff in a professional that gives a magical and imaginary experience.
To find these apartments/houses you can buy, or go kart arenas, you go to buildings or areas on the city map and then enter. When you enter a personal room map loads where users may own or have rights to move furniture, and the mazes may change daily or weekly. Some rooms or go kart arenas can be sponsored by the game/staff and be hosted in a map as well.
Certain areas of the city may have a forest. Inside the forest this could be the wild like rune scape. Maybe it's only 18+ and there's role playing like in Habbo role play servers with gang wars, or archery, etc.
Don't forget about how great your imagination is and how useful of a tool it can be. In this day and age I'm convinced that possibilities are endless.
Resources aren't.
Last edited by wolfulus; 08-02-16 at 06:07 PM.
I kind of disagree with your "go-with-the-mainstream" thinking. There are several types of games that sort of fills up certain peoples needs. I would consider games as Habbo in a very different category compared to League, Minecraft, and WoW. Although these games has a chat feature in-game, they don't encourage social interaction on the same level as Habbo where it plays a big part of the game. What you find fun is entirely subjective and I can assure you that there are people who find Habbo far more entertaining than most games.
I wouldn't necessary suggest that we are more anti-social today compared to earlier as today we have tons of social networks for certain purposes such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter, VoIP technology such as Skype has become mainstream, in addition to information getting more available as of better infrastructure and better hardware.
First off I got to say that I didn't mean to sound as insulting as I see I did. Now to the reply: I think what you are describing sounds alot like SecondLife. That wasn't a huge success either. Nevertheless, what you are describing sounds less and less like anything Habbo-ish. The idea is good, but too pointless and not focused enough.
Not thinking to go main stream. I'm thinking of a community just like Habbo, just giving the users more resources to build a game they want. Resources such as dedicated developers to take games that users build into their hands to make it a more smooth experience, rather than role playing.
I think this would be a great edge to have, and make the community more multi-dimensional rather than just black and white chat and role play.
For example:
- Go karts:
It's a game that I used to love! You start off with a plasto pod and then you go through a tele into a room and go through all the furniture. This was an awesome game with lots of fun.
In my example of the game, developers could take that idea with a simple effect to give users a car to use... and maybe when the effect is activated.. it could trigger something with HTML5 and some other tricks you could make the controls used by the d-pad. (There was a HTML5 habbo base that used the arrows for controls.
Overview:
This example wouldn't take away of the creative imagination that is commonly used in Habbo, since they can build their own tracks.. or whatever with furniture in a catalogue.. or whatever method you choose to provide furniture to the community. It would only enrich the experience and make it more user friendly.
I do agree with you Habbo is in a different category as it's a community with mini games. World of warcraft, LoL, minecraft are not a community. They're games. (At least this is my view)
The only resources you need is:
- A creative mind
- The perseverance to invent
- Knowledge of web development
All the resources for languages, technology, and even full HTML5 bases have been released. What else could you need?
I didn't think you were insulting at all. Just didn't take the time for unnecessary politeness and was very straight forward. I appreciate that :-)
Secondlife didn't have any room for imagination. It was too much like the sims and wasn't user friendly. The graphics were too much like real life, and when you do that users will notice it's not and can't immerse themselves in a online environment. You need room for imagination.
Have you seen their logo with the hand and the eye ball for a palm? Google "Second life" you'll see people getting tattoos, gay sex, witchcraft.. like wtf? That's a horrible community.
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Overall guys, what you're missing in your vision for what I'm describing is a successful community. Make it a proper community and even multi media, keep users entertained, and challenge them.
It is very possible.. the internet is used by billions of people who are constantly bored. The demand is there, there's just no supply.
With Habbo being so successful in the past, what has changed other than the community itself and the whole dynamic of it all? Nothing really.. Just a bunch of bad moves which wrecked friendships and earned inventory that users earned and were proud of. The staff aren't involved in the community anymore... there's no more radio like they used to have... etc etc. ( DnD radio on Habbo.ca ) :P
A perfect real life comparison: I live in Vancouver where it's a bunch of multi cultures put together. Nobody socializes with many other cultures, and lots of different communities are all segregated based on their own culture. Certain suburbs are all asians, or east indians, or caucasians for example.
When each Habbo Hotel with different cultures merged, that was the beginning of the end. Communication became harder and harder, which puts a chat game out of business.
Find any old school person from Habbo and you'll hear them say "Man.. it's so hard to have a good conversation on Habbo these days." Ironic? No. Just a burnt out community.
You've never made a successful game, let alone a successful retro so your opinion is invalid. Stop ranting bro.
Wasn't the only reason you had players on zap because you hacked other hotels?
Stop hating people so much. It does help.
"Building a Community - Impossible? How to?"
you answered a way to build one
Well. With people like you always having an opinion about anything and everything, its never going to work out you know.
Not really. I provided my reasons before. Plus, I can't hack, only be hacked :)
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