Building a Community - Impossible? How to?

[PR0]

You've never made a successful game, let alone a successful retro so your opinion is invalid. Stop ranting bro.

Whoa.. bad day there buds? Back in 2010 I had a decent V26 retro that had 800+ users logged on daily, and it was the #1 hotel on "TheHabbos" which was the retro list then, also owned by RastaLulz who owns the current one now. It's name was "Ultima Hotel" which was originally www.Ultima-Hotel.ca I think...

It was a real true community, great staff, great reviews and real friendships and bonds. We had a fully functional CMS, custom features, radio, rare values website, forums... Not saying it was amazing but it was definitely successful.

Not competition, porn talk, guns, petty drug jokes, etc.

[Jonteh]

Whoa.. bad day there buds? Back in 2010 I had a decent V26 retro that had 800+ users logged on daily, and it was the #1 hotel on "TheHabbos" which was the retro list then, also owned by RastaLulz who owns the current one now. It's name was "Ultima Hotel" which was originally www.Ultima-Hotel.ca I think...

It was a real true community, great staff, great reviews and real friendships and bonds. We had a fully functional CMS, custom features, radio, rare values website, forums... Not saying it was amazing but it was definitely successful.

Not competition, porn talk, guns, petty drug jokes, etc.

Unless you're Jincos which I doubt you are because he doesn't do Habbo anymore, then you were nothing more than a "co owner" or Administrator.

Zap was far more successful than any english hotel to date and we didn't have "porn talk, guns, petty drug jokes, etc". Though I'm saddened to think the average person doesn't enjoy a joke. You must be one of those stone wall type people.

[The General]

Habbo's dead. Move on with your life.

[Lerradus]

Habbo's dead. Move on with your life.

Says the guy who spent one year and a half on coding an habbo emulator :)

[Jax]

Says the guy who spent one year and a half on coding an habbo emulator :)

Take some time to think about the benefits of developing an emulator. And no, it's not only the money.

[Xenon]

Well, that was an interesting read.

When I joined Habbo back in 2008, it was a way to communicate and have fun with friends, because it was raining outside (yay, Netherlands!), and we couldn't play outside. Nowadays the way of communicating shifted more towards apps on the phones of kids, most of them don't even have their own computer/laptop. And when they do, they probably go Skype together, or play bigger games like Minecraft.

When we compare Minecraft to Habbo there are several similarities: Creating things with friends and Chatting, playing minigames. The biggest difference however is the business models of the two companies. Habbo is like Minecraft but one thing: you get the dirt and cobblestone for free, but you have to pay for the diamonds and iron. That's probably why there was a time where retros were bigger than the original Habbo Hotel, it was free, and people were too scared to use their parents' phone to call for credits.

As time passed, kids got into Minecraft, and most of us grew out of Habbo or moved to games like Minecraft. Things like the gambling ban are just factors that pushed players making the decision to move to different platforms. The reason why this section is still 'alive'? Probably because we are the few people who got stuck in the old days, developing the skills to build their own hotels, which results into everyone starting a hotel, but not willing to join someone else's hotel.

How could a community like habbo work? I don't know, honestly. I think it should focus a different group of people, people who actually bought a decent PC to play games, people who don't have a decent PC are only interested in apps/console games. And the business model should be completely different, that's for sure.

It's quite hard to start something new with a group of people like us, who still love the old stuff, creating something for a group of people who don't. Especially when most of the members in this section have a huge ego, and demotivate eachother's work. I remember joining this section again after I read about a community project, but everyone was just ranting about how we did stuff wrong, how azure was amazing, and that was why we never passed the planning phase. Not only is Habbo dead, but so is the positivity of this section. (Offtopic: That IRC server you hosted for the project was lots of fun though, I remember talking with you at 5am about fallout 3 @Moogly, there are still nice people here, don't get me wrong.)

I still love Habbo, but I am the kind of person that also still prefers IRC over anything else, so there's that.

[The General]

Take some time to think about the benefits of developing an emulator. And no, it's not only the money.

What money, I haven't earned a penny from it.

[MaxZeus]

What money, I haven't earned a penny from it.

It would be better if you did, hehehe. :) Sometimes people work so hard that if they don't earn anything, they may lose motivation, but you also learn from experience in your own learning curve, so that's part of the process.

[Jax]

What money, I haven't earned a penny from it.

I wasn't inferring that you earn money from it. Most people presume that the main benefit is money, I was merely stating that it isn't.

[MaxZeus]

He didn't. He never paid me anything.

He offered me $75 for the domain and the source and I told him to fuck off.

Yeah, I've got it, don't worry. :D

[BronzeSpider547]

Hey,

I had this same problem a while ago,
But now when I opened my retro again, Like
4days ago, I had a friend of mine which are co owner, So once I finished my own CMS, I started making a few cms features,
Then I published the hotel to findretros.com, And people started to drop in, Now I got a few people who visits everyday and stays, I asked some of them why they stayed, The most said Unique Hotel, And I still contine updating everything, Like CMS, Radio, Client.
So well, They just find a community they enjoy..

[jaden83]

4 words... stop, depending, on, FindRetros.

It sucks, why should anyone use it if the people who moderate it own hotels themselves? That's too much trust. Especially since the #1 hotel is always their hotel, no question.

Use other advertising methods like gaming forums, social media, adsense, etc. One dude posted flyers advertising his hotel all around his cities, near kids stores of course.

[BronzeSpider547]

One dude posted flyers advertising his hotel all around his cities, near kids stores of course.

Okay, Just...
Wow..
I bet he went to court with sulake..
Just..

[Joopie]

Okay, Just...
Wow..
I bet he went to court with sulake..
Just..

Nope, true story

[Cankiee]

My friends and I used Posters that we printed in the school library in 2011, lol.

Every Door had that Poster, hahahahaha.