[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

Let's take a glance today at Habbo, the teen-targeted virtual community by Sulake.

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

Today we look a little deeper into Habbo Hotel, the virtual teen scene from Sulake.

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

We've spent some time checked in to Habbo Hotel, the teen-focused virtual world from Sulake. We played games, explored a wide variety of rooms, drank colas and tried to make friends in dance clubs. So what's the verdict?

Habbo, the online world targeted at teens, and AddictingGames, MTVN Kids and Family Group's largest online game channel, are becoming partners, with AddictingGames becoming the exclusive North American online games distributor for Habbo.

According to the announcement, AddictingGames' 23 million monthly users will now be able to join Habbo through their site via a newly-launched landing page, while Habbo will provide its monthly 7.5 million with a click-through portal for Addicting Games.

"An AddictingGames and Habbo relationship is a natural because we have so much in common: a teen audience, constantly updated user-enhanced content, and a commitment to providing users the best possible experiences," said Dave Williams, Senior Vice President of AddictingGames. "We think AddictingGames visitors will love Habbo's virtual world environment; it complements our existing web games and community."

Our sister site, Gamasutra, ran an announcement Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group president Cyma Zarghami made at this week's Casual Connect conference in Seattle. According to Nickelodeon, it's committed to invest $100 million over the next two years in development, distribution and creation of casual gaming titles, sites and platforms.

According to the company, the investment is a part of MTV's strategy to secure a leading role in the gaming space -- including casual, console and handheld games, as well as related media, which includes virtual worlds. Of the initiatives announced, Nickelodeon also says it'll use some of the money to add new multiplayer games and tournaments to Nicktropolis.

The investment will also support the expansion of AddictingGames to include casual MMOGs with the introduction of AddictingWorlds. AddictingGames recently partnered with Habbo, adding another virtual world to its existing partnership with sister site Neopets. According to the article, increased emphasis will be placed on user-submitted games on the site, including more prominent upload capabilities and game-making engines.

Also announced was the upcoming transformation of Neopets into Neostudios, which will focus on developing new virtual world gaming experiences online while continuing to grow and evolve the existing ones. The first of these will launch at the end of 2008 with the goal of launching a new game every other year.

"Particularly in the kids' space, with more than 86% of kids 8 to 14 gaming online, we see great momentum for online casual gaming," said Zarghami. "This investment will not only benefit our audiences, but also our marketing and distribution partners."

The cards come in two different designs for the $10 card, and one for the $25 card, and feature a scratch-off code that users enter in the "vouchers" section of their Habbo purse. The cards will be sold out of the Music/Movie section at Target, and the Habbo website even provides the Target SKUs of the cards so that users can get help from employees to find them.

Remember Danica McKellar, best known for playing girl-next-door Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years? She's grown into a career as a mathematician -- she co-authored a mathematical physics theorem and published a math book for teenage girls called Math Doesn’t Suck: How To Survive Middle-School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail.

Now she's visiting Habbo to chat with its users -- in a press release we received, Habbo says she'll be there today (Wednesday, August 8th) at 3:00 PM Eastern and 6:00 PM Pacific, and she'll answer kids' questions about tricky math problems, and about growing up as a child star.

I wonder if the residents of Habbo are even old enough to know what The Wonder Years is?

Habbo.cn, the Chinese Habbo, has shut down, according to the following message on its site:

Dear visitors:
unfortunately we have some bad news for you: since August 24, 2007 Habbo.cn has been closed at least temporarily, and possibly for a long time. :( Our Habbo Staff is currently working hard to find a way to continue the service in the future - you will be informed about the situation as soon as we know. We are really sorry about this. Meanwhile you can choose to visit other Habbo services all over the world.

[Via billsdue]

Habbo has announced the kickoff of its very own film festival, using the Habbowood MovieMaker tool. It's a comprehensive editing device that allows users to select from a wide range of virtual sets, props, special effects and mood music; cast Habbo "actors" and script dialogue to build scenes. Up to ten different scenes can then be combined using the MovieMaker tool to create an animated film up to five minutes long."

With the tool, Habbo is launching the "Habbowood Digital Movie Awards 2007". Aspiring filmmakers can take the director's chair and create, star in and share their own animated movies in hopes of winning a Habbowood Award. For the next ten days, the Habbo community, which numbers more than 15 million registered users in the United States, will select the ten top films through a combination of page views and scaled ratings. Each day, the Habbo staff will choose a winner from this top 10 to comprise the final nominees which the Habbo community will vote on to select the Habbowood Award winner.

The winner will be announced and special awards, such as Best Director, Best Writer, Best Actor and Best Actress, will be presented live in Habbo's Theaterdome during the virtual Habbowood Digital Movie Awards gala, on September 21.

Habbo.com opened its doors to Habbowood three years ago. Last year, the hugely popular US movie contest garnered more than 140,000 animated short films. On a global level, Habbowood generated more than 700,000 movies last year. For the first time, the winning film will be entered into a global contest against the winners from 18 other Habbo communities around the world to compete for a grand prize trip for two to Hollywood.

An expert panel from the fields of animation and computer generated visual effects (VFX) will judge the competition, including Matt Johnson, VFX supervisor at critically acclaimed visual effects and digital imaging house, Cinesite; Antti Jokinen, celebrated director of music videos for Will Smith, Missy Elliott, Celine Dion and Shaggy; Tim Searle, award-winning 2DTV animator and Jim Thacker, editor of 3D animation bible, 3D World

"The Habbowood Digital Movie Awards will prove that teens can create imaginative, successful movies, just like their Hollywood counterparts," said Teemu Huuhtanen, EVP, Habbo Business and president, North America. "We are challenging teenagers to write the script, choose the location and direct the actors in their own movies to create a winning film that will demonstrate a combination of originality, timing, and artistic flair."

Talking in an in-depth interview published on Gamasutra today, Habbo Hotel lead designer Sulka Haro has been discussing the communication problems inherent in making games, calling for better definitions of gameplay-related terminology.

As part of a discussion on the subject of 'game grammar' brought up by Raph Koster at the Austin GDC event last month, Sulake Corporation's Haro suggested:

"I do subscribe to the idea of actually having a many dialects for communicating between people. That's kind of defined in the sense that they can actually communicate the idea. Especially if you have a problem in the design -- you can point to the exact point in the design that you think is flawed and causes the game to be not fun."

Haro continued, referencing some of the other lectures he attended at Austin GDC:

"As I was saying earlier, there was this long talk [at AGDC] on four different projects where people say that a game is not fun, but they actually can't say what's causing the game to be not fun. It could be the tiniest little detail, for example the user not getting adequate feedback for his actions. That might be immediately obvious and a designer could actually communicate that."

Finally, discussing the lack of definitional words and paradigms around the issue of creating a playable game, Haro suggested:

"But especially if you're talking with someone who is not a designer -- it's real hard for these people to analyze these designs and be able to communicate exactly what their meaning would be, in the issues that they're trying to bring up. At least, if the grammar can be made simple enough so that even the non-designers could actually use it, it would be really beneficial for the industry, and I guess even for people outside the industry."

The full interview with Haro regarding succesful online world/play space Habbo Hotel is now available on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra, including comments on the very nature of play and what defines a game, and Sulake's successes with implementing the Scrum production method.

At the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe, running October 23rd through the 26th in London, Habbo founder Sampo Karjalainen of Sulake Corp. said that the site has had 80 million avatars created since its 2000 launch in Finland.

Karjalainen, speaking as part of a panel called "Kidalicious: Are Kids and Teenagers the Future for Virtual Worlds?", said that when Habbo first launched, he hadn't necessarily intended for it to become as large as it has -- spreading to 31 countries across five continents. The company says that 75,000 members join daily with 6 million monthly uniques, and that the average Habbo user, who is a teenager between the ages of 11 and 17, spends 32 minutes per visit on the site.

Said Karjalainen, “When we first created the idea behind Habbo, it wasn’t our intention that it should explicitly be an online community for teenagers or that it would run for so long! The first version of Habbo was a hobby project that myself and my partner, Aapo Kyrölä, were working on and one on which we would only focus for a month or two. But as the community grew, based solely on word of mouth, we of course decided not to take the service down."

He continued, "In 2000, when we officially launched Habbo in Finland , we realized that the majority of the community consisted of teenagers. On that basis, we took a decision to continue to develop the site but only for teens. Now seven years on with 80 million characters created, its clear that teenagers get more out of virtual world experiences and that we made the right decision!”

The BBC is reporting that a Dutch teen has been arrested for furniture theft at Habbo Hotel. The concept of virtual property being swiped isn't a new idea by any means, but the crime may be getting a high level of media attention for a couple of reasons -- first, the teen was arrested. Second, even though Habbo furniture, or furni, is relatively inexpensive in real-world dollars (see our "Designing Habbo on $10 Per Card" feature), the amount of the teen's alleged theft is 4,000 euros -- just over $5,000. Not a pittance. Five other kids are being questioned in connection with the theft.

Another interesting thought is that while the general population may understand online theft in concept, World of Warcraft gold, Second Life intellectual property, or weapons and artifacts in MMOs still sound a little farfetched to the average consumer, perhaps. Bedroom furniture stolen from a hotel is something anyone can understand.

A Sulake spokesperson told the BBC, "In Habbo, as in many other virtual worlds, scamming for other people's personal information such as user names has been problematic for quite a while. We have had much of this scamming going on in many countries but this is the first case where the police have taken legal action."

[Via BBC News]

Sulake says Habbo's 1.6 million online citizens will vote for which of the top 30 WWE Superstars they think will play various roles in the event (e.g., ultimate winner). Users whose predictions are correct are entered into a sweepstakes to win a trip to Florida to see Wrestlemania 24 in March.

The WWE likes the chance to promote their brand in Habbo. We checked out the site, and noticed that users aren't just voting on the avatars -- they're enjoying using them to roleplay their own WWE tournaments and discuss their favorite stars. Marketing EVP Geof Rochester said, “WWE is giving fans access to our brand in new and exciting ways– utilizing virtual worlds, social networking sites, widgets, and much more. This promotion with Habbo’s large, active community is a perfect fit for our expanding digital footprint.”

Millions of Us CEO Reuben Steiger commented, “Habbo pioneered the booming youth virtual world space and is one of the most internationally successful communities of its kind. We're especially pleased to be inaugurating our presence in Habbo with our longstanding client WWE. That aside, the ‘Habbo Royal Rumble’ campaign is jam-packed with fun, innovative programming and the stakes are high - the prize is among the most valuable we've ever offered in a promotion."

This is another example of the growing convergence trend, in which entertainment media properties are finding valuable extensions online, in virtual worlds and with game-like content. Reuben Steiger will be speaking on that very topic at our upcoming Worlds in Motion Summit at GDC (don't forget to register!)

Online game operator Sulake Corporation has announced that its teen social network site and virtual world, Habbo, formerly Habbo Hotel, has registered its 100 millionth user-created avatar since the service's launch in 2000.

According to Sulake, Habbo currently receives 10 million monthly visitors worldwide. In just the past six months, the community has grown by nearly 20 million registered new users, mostly due to a mix of factors -- new marketing and in-game campaigns, celebrity appearances in various countries, enhanced user features, and a recent site redesign.

Originally introduced in Finland, Habbo has expanded to 32 communities in countries across six continents. The service features an even ratio of female users to male users, with 70% of them aged 13-16 years old and 64% of its userbase visiting every day. On average, Habbo users spend 39 minutes at the site per visit.

Said Sulake CEO Timo Soininen: "During the past eight years, Habbo has maintained its vitality by listening to its users’ wishes and by adapting the service to meet Habbo’s needs. We humbly recognize the fact that Habbo is essentially our user’s own place and our role is to build and maintain a fun environment for them."

Soininen added: "This is an important landmark for Habbo. Attracting 100 million Habbos is a testament to how user generated content and activities in a fun cartoony setting create a compelling service and experience for teens. We have also lots of exciting plans for the future, and look forward to watching how Habbos engage with the world around them."

Website syndication provider Conduit and virtual world Habbo have released the Conduit-powered Habbo community toolbar, a new browser tool for delivering community features to Habbo's users.

Built on the Conduit Website Syndication Platform, the toolbar enables Habbo users to see their friends, messages, and community news from anywhere online. The customizable tool also accomomodates a variety of applications for accessing chat, forums, feeds, and My Habbo homepages.

Teemu Huuhtanen, Habbo EVP of business and president, North America, said, "Habbo's teens are invested in our virtual world --they interact, play games and develop self-expression here, but they also want to know what is happening when they are not in their Habbo community. Thanks to Conduit's technology, the Habbo community toolbar allows Habbos to stay connected in many ways. The functionality lets members see their friends, messages and Habbo news from anywhere online: It's a constant reminder of the community that's waiting for them, and therefore encourages them to keep coming back."

Conduit CEO Ronen Shilo commented: "Habbo knows that their members want to be active in their virtual lives every day and so they have made it even easier for them to get there. The secret for capturing the attention of the discerning and tech-savvy audience? Delivering personalized content, services, and cool technologies in one, convenient location that suits their Internet lifestyles."

Singapore-based distributor New Era Digital Interactive Media will bring two online games to the Philippines, MMORPG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and teen social networking site and virtual world Habbo, according to a report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer's gaming news site, hackenslash.

Sulake Corporation, the developer behind Habbo, announced in June that it registered its 100 millionth user-created avatar since the service's launch in 2000. According to Sulake, Habbo receives 10 million monthly visitors worldwide.

In just the past six months, the community has grown by nearly 20 million registered new users, mostly due to a mix of factors -- new marketing and in-game campaigns, celebrity appearances in various countries, enhanced user features, and a recent site redesign.

Though New Era plans to distribute and promote Habbo in the Philippines, the game will be hosted in Singapore. The company is currently in the process of opening an office in Pasig City and intends to eventually introduce prepaid cards for the game in the country, with denominations of ₱50 and ₱100 (approximately $1.23 and $2.45, respectively).

Social network and virtual world Habbo (formerly Habbo Hotel) began in Finland in 2000 and has since grown to a worldwide community with over 100 million avatars registered and over eight million unique visitors monthly -- heavily biased to the teen demographic, but with an even split between males and females.

Gamasutra's Christian Nutt talks to Jeremy Monroe, director of business development at Sulake about the challenges of creating, integrating and marketing brands to a diverse, worldwide community of teens.

Is creating opportunities with brands that fit with the audience something that you consider to be really key to...

Jeremy Monroe: It's critical. Actually I think it's something that is at the forefront of our brains when we go into a partnership. Not only does the company, but the property that they want to bring into the community -- does it fit? And we are willing to say no, if we don't think it's a fit. We do a lot of activity, like with Global Habbo Youth Survey, which is our market research, about what the community is interested in, how and where they're spending their time. What brands are interesting or cool to them, and what brands aren't. And what movies are interesting to them, what genres are interesting to them.

We take that data, and it's really the basis for how we approach potential partners, prioritize those partnerships, and prioritize the type of properties that are coming into the hotel.