![]() ![]() (I was also whoring PS2 heavily too, mainly the GTA series, but these didn't have a hold on me like Habbo did). I got through those GCSEs on the arrogance of my own skills for exams, I can crash revise and blitz them easily, no need for extensive revision, that was for suckers, screw the hard work, I'll play Habbo. (2005/6) Fast-forward to GCSEs (end of high school exams), I did the bare minimum of effort, played Habbo till late before every exam, now living with my post-rehab mum in a low-income area surrounded by crime and the unemployed, I'd given school the two fingers long ago, all that mattered was my online world, my social life was still good mind, I had the friends I had before, but I was still hiding, by now hiding it from my mother too, to whom I was proud to show it to back in 2003. Pretty soon I'm in foster care, using the site to cling to one of the few uninterrupted narratives of my life, my friends were all there, my wealth was now modestly pride-inducing, my rooms were well designed and I was engaged in the community. (2004)I started buying credits, £3 on the homephone here and there, hid from parents, but they didn't notice, because all the while I'm using it to escape my parents divorce, my mum's alcoholism, my dads unplanned absences, caring for my baby brother after school when they did not, escaping to Habbo afterwards to ignore it all. Our broadband was sketchy, and I had the hub PC, so I'm already raging when the connection dies, I have vivid memories of that green status light on the modem flashing in the dark nights in my bedroom, hoping, praying that it would go solid so I could get back on my dreamland. I'm already at the point where I've stopped engaging with other hobbies, If I'm not out with friends, I'm on my pc, I'm on Habbo. You see, Habbo has this great composition, it's cartoony but not too much, it's colours are bold but not so garish, the designs nod to many a pop culture reference, its UK origins saturate its lingo and furniture design, I clicked 'check-in' and there I was, in my own world of isometric creation, I was 8 again, playing introvertedly alone in my bedroom with Lego, oh the hours, days I played with Lego, creating all manner of things, now I could do it online, and socialise too? Heaven. ![]() Those isometric lines held sway over me in a scary way, I was already thinking of it during class time, planning ideas to build rooms and gain more furniture, I already had a small friendship base, I couldn't stop playing, I begin hiding my continued enjoyment of the website from all my high school buddies. ![]() So we're setting up in-game 'mafias' and giving each other rares and furniture (the economy has a vast array of 'rare' items, some of which have seen stupendous prices rise and fall over the years, purchasable with 'credits' which themselves have had significant inflation) - the cold winter nights in late 2003 were spent well each of us at home, pissing about on Habbo together, I loved every minute.īy christmas however, they'd gotten bored, one by one they stopped playing, moved on, saw it as any old crap game, but by then I was already hooked. I arrived in the summer of 2003, we had a slow-ass Pentium II and my friendship base were all starting to get broadband at home, I hear about this website in high school and decide to check it out, instantly love it, and get all my irl friends on it asap. It's been many years in growing realisation that this place has consumed me for longer than I care to admit to anyone. It began in 2001, I discovered it in 2003 on the UK server, which was the largest 'hotel' at the time with an international, 24/7 community, when people spoke of Habbo elsewhere online, whether it was raiding by 4chan or general awareness of it, it was the UK hotel and later the. They can visit other users' rooms and chat, play games, trade in the expansive economy, bet or simply kill time. What is Habbo? Habbo is an online 'hotel' where users create an 'avatar', set-up their own room - and fill it with furniture. Like Coke Studios or Runescape, these are community platforms that have been rolling since the early days of widespread internet use, growing and (with the exception of CokeStudios) expanding since their inception, almost constant up-time and minimal lag, free playability and improved experience through paid subscription etc. I know what you're thinking, Habbo? That silly isometric shockwave-based browser game for teens, is that even real gaming? ![]()
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