Launched in 2010, Habbo is a social networking and online community where teenage and young adult users engage and interact with one another. Upon entering the world of Habbo, a new Habbo user will personalize their Habbo avatar and obtain their own personal hotel room. Following this, Habbo offers a variety of different public and guest rooms in which Habbo users use to have conversations, meet up with friends, play games, and sell/purchase items. Habbo currency comes in three forms: Credits (coins), Duckets, and Diamonds. The longer a Habbo user is part of the community, the more exclusive furniture and clothing they can purchase. Currency is obtained with each visit to Habbo, trading credits with one another, filling out surveys, and finding an in-game restaurant or coffee shop job. 

My Hotel Room in Habbo

Inspired by Boellstorff et al.’s discussion of identity in virtual worlds in Ethnography and Virtual Worlds: A Handbook of Method, I decided to further explore virtual identity vis-à-vis ‘real’ identity and how virtual Habbo space informs one’s expression of their identity via customization of their Habbo avatar. I was also intrigued by Boellstorff et al.’s point that “our informants will often see our choices in customizing our avatars as saying something about how we wish to be understood as participating observers” and incorporated this into my interviews with other Habbos (p.75). 

In an attempt to discover the ‘multiple truths’ that answer my research question, it was imperative that I first observed how the Habbo avatars behaved in and interacted with various accessible public and guest spaces. I found it significantly challenging to interact and connect with Habbos in rooms with 20+ users, so I decided to narrow in on rooms (typically guest rooms) with only 2-10 users. As a result, I found myself having more intimate and personal interactions in which I gained greatest insight into identity representation and ‘community’ in the Habbo world. Furthermore, it was also important to observe the behavior of Habbos conversing with one another. I discovered that sitting in proximity to another Habbo proved to be most conducive to striking up a conversation and typically informal text language was used for all interactions. Upon entering most rooms, I noticed that many had seating arrangements that the Habbos would use to converse. Habbos would either invite you to sit with them as a gesture that they wanted to chat or simply just sit next to you. It was also typical for Habbos to freely enter into others’ conversations and contribute to the dialogue already occurring. 

Invitation for Dialogue

After receiving consent from the Habbos I was interviewing, I would premise my conversation with questions including: Why do you play Habbo? How long have you been playing? What is your favorite room in Habbo? My conversations established that many Habbos played the game for the social interactiioion and international community afforded by the virtual platform, some played to improve their English, and some mentioned they didn’t enjoy playing but Habbo gave them something to do when bored. 

After asking these preliminary contextual questions, I would dive into questions regarding how Habbos dressed themselves and if their style representations on Habbo were similar to that in real life. I would also field questions: Do you feel like you have more creativity here in how you look versus in real life? Do Habbos judge other Habbos based on their looks? Do you dress differently when you move from room to room? The insight revealed from these conversations around these (and more) questions was particularly interesting and noteworthy. 

From a more purely observational standpoint, I also noticed that Habbos would occasionally compliment parts of one’s clothing (i.e. a crown/shirt). I also found that the Habbos were (unexpectedly) in-touch with the real world as many Habbo avatars would be walking around wearing face masks. What became further apparent from my conversations about identity with the Habbos is that one’s identity in the Habbo world was primarily defined by how much Habbo wealth one had. One’s Habbo wealth typically corresponded to how long one had played. On the other hand, one’s identity was not just defined by how expensive/rare one’s virtual clothing was but also by the type of luxury furniture displayed in their rooms that others could visit. Drawing back upon Boellstorff et al.’s point that “our informants will often see our choices in customizing our avatars as saying something about how we wish to be understood as participating observers (75),” I eventually learned that my simple Habbo clothing (that I could only afford as a newbie to the game) informed how others would interact with me. Habbos mentioned that they were more likely to interact with those with ‘rare’ clothing and furniture. 

Despite the fact that many Habbos were eager and willing to converse with me, I believe in order to better engage with/research the Habbo community, it would be important to establish myself in the world for a longer period of time and establish more friendships. I also question if it would be beneficial to invest in trying to dress less conventionally as a ‘newbie’ and more as a more experienced player. I personally wonder if altering my presentation of identity on Habbo would open up greater opportunities for more conversation. If I were to conduct more research in the Habbo world, I would be interested in looking more into the intersection of wealth and identity representation.

As a result of how the chat bubbles are presented on the screen, I am having trouble editing a video to maintain the anonymity of my research participants. Instead, I have included screenshots of some of my conversations.