Website Review: Habbo.com
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that ads and foul, sexist, and
homophobic language run thick on this popular teen chat and
gaming site based inside a virtual hotel. It's not rare for
avatars to sling "I ain't Fred Flinestone but I can make your
bed rock miss new booty" or " Fat Fu'Ckk" in the public rooms.
But, on the plus side, moderators can ban users for hours,
days, or even permanently for offenses. Teens buy Habbo Coins
to pay for stuff to decorate their personal hotel room, play
games, and buy music, and more. The coins are only 20 cents
each, but when you consider that users must pay to do almost
anything engaging on the site (other than walking around and
participating in chats), the cents can add up to dollars rather
quickly.
Families can talk about safety in virtual worlds. What kind of information should be off-limits? What's OK to tell people? Even though Habbo is supposedly moderated 24/7 by expert moderators, why does racist, vulgar, and mean language still get through? How can you report someone who's being rude, abusive, or inappropriate? How much time should be spent in these virtual worlds versus in the real world? What are the advantages and disadvantages to chatting online? Families can also discuss consumerism in virtual worlds. What are users really getting in return for their cash by buying pretend stuff in this pseudo-world? Why do sites like this one that have nothing to do with shopping carry the names of real stores, like Target?
Common Sense Media Review
It's more like the Hilton (
Paris,
that is) than the Ritz, yet the Habbo Hotel is bustling with
millions of teen fans looking for fun.
HABBO.COM touts itself as a free virtual community where teens can design their own hotel room, participate in chats, play games, listen to music, and explore the Habbo world, all in a moderated, filtered environment. No one under 13 is allowed to use the site (although if you type in your age as 10 or 11, you're still able to sign up), and users under 18 are supposed to have parental assistance to register, according to site rules.
Once registered with a birthdate and email address, kids create their own avatar, choosing from fun options like bunny ears and purple hair to face shape and skin tone. The avatars then hang out in one of the many colorful and inviting virtual meeting areas. Helpful "HabboX" experts hang out, ready to lend a hand to newbies.
So far, so good? Well...it doesn't take long to notice that a lot of vulgar, sexual, mean, and racist ("ur mom is sukin me now," "Shiite," and "n--ga," for example) talk gets through the safeguards; kids can purposely misspell words to get them through the filters. And, the overabundance of ads for everything from Sunkist to Verizon popping up every time you enter a new area makes it nearly impossible to get anywhere without the implantation of buying messages.
Unfortunately, the arcade-style games such as Battle Ball, Wobble Squabble, and Snowstorm (like a giant team snowball fight) don't have any serious overall educational value. And, of course you have to buy Habbo Coins and pay to play any of them.
Ahh…the Habbo Coins. Users can buy them either via mobile phone text message, from a home phone, at Target, or in other ways. At 20 cents each, the coins don't seem like much of a financial commitment to the "suite life" -- until almost anything a teen may want to do on the site costs multiple coins. For example, membership to the Habbo Club is 30 coins a month; furniture isn't free; you may want to pay someone to stay in a room to play a game with you; and…you get the idea.
There are limits to how many Habbo Coins can be purchased daily and the moderators can ban users for hours, days, or even permanently for offenses ranging from scamming to vulgarity, cybersex or hate speech.
For safer social networking sites, teens can check out Facebook.com or Studio2B.org.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
