Reflection

Overall my experience was eye opening...again. I consider myself to be very internet savvy, and definitely am not offended or shocked by many things on the internet, but Habbo takes the cake. Being an adult, it’s shocking to see that this Hotel is really just a cesspool for internet dating and cyber sex. I was mostly just observing, and it seemed that every room was dominated with girls and guys looking for significant others. It did not matter what the theme of the room, it seemed to be springtime at all times, because Internet love was definitely in the air. I simply went into about 5 rooms, and really nothing changed but the décor, conversation's all seemed to have the same draw, and mostly was inappropriate. I did notice that there was little to no interaction between members of the same sex. I would approach guys and say hello, and immediately they would walk away without a word,but when I would approach a girl, it became imperative to keep her attention, or they would quickly walk away.

I found this to be a daunting task as I was not looking for a quick internet hookup or a Habbo girlfriend.

I think that Habbo is creating a poor social structure for these teens. Many of the teens go through numerous boyfriends in one night; I witnessed the ultimate accomplishment in speed dating as I watched one girl go out with and break up with two guys in the span of 20 minutes. I think that this kind of behavior will contribute to unhealthy dating behavior outside of the virtual world. This may give teens, especially the 10-13 demographic the idea that relationships can be disposable. This generation is already dominated by disposable technology, what is “in” and “top of the line” can be thrown out and obsolete within days, I feel that this kind of behavior could contribute to that within their dating habits.

Secondly I believe that though Habbo makes sex and alcohol seem cool. I witnessed many people hook up at a virtual club, and also had the displeasure of walking too close to a “couple” engaging in cyber sex in the general chat. I stated earlier 90% of the users on Habbo are between the ages of 13-17, so I know these kids are too young to be partaking in cyber sex. This kind of behavior personifies sex, and may lead to the idea that if its okay to “cyber” with a different partner every night; the same must be true with real intercourse. It may be all fun and games on the Internet, but in real life, these children have to deal with the reality of sexually transmitted infections, and pregnancy. I'm sure I sound like a public service announcement, but most of these kids don't know the implications of their actions. In the clubs, I noticed that there are always bars, and though its fake it’s still sending the wrong message that it is cool for kids to drink. They walk their avatar up to the bar, and order a fake drink, but this can lead to wanting to try alcohol outside the virtual world. Granted it is not always easy to obtain, but when I was a teen I always believed that if there is a will there is a way. Lastly, while I visited “tha Street” I saw a girl talking about “tossing her cigarette into the fire”, so not only are they pretending to drink, but they also are pretending to smoke. This is another terrible habit, and if the teen thinks its cool to pretend to smoke on Habbo, than it could be conceived as cool, in the real world, and that is the same stereotype that we have been trying to end in America.

Race and Gangs in Habbo

Race is always such a taboo topic in our society. It seems that you cant debate and talk about race without offending someone. Its a shame that the topic is so taboo as race is a important way in which people identify themselves. I decided to take a look at race in the virtual world of Habbo Hotel.

As I was joyfully skipping around though the rooms of Habbo Hotel I really noticed no reference to peoples race. It seemed that they were too interested in finding a girl to take back to their apartments. The one time I really saw race in play was when I decided to visit one room, titled “tha Street.” My assumptions about the décor were correct, It looked like I was in South Central, Las Angeles, the doors and windows were boarded up, people were congregating on the basketball court and there was an abundance of barrel fires. I started watching the conversation unfold; it got offensive fast; many Habbos were accusing people of being bloods or crips. I watched as racial slurs were thrown around at will and guys calling the girls the ever so famous Don Imus catch phrase “nappy headed hoes”. I figured that the basketball court was definitely not my kind of place, so I traversed over to the park benches and listened in as a group of girls argued over some guy; apparently they were all his girlfriends, and he had been hiding them from one another. I guess even in the virtual world, cheating men get what they deserve. I had seen enough!

The kind of portrayal of African American and Latino culture was very poor, and actually somewhat offended me. I watched as they talked about raiding other gangs rooms, and as they mentioned targeting the Latin Kings. I wondered to myself, if there people portraying black gang members online were actually African Americans in real life, I decided to ask. Upon asking the ever so controversial question of “are you actually African American,” I received very heated responses. All of which I dont feel comfortable sharing on this blog. Lets just say the word bobba was thrown around a lot.

His brings me to my question, Do you feel that these kind of racial representations will give tween the wrong idea about race relations? Also with these gang's on Habbo, will it encourage youths to join gangs? Explain.

Sex and NightClub X ( Insert techno music here)

I sit here with a heavy heart, as an academic I feel exploring sexuality in a virtual world is

important, but as a human being I feel like a pedophile, and that Chris Hanson will be watching

my every move. I was not exactly sure how to go about doing this in a safe, secure, no explicit

conversation, and without feeling like pedophile.

I decided that the best way to see what really goes on in Habbo was to join the most popular room, “ Nightclub X.” I entered the room and just as I thought, the room looked like a nightclub. As “Banter” entered, he was immediately adjacent to a bar, complete with bottles on the shelves and martini glasses on the wall. I continued into the club, and saw that couches were lining the wall with two large tables in the center with girl avatars dancing on top of them, there were also two large dance floors on each end of “Nightclub X” with flashing lights. I decided to take my avatar to a couch and just watch the conversations unfold.

I witnessed what seems to be the seventh circle of hell in teenage form. I watched as one of the girls in flesh color clothing danced in front of a male toon, and role- played the job of a stripper. This girl, “rockerswet” as she had named herself, was dancing and saying things in chat such as “ * I take off my Bra*” (On the internet the asterisks denote an action), and continued by saying “ * I take my bra and wrap it around your neck and dance. *” I was unaware, at this point, of how far my jaw could actually drop. I decided that I really needed to move away from the pseudo strippers before Chris Hanson shows up in my kitchen saying that he has my chat logs.

The conversations were all very dull and were in poor English. The girl would go up to someone and say “hi” the male would then respond with the typical “what’s up?” I found this to be a very normal trend in the ritual of Internet conversation, but after “what’s up?” is when things became strange. The girl then told the guy that he looked cute, keep in mind that these are two-dimensional avatars that all have the same proportions; it looks much like a Utopian high school. The guy returned the compliment, and proceeded to ask if the girl would like to go back to his place, the girl obliged. The fact that these 13 year old boys were able to bring girls back to their internet domain with such ease will only cause them emotional pain in the future, because It is not that easy in the real world.

I decided that Habbo Hotel is a sexual cesspool of internet STD's as it seems the whole hotel of people looking for quick internet nookie. This promotes terrible norms for young tweens and is just one reason I think that Habbo Hotel is the absolute worst place on the internet, even worse than 4chan... oh wait, maybe I wont go that far. Do you feel that this sort of sexuality is bad for tweens? Its said that this is a time where kids are becoming curious but does this cause unattainable sexual ideals for the future? Does the notion of have cyber sex with anyone with no consequence translate into teens having the idea that they can have sex with anybody with no consequence? Whats your opinion on tweens being exposed to sexual themes through virtual worlds?

Are You Single? Gender In Habbo Hotel

Post number 2 of the day, and I find myself eating cereal out of a cup because I am too lazy to run a load of dishes...Hooray College. Anywho, I digress, I will be looking into Gender and ho it is represented in the tween hell that we call Habbo Hotel. I would just like to reiterate my hate for Habbo by stateing that my root canal may have been more enjoyable than Habbo. Atleast during my root canal they numbed my face, when im in Habbo I feel that I am numbing my brain.

The Gender roles in a tween hell are exactly as you would anticipate, the guys go around and try to find themselves a mate while the girls seem to be waiting for a guy to come ask them out. I feel that Habbo defiantly reinforces the gender roles that we already have in place. The girls feel they need to find a virtual significant other while the guys feel that they need to be the alpha male. I feel that most of the gender roles that are evident in Habbo are ones that are reinforced through the terrible shows that Viacom pollutes VH1,CMT,and MTV with. Many of the Habbo citizens are 16 and under and many of their beliefs are coming from what they see on T.V.

I believe that girls on Habbo are doing nothing but conforming to society, and doing nothing to individualize themselves. Many of the girls ( im using the word girls because it is my belief that 98% of the girls on Habbo are between the ages of 10-16) come across as needy. Earlier today as I was creeping in the hotel I saw girls saying “ Press 444 if you want me.” Basically reinforcing the role that girls need to be with a guy. The girls in Habbo are all just searching for a internet relationship.

The guys on the other hand are all trying to become the alpha male. It seems that they are all starved for attention and must try to one up each other and try to attract the most woman he can. Basically a wolf pack mentality where all other males must submit to the alpha. Another gender norm that takes place in Habbo is what I would like to call the Master Lock Syndrome. There is a saying that refers to the male and female sex life and it goes like this. A key that opens many locks is a master key, but a lock that is opened by many keys is a shitty lock. Basically this is saying, if a male has sex with many woman, he is the alpha, and a girl who has sex with lots of men is undesirable. I feel that this is backed up in Habbo as many guys look for multiple girlfriends and girls seem to try to just search for just one.

In my opinion Habbo is doing nothing but furthering the dominant hegemony of gender roles in society. The reason for this is that many of its users are still to young to understand what they are doing. Nonetheless these roles will carry through their life, and with these roles being reinforced while they are young, unfortunately they will probably stay the same as they get older. What can we do as a society to teach children while they are young the rights and wrongs of gender roles? Is it possible? Or would we have to reconstruct our gender roles as a whole?

Who The Bobba Am I? Identity in Habbo Hotel

I log into Habbo Hotel and immediately grimace at the thought of what I am about to witness. I move my cursor, open my Itunes, play some Eels because that will be the only thing that will make playing Habbo Hotel bearable. Over the course of my two quarters studying Habbo I have decided that it may be my least favorite place in the world, I enjoy going to the dentist much more than I enjoy going to Habbo. At least my dentist offers a bit of stimulating conversation instead of “ will you be my boyfriend” and “wanna bobba.” With that in mind I would like to discuss Identity in Habbo Hotel.

In the avatar creation process, just like any virtual world you are able to customize the look of your toon. In Habbo everybody is the same shape, everybody resembles Lego people. What you are able to customize is the cloths you wear, your hair, skin tone and accessories. Only basic options are free, you have to purchase Habbo Coins in order to buy the bling bling. I believe that it is hard to really match your avatar with your real life self, first off I have a much better butt than my Habbo character. Second off, the options seem very limited. There is only a hand full of styles to choose from, and in my opinion most Habbos look similar.

In my experience it really did not matter what your Habbo was wearing, you essentially were treated the same. I felt as if all Habbo's were the same. Little tween robots whose only goal is to score with a lego brick looking person of the opposite sex. I will touch more on the tween lego sex in my sexuality post. The way to gain an identity in habbo is to do one of two things. First you can spend tons of money to buy furni, which is virtual furniture in which you can use to decorate your domicile as you please. Secondly you can join a gang.

I was unaware of how organized these gangs were! As my naive Habbo stumbled into a room called Habbo Bloodz, my jaw dropped at what I saw. Every male in the room was in red, and wearing a red bandana. Racial slurs were being shouted left and right and many of the girls were fine with the sexist remarks made towards them. I was soon spotted as my tall black top hat was not the social norm for their little habbo club, they soon started threatening me. I being the mature adult on Habbo, decided that I would start dropping some mad knowledge on their habbo behinds and I participated in the shouting match.

After spending too long in Habbo I realize that you really lose all sorts of identity in Habbo. Unless you are part of a gang, you do not have a name. Nobody cares about the name of your avatar, all they care about is your age, weather your male or female, and if you are single. People are expendable in Habbo. Feelings are ignored, as relationships are replaceable. This is a breeding ground for tween internet relationships and cyber sex. If you get dumped by your virtual partner, you can find someone new instantly. The individual is not important in Habbo. This raises me to ask this question... Habbo is a world that is directed towards tweens, with the individual not being valued and people being expendable, how do you feel this effects tweens in their social lives outside of Habbo Hotel?