![]() ![]() ![]() These ‘Habbo celebrities’ should not be confused with occasional visits by actual celebrities such as Ozzy Osbourne, which are organised by Sulake as part of marketing and promotional activities.Founded in 2000, it began life as a virtual chat service that evolved into a digital hotel where users could customise their avatars and rooms, as well as hang out with friends and play minigames in common areas. Introduction to Habbo on Sulake Corporation's website, Available at (22 July 2008) claims strong growth in total user base globally. It is not unreasonable to assume that similar penetration continues today, given that Sulake (2008b) Sulake. Population and Cause of Death Statistics, Available at (22 October 2008), there are approximately 640,000 people aged 10–19 years in Finland. According to Statistics Finland (2008) Statistics Finland. 189), 57 per cent of Finnish Habbo users are 13–18 years old. Global Habbo Youth Survey, Helsinki: Sulake Corporation. press release, 8 December 2005, Available at (22 October 2008), Habbo Hotel Finland had 280,000 monthly unique visitors in 2005, although some probably just visited the front page. Habbo Hotelin luojat palkittiin Opetusministeriön Suomi-palkinnolla. ![]() So-called Digital Rights/Restrictions Management technologies attempt to turn media products into actual virtual commodities.Īccording to Sulake (2005) Sulake. The ease at which digital information is duplicated works against this interpretation being perceived as correct by the consumers. a digital brand image.Ĭopyright law of course tries to persuade users that media representations are commodities that can be sold by the piece. However, due to their digital nature, virtual commodities can remain extremely close to the objects that spawned them, e.g. In this parlance, virtual commodities are instances of ‘actual form’. a brand that is actualised as a series of sporting events. 182) use the similar term virtual object to refer to ‘potentials that generate a succession of actual forms’, e.g. Global Culture Industry, Cambridge: Polity. Our results suggest that virtual commodities can act in essentially the same social roles as material goods, leading us to ask whether ecologically sustainable virtual consumption could be a substitute to material consumerism in the future.Įxcept for the gradual wearing down of computer hardware and network infrastructure, and the electricity they consume. The discussion is based on a study of everyday practices and culture in Habbo Hotel, a popular massively-multiuser online environment permeated with virtual items. In this article, we examine the phenomenon from a sociological perspective, aiming to understand how some media representations come to be perceived as ‘virtual commodities’, what motivations individuals have for spending money on these commodities, and how the resulting ‘virtual consumerism’ relates to consumer culture at large. To some parents and authorities, this has been a shock: previously innocuous ‘consumption games’ suddenly seem to be enticing players into giving away their money for nothing. Selling virtual items for real money is increasingly being used as a revenue model in games and other online services. ![]()
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