While trolling around Habbo hotel and trying to find if you could find anything that realtes raceand the site, I stumbled on to an repeating trend. Once you log into the lobby of the site there is all sorts of advertisements and options to custumize your avatar. If you look closely at all there ads such as hot and cool trophies that are to be given to females you consider hot or men you think are cool, you will notice that the avatars they show in all of these ads are white people. Also all but one have blond hair. There is a token brunette but the ad looks like a advertisement depicting Hitler's 3rd reich. Ther are also ads for soccerwith all white players and the special vip club that show only white avatar's which tells me that there saying you need to be white to be part of the vip. A s I walked around the Habbo mall that had 46 people in the room there was only one person with dark skin which I take as there is only one black person in the room or that they dont give you enogh options and diiferent races created a caucasion looking avatar. Also if you click on the habbo staff page you can look at there profiles and bios and of course everyone of them is white. In fact there is a picture of avatars walking aroound coporate Habbo and all the employees are white except for one token black men with his body cut off at the bottom of the page. You wouldn't even be able to see him unless you scroll all the way down.
The picture also has a white women on a chair looking down at the black man and she holding a stick like keeping him in line. Also when I went into a user night club that had about 45 members in it there again was only one dark skin male. The best partabout it was he was dressed like a pimp with big shades, pink fur cat and a hat with a feather in it. Now I don't know if that's what the guy really intended to where or that he didnt have many options beyond that. Point is, I though I would see more people of different races. Maybe it's because I didn't ask people what race there are and they could have just had a caucasion looking avatar or that this site isnt ethnic friendly and inviting to people of different color. Habbo's advertisements definatly are not going to be mistaken for P&G ads which are very multi racial and gendered.
After reading your blog on race, I entered Habbo Hotel's mall and the lobby. I agree everyone is white, which is very interesting because I happened to find a user created room that was all dark skin people. So I think the site is ethnically friendly it just depends on where in the hotel you explore. On the other hand, in a room of 46 people who is not telling the truth about their race. I have found that I am even not telling the truth about my age and such so why would other people.
ReplyDeleteI also don't understand how people can put so much time and effort into a virtual world when in reality you have no proof if these people are really who they say they are. I find it interesting that corporate Habbo is made up of only white employees and how the black employees body is cut off.