Habbo Staff & Moderators
When Habbo first began it was a small community and therefore was not too much of a problem to keep in order, as the Habbo Empire expanded it came apparent that professional help was needed, this introduced the Moderation Team! This team was full of professionals who knew exactly what they were doing in their vital role. In 2001, when Habbo started Staff used the account 'HobbaContact'. Since this took a short while to type it was then shortened to 'HC'. This caused many problems when the exclusive Habbo Club came out as people were getting confused about the Habbo Club badge (says HC) and the 'HobbaContact'. After this confusion Habbo replaced 'HobbaContact' with the account 'Moderator', in 2004 another account was created called 'Moderator-2' which was for work on weekends when two moderators were required.
After a few months of this the Habbo Empire was still growing rapidly and so more moderators were required, instead of creating a mass of accounts called Moderator-3, Moderator-4, Habbo gave all moderators a name linked to their usual Habbo name, for example moosemaster's moderator name is MOD-Moose. This system is still in use. The Moderator powers were not added to the Habbo's usual account for security reasons, these members of staff work in shifts and are paid for their work.
Hobbas
To accompany the Habbo Moderators mentioned above, Habbo realised just how quickly it was growing. To try and keep costs low they introduced the 'Hobba', these were ordinary Habbos who worked for free to keep the hotel in control and aid the Moderator's hard work. These members of the community were given either a Silver or Gold Hobba badge to show their dedications.
These 'Hobbas' could do simple operations such as banning users for breaking the Habbo Way, kick users from rooms, edit room names and entry status, rights privileges in every room and a few other simple commands, not quite as many as Moderators though! A number of these powers were removed as more professional moderators were hired and had more time to conduct simple operations, meaning Hobbas no longer needed these powers. One of the privileges removed was having the ability to edit room names and having rights in every room, they did however gain access to a room regardless of it's entry settings. Why the team was called Hobbas is unknown, I believe it has something to do with the 'Habbo' name and the 'Bobba' filter. Put these together and you get Hobba, they were Habbos who dealt with people breaking the rules, such as avoiding the Bobba filter.
Becoming a Hobba has changed a lot through the Habbo timeline. At the start you could apply to be a Hobba at any age, this was a very bad move on behalf of Habbo as there were many young people taking control of the hotel and abusing their powers. Habbo took this error very seriously and bumped the age limit up to 16, where members of the team had a fair amount of knowledge and were mature enough to understand their role. This system was working fine but in 2003 the age limit was taken up to 18, people thought this was to do with law requirements, this theory was entirely wrong. This is something to take into account, though we do not know if this is true, it is thought that Habbo may get bad reports if they cannot confirm that all of their moderators are adults. Hobbas were not officially moderators but took on that role with much less power. The Hobba team was unfortunately removed in late 2005 for 'security reasons', and 'safety reasons'. However, many felt that the true reason was the fact that is wasn't a viable of effective option anymore.
Habbo eXperts
The next step after Hobbas was to introduce the new scheme for helping Habbos. Anyone, of any age could apply to become a Habbo eXpert when applications were opened by the team manager. Habbo eXperts, more often known as X's, would be mainly based in the Welcome Lounge(s) and would welcome new Habbos and answer any questions they may have. To identify these Habbos they had a special badge, which later in the X project evolved into sub-teams such as gaming, welcoming and technical eXperts. After 2 years of the eXperts project it was time for a change, and the X team was removed in 2008 and replaced with a new Habbo Guides scheme which anyone can use, without applying! This marked the end of an era where normal Habbo players had some chance to help with moderation. Former Habbo X's are identified by a badge on Habbo.
The Catalogue
A long time ago the Habbo Catalogue was very different to how it is today, I personally prefer the old style but it is understood why it had to change. Since there were a lot of new furni sets and categories being added to the catalogue it was beginning to get annoying having to scroll sideways to find what you wanted, to solve this Habbo redesigned the catalogue to make it easier and to house all of the new items. In a recent update, the purse was merged into the catalogue to make it easier for you to keep track of your credit balance whilst browsing the catalogue!
Stickie Notes
As with many of the other things that have changed in the years of Habbo, Stickie Notes haven't gone untouched. Many people prefer the colour changer button style than the new ones but hey, what can we do about it? At least we can close or delete them easier now!
Habbo Cameras
They've been around for a long time, but everything has to come to an end at some point, right? Well even if they don't, these did! There were a number of problems surrounding the camera, such as scripting which had been around since the early days of the camera, but it eventually got more serious and Habbo took the action to remove the feature completely. They were available for 10 credits each, and 6 rolls of film would cost you 5 credits. Once you had taken your picture using the special popup screen representing a camera with various zoom buttons, you could then enter a description and publish the photo if you wished to appear in your hand, which could then be placed on your Habbo wall!
Trading
A few years ago it was actually possible to trade presents. This led to many Habbos being scammed, another thing which drove people away from the hotel was that you could only enter 6 items into the trade box since if you entered more than one item the same, it wouldn't just merge with the existing one and have the number above, it would take up another box! You never used to get the popup box asking you if you were sure you wanted to give an item away either. This was then changed so you could enter 6 different items into the trade box and identical items would go in the same space with a new number around them. In a recent update, we are now able to trade 9 items at a time!
Weekly Competitions
In Habbo's early days there was a weekly competition entitled 'Wacky Wednesday'. This competition was free to enter and there was a guaranteed prize of 100 credits to one lucky winner! After running this competition for a while Habbo realised there was potential for money making. Wacky Wednesday was replace with 'Magic Monday' which maintained Wacky Wednesday's prizes and weekly occurrence, but you were made to pay 25p to enter via your phone! This competition then went under another change. This was 'Funky Friday' in which the way to enter stayed the same but the prize changed every week. After running this for a long time Habbo decided it was time to change it, so they allowed Habbos to submit a Funky Friday containing an opening paragraph(s), the prize and the question. In this version of Funky Friday not only would the winner get the prize, but also the person who submitted it. Since then, Funky Friday has departed and it was said that a new weekly competition would take it's place, which we're yet to see! After a while, it is now assumed that the era of weekly competitions, which had brought joy to many has ended.
Scam Busters
This was an extremely old feature which was operated by a team of Habbos who investigated reports of scammings. This team would follow the Habbo Records to find exactly what had happened and if the case was found to be true, the furni would be returned and the offender would have been banned. All submissions to Scam Busters were dealt with manually, meaning there was more chance of them finding your furni. Why this feature was removed is unknown, though it is probably because it took alot of time to follow the records and Habbo would have had to employ people to continue this service and this also posed a security threat by giving more users access to the Habbo Records.
Polls
Habbo seemed to be turning more and more money orientated as it expanded. Money is vital in running a successful business such as what Habbo was becoming so they needed more of it to pay their staff and pay the bills. One way they tried to do this was making Habbos ring a number to vote in a poll. This, of course, wasn't free so earnt them a little to invest in the business. You didn't even get anything from phoning these numbers, probably why it no longer exists today and there are now polls operated in the hotel, on the homepage and even on exterior sites!
News Letter
One of the most missed things from the past has to be the Habbo Newsie. Every week a new edition would be released, including articles written by the staff and by normal, everyday Habbos! Those Habbos who got their articles published in the newsletter would get a free typo on the hotel! The majority of the newsletter was written by the Hotel Manager, these were various articles on things like new Official Fansite Competitions and Furni Facts. Some of the pieces written by Habbos were poems and safety tips, some of which came from the Tech Team and Hobbas. There was also a Safety Newsletter released weekly, written by Wenders. The newsletter brought a number of interesting facts and even the odd competition! The newsletter often entitled the 'newsie' was funny and witty, with may Habbos finding it an enjoyable read. Later on in the newsletter's life it was only available by email, but the newsletter has now ceased to exist in Habbo. All there is now is the occasional email from Habbo with the latest events and the like, no articles to read!
Habbo Gaming
Habbo Games were a fun and interesting part of Habbo. The games Battle Ball, Snowstorm, Wobble Squabble and Diving were scrapped on the release of BETA. The Habbo team pledged they would return, but it never happened!
Habbo Guides
Habbo Guides replaced the Habbo Welcoming Part (which previously replaced Habbo eXperts). Habbo Guides were tasked with the task of welcoming new players to the Hotel. They were assisted with their role with a special guides console feature - which alerted them when new players entered the Hotel (it allowed them to stalk the new player and offer guidance). Guides were issued achievement badges every time they helped a set number of new players and befriended them. The Guides System was deactivated on the launch of BETA.
