Early 2000s MMO Habbo Hotel is surprisingly still an ongoing affair. Just like Second Life and Neopets, the once-beloved virtual playground is still around despite dwindling popularly. But what's next on the cards for the fledgling MMO?
As it turns out, NFTs are the next big plan for the Sulake-owned platform. Just like the aforementioned Neopets, the platform will be investing in non-fungible tokens to chase the latest trend.
Habbo Hotel NFTs
Announced in a blog post, the Habbo Avatars project is the MMO’s first attempt at capitalising on the cryptoart trend. Sold on Opensea, the largest NFT marketplace, the new NFT line is yet another useless collection of digital assets.
The NFT line consists of 11,600 “randomly generated Habbo Avatars” that can be purchased with Ethereum cryptocurrency. Each NFT looks like a player character from the MMO, but with crazier effects.
Currently, Habbo players who decide to purchase the cryptoart cannot use the NFTs in the virtual platform. However, the development team is “investigating the possibility of giving everyone who owns one the chance to use it as a type of avatar ‘skin’ for actual avatars they own inside the game.”
At the time of writing, each NFT is listed at a starting price of 0.25 ETH. That's the equivalent of nearly $700 per Habbo Avatar.
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Warned against scams
Habbo Hotel is designed as a family friendly MMO platform, one that makes everything as simple as possible. While obviously not fool proof, the virtual platform is created as an entry-level, safe online community for newcomers.
Due to the scam-filled, plagiarism-wrought nature of NFTs, Habbo owners Sulake has warned would-be customers against fake cryptoart. The platform informed the fanbase that there is a risk of being scammed when attempting to purchase a Habbo Avatar.
“It's absolutely crucial that you’re aware of the risks of being scammed if you try to purchase one of these avatars when they are released,” the company wrote. “Please ensure that if you are purchasing an NFT avatar from outside of the purpose-built Habbo Avatars website (e.g. Opensea), you verify that the avatar is a legitimate one from the Habbo Avatars collection, not a copycat.”
The world of NFTs is dangerous. NFT marketplaces like Opensea and Cent have struggled with plagiarism and wash trading. While there are legitimate cryptoart artists, there are also a lot of scammers.