The Builders Take Over

2015 · COMMUNITY CREATORS By 2015, Habbo had become a very different place from the small virtual hotel that had launched fifteen years earlier. The technology was newer, the catalogue was enormous and players had more building tools than ever before. But one of the most interesting developments was the growing role of players themselves in creating official Habbo experiences. The Builders At Work (BaW) program, introduced in 2014 as a successor to the earlier Room Builders Inc. program, really came into its own during 2015. Selected players were given the opportunity to work with Habbo staff and create official rooms, games and events for the community. Instead of simply playing inside rooms made by Sulake, talented players were now helping build the Hotel itself. Throughout 2015, new BaW teams were introduced and given short contracts to create official events. The teams produced everything from themed rooms and games to large event campaigns. One team alone created around 78 rooms across 10 events, showing just how much content these small groups of builders could produce. The program also became increasingly international. Different hotels had their own builders working on local projects, while the wider BaW program connected talented room builders from across the Habbo community. Contemporary coverage from early 2015 shows builders creating themed rooms representing places such as New York, Japan, Amsterdam and Disneyland, turning the furniture catalogue into complete environments rather than simply decorated rooms. And the builders weren't just making pretty rooms. Games became a major part of their work. BaW teams were tasked with creating playable experiences for campaigns and events, often using furniture, wired systems and room mechanics to turn an ordinary room into something players could actually interact with. This was the natural evolution of an idea that had been developing for years. In the early 2000s, furniture was primarily something to collect and trade. By the late 2000s, Wired allowed players to make games with furniture. By 2015, talented players were being trusted to build official experiences for everyone else. The furniture catalogue had effectively become a creative toolbox. The year also saw BaW continue to develop through multiple generations of builders. Teams changed throughout the year, with new groups taking over and continuing to create official content. By December, the ninth BaW team was being assembled, showing that the program had become a regular part of Habbo's community structure rather than a short-lived experiment. For Habbopix*, this is a particularly important part of Habbo history because it represents the growing recognition of player creativity**. The people who spent years learning how to manipulate furniture, room layouts and Wired systems were no longer simply fans building for themselves — some were becoming part of the machinery that created Habbo's official content. By 2015, the Hotel wasn't just something Sulake built for its players. The players were helping build it too.