Gender in Habbo

While exploring around Habbo Hotel I have started to “break out of my shell” or comfort zone. I am trying to be open minded but over all I believe that the virtual world I am apart of is creepy. As I mention in previous blogs, I am still questioning the whole idea of meeting people online. I have also joined for free; I have to still pay rent so I have nothing VIP in my hotel room.

I entered Habbo Hotel with the theme of gender on my mind. We determined in class that sex is between your legs, while gender is defined as what is in between your ears. Gender is how someone along with others view them self. It mainly deals with the ideas of femininity and masculinity that have been engraved into our minds since we were born. The idea that baby girl’s rooms are painted pink and boys blue before they even are born. Girls should play with dolls and boys should play with action figures or trucks. Girls should play dress up and boys should play sports outside. These ideas have been around for year, but I wonder if virtual worlds are creating an outlet for people to experience the opposite gender?

I have found it interesting that in Habbo land when I made new friends everyone asked me the same three questions:
1. Gender?
2. Age?
3. Location?
Now the funny thing is I replied differently each time I was asked these questions. It just refers back to the whole idea that in a virtual world you can say and look however you want, even if it was not how your parents or guardian raised you.

One feature Habbo has allows you the opportunity to change your gender by simply clicking the mouse on the boy’s head (I really want to show you all a picture but I have no idea how to post it). Talk about instant gratification. I think this virtual world is sending mix messages. The more time I spend in the hotel I realize that people I talk to could be lying about their age, gender and just about everything.

In my opinion in Habbo Hotel there really is no gender yet that seems to be the only thing people talk about. As we discussed earlier, gender deals with how we were raised to be either feminine or masculine.

Question:
In your opinion, what kind of message are the creators of Habbo sending to their users if you can change genders thought-out your experience in Habbo Hotel?