habbohotel.com

One of the most popular uses of the internet is to communicate. Primarily this manifests itself through the huge amount of email that floods through the wirse every day. Yet chatting is always popular too.

Internet chat rooms, especially those favoured by people like myself, such as Internet Relay Chat (modelled on CB radio) are very bland and basic. You type and it appears. Not much scope for creativity!

Previous attempts to 'jazz up' internet chat left the world with the terminally hateful Microsoft Comic Chat and a few graphical 3D avatar sites that didn't work properly. Thank heavens something new has come from Scandinavia!

Habbo Hotel is a chat site with a difference. To enter you have to create a little person called a Habbo and check into a hotel. You can choose everythign about your Habbo's appearance... a great boon. Check out the afro wigs! Once checked in you can check out different, vaguely 3d cartoony rooms. The other characters there are real people - and you can talk to them through your Habbo avatars.

I have only been to this site a few times, but each time I was stuck for hours, transfixed. The backdrops are utterly beautiful, the idea wonderful. The Habbos are sweet and unique - policed by secret cops to clear up the vulgarities and make the hotel (at least it's public rooms) clean for family use.

The subtlety is wonderful. If you are standing one side of the room, you can 'overhear' other people: but only bits of their conversations! You can also shout and whisper too.

You can also order drinks for your Habbo, go clubbing and most fun of all, play games with other real Habbos - eg. Battleships or chess. It's wonderful fun and you will be engrossed. You can, if you like, make a private room and invite your mates up to it. You can lock it. You can furnish it. There isn't a lot you can't do - except fight, which is probably a good thing.

Most people that have been there love it - but be prepared to sacrifice al your bandwidth to its Shockwave beauty. In my opinion - the cost is well worth it. There isn't a lot that would take be away from the geek-chic of IRC, but this is one hell of a contender.