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Lumisota

Lumisota is Finnish for ‘Snowwar’, and it’s a game developed for Radiolinja (GSM provider, later part of Elisa), pre-Kultakala, though Habbo founders were already hired by Ego Taivas Medialab. It launched February 2000.

It served as a test for commercial usage, since the players could “increase the effectiveness of their snowballs by buying extra force with text messages” (Habbo fact sheet, May 2006). A failed (but educational) experiment, says Sulka Haro, Habbo’s former ‘lead concept designer’, btw: “(…)it was the first place with functional items for sale. And we learned a lesson. It backfired. People hate when you can buy functional items.” In the end it served as inspiration for the games of ‘Snowstorm’ and ‘Freeze’ inside the hotel.