Stardoll

Last updated

Stardoll
StardollLogo.png
Developer(s) Glorious Games Group AB
Platform(s) OS Independent browser Game
Release2004
Genre(s) Fashion, Style, Social
Mode(s)Free Account

Superstar Account (Membership)

Royalty Account (Membership for over 1 year)

Stardoll is a browser-based game from Glorious Games. One of the world's largest online fashion communities, [1] Stardoll had reached over 400 million users as of January 2016. [2]

Contents

Focusing on an audience that is often overlooked by the gaming industry, Stardoll is open to everyone but focuses on providing a place for teens and young women to express their creativity and manage their own virtual fashion world, engage in creative social activities with other players around the world, and participate in mini games and challenges. [3]

History

Stardoll first appeared as a personal website featuring paper dolls from Finnish creator and enthusiast, Liisa Wrang. Inspired by a childhood passion for paper dolls, Wrang started drawing dolls and accompanying wardrobes and taught herself web design. Her personal homepage rapidly became a popular destination for teens. In 2004, with the help of her son, she upgraded the site and called it Paperdoll Heaven. [4]

In 2005, Stardoll was launched as a browser game under the guidance of CEO Mattias Miksche. The game was incredibly successful and served as a starting place for some of Sweden's top tech industry performers, such as Spotify founder Daniel Ek and Lifesum co-founder Marcus Gners and Henrik Torstensson. [5]

In November 2011, Stardoll teamed up with Mattel to release a Stardoll line of Barbie dolls. The "Stardoll by Barbie" collection featured eight fashion dolls, based on four of the most popular virtual Stardoll stores in Starplaza. Inspired by Stardoll avatars, "Stardoll by Barbie" dolls came packaged mirroring the signature Stardoll poses. [6]

In May 2016, Stardoll celebrated its ten-year anniversary. Also in 2016, Mattias Miksche bought out his partner investors and placed Stardoll in the hands of gaming industry veteran, Thomas Lindgren. "He knows everything about the gaming industry and was the first person to help me understand that Stardoll is a gaming company," said Mattias Miksche of Thomas Lindgren. Miksche now  serves the company as acting chairman of the board. [7]

Under new management, Stardoll AB changed its name to Glorious Games Group AB and has expanded its offerings to include Stardoll, mobile app Stardoll Stylista, and fashion retail and social networking app and website Clique. [8]

Concept

At Stardoll, players can create their own virtual doll or choose from a collection of celebrity dolls and dress them up in various styles of make up, clothing, and decor with a wide range of items available for purchase with in-game currency.

Stardoll appeals to a wide cross section of users, but their core membership consists of boys and girls from the ages of 13 and upwards. [9]

Stardoll was developed with an emphasis on self-expression through fantasy and fashion. [10]  

Players use in-game currency to purchase clothing, beauty, and decor items from Starplaza, the game's virtual shopping plaza. The Stardoll membership is free, and most of the game's core features are entirely free of charge. All members can earn Starpoints (experience points) and Starcoins (in-game currency) by doing different activities, competing in weekly competitions, and completing challenges in the game. [11]

Glorious Games

Glorious Games Group AB started in 2005; back when the company was known as "Stardoll AB" and focused on one single product: Stardoll.com.

Glorious Games is focused on creating games for young women, an audience usually overlooked by the gaming industry.

Led by CEO Thomas Lindgren, Glorious Games has expanded its offerings by creating two mobile apps: Stardoll Stylista and Clique, a social marketplace. [12]

Stardoll Stylista

Launched in 2016, Stardoll Stylista is a mobile app available for both iOS and Android. The game allows users to create and customize an avatar using beauty and fashion options. The avatar then follows a career track to become a world-famous stylist by styling friends' and other players' avatars for various social and career events.  Users also vote on various beauty and fashion looks by submitting their avatar to a daily competition.

The game is free to play but offers in-app purchases.  

Clique

Clique is an app and website offering social fashion resale released by Glorious Games.

Clique connects users with similar fashion interests and allows them to create cliques, member groups for buyers and sellers interested in similar styles or fashions. Users can create and lead a Clique group and receive a percentage of items sold within their group. The system is designed to offer sales incentives and the potential for micro business development to active users. [13]  

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattel</span> American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company

Mattel, Inc. is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth and Elliot Handler in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. Mattel has a presence in 35 countries and territories; its products are sold in more than 150 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaia Online</span> Anime-centered social media and forum website

Gaia Online is an English-language, anime-themed social networking and forums-based website with Chibi-style animations. It was founded as go-gaia on February 18, 2003, by Derek Liu, Long Vo, Josh Gainsbrugh, and the name was changed to GaiaOnline.com in 2004 by its owner, Gaia Interactive. Gaia originally began as an anime linklist and eventually developed a small community, but following a statement by founder Derek Liu, the website moved towards social gaming and eventually became forum-based.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dress-up</span> Game involving costumes played by people

Dress-up is a children's game in which costumes or clothing are put on a person or on a doll, for role-playing or aesthetics purposes. In the UK the game is called dressing up. In the mid-1990s, dress-up games also became a video game genre in which customizing a virtual character's appearance is the primary focus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Palace (computer program)</span> Computer program to access graphical chat rooms

The Palace is a computer program to access graphical chat room servers, called palaces, in which users may interact with one another using graphical avatars overlaid on a graphical backdrop. The software concept was originally created by Jim Bumgardner and produced by Time Warner in 1994, and was first opened to the public in November 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piczo</span> Social network and blogging website

Piczo was a social networking and blogging website for teens. It was founded in 2003 by Jim Conning in San Francisco, California. Early investors included Catamount, Sierra Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, and Mangrove Capital Partners.

WeeWorld was a Scottish social networking and messaging website, originally created in 2000 by a company based in Glasgow, Scotland, with smaller offices in London and Boston, Massachusetts. The company created WeeWorld.com, which hosted a massively multiplayer online game aimed at teens and preteens. The game was known for its brand of virtual world-based social simulation and customizable avatars known as "WeeMee's". The game was also released on a variety of digital platforms and services. By the time of its dissolution, there were an estimated 180 million WeeMees created worldwide.

BarbieGirls.com was an online virtual world created by Mattel, based on the Barbie brand. It opened on April 24, 2007 and eventually closed on June 1, 2011. International versions of the site closed on April 30, 2011. Mattel also released a line of MP3 players that looked like avatars from the website, these devices came with a free VIP membership for the site.

Avatars United was a web community for avatars of online games and virtual worlds. It was launched in March 2008 by Sweden-based Enemy Unknown and closed in October 2010. It was owned by Linden Lab, which announced its closure on September 23, 2010.

Xbox Avatars are avatars and characters that represent users of the Xbox network on the Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and Series S video game consoles, Windows 10, and Windows 10 Mobile. Avatars originally debuted on the Xbox 360 as part of the "New Xbox Experience" system update released on November 19, 2008, updated on Xbox One with "New Xbox One Experience" Xbox One System Software on November 12, 2015, and reimagined with the release of the next generation character for Xbox One on October 11, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roblox</span> Multiplayer game creation platform

Roblox is an online game platform and game creation system developed by Roblox Corporation that allows users to program and play games created by themselves or other users. Created by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel in 2004 and released in 2006, the platform hosts user-created games of multiple genres coded in the programming language Lua. Early in Roblox's history, it was relatively small, both as a platform and as a company. Roblox began to grow rapidly in the second half of the 2010s, and this growth was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

<i>Fantage</i> 2008 video game

Fantage was a MMORPG involving a virtual world containing a range of online games and activities, developed by Fantage Inc. The game featured a customizable anime-style cartoon avatar, called a "Fantagian", that users can customize with items ranging from hair to clothing and accessories. Fantage was released to the general public on March 17, 2008, and had since expanded into a large online community— the game had over 16 million registered users by January 2012 and over 30 million by December 2014.

Smeet was a browser-based virtual world video game developed in Berlin, Germany. Smeet is a browser based 3D social multiplayer online game. The game was developed by Smeet Communications GmbH.

<i>Barbie</i> (1984 video game) 1984 video game

Barbie is video game for the Commodore 64 published by Epyx in 1984. It allows players to participate in the life of the famous fashion doll of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woozworld</span> Virtual gaming community and social network service

Woozworld is a virtual gaming community and social network service founded in 2009 and headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Woozworld allows users to connect with each other through customizable profiles and interactive activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital fashion</span> Visual representation of clothing with digital software

Digital Fashion is a field of fashion design that relies on 3D software or artificial intelligence to produce hyper-realistic, data-intensive digital 3D garment simulations that are digital-only products or digital models for physical products. Digital garments can be worn and presented in virtual environments, social media, online gaming, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) platforms. The field contributes to the development of a more sustainable future for the fashion industry It has often been praised as an answer to ethical and creative concerns of traditional fashion by promoting innovation, reducing waste, and encouraging conscious consumption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AltspaceVR</span> Virtual reality social platform

AltspaceVR was a social VR platform that was founded in 2013 by Eric Romo and launched its initial product in May 2015. In 2017 it was acquired by Microsoft and became part of the Mixed Reality division within the Cloud and AI group. Some elements of the platform appear in Microsoft Mesh.

<i>Barbie Fashion Designer</i> 1996 video game

Barbie Fashion Designer is a dress-up computer game developed by Digital Domain and published by Mattel Media for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS in 1996. The game allows players to design clothing and style outfits. Players can then print off their designs and create clothing for their real-world Barbie dolls. Barbie Fashion Designer was the first commercially successful video game made for girls. After its success, many other girl games would be made, leading to the girls' games movement.

<i>VRChat</i> Virtual reality social platform

VRChat is an online virtual world platform created by Graham Gaylor and Jesse Joudrey and operated by VRChat, Inc. The platform allows users to interact with others with user-created 3D avatars and worlds. VRChat is designed primarily for use with virtual reality headsets, being available for Microsoft Windows PCs and as a native app for Android-based headsets such as the Meta Quest, Pico 4, and HTC Vive XR Elite. It is also usable without VR in a "desktop" mode designed for either a mouse and keyboard or gamepad, and in an Android app for touchscreen devices.

<i>Barbie Storymaker</i> 1997 video game

Barbie Storymaker is a 1997 movie-making kit video game by Mattel Media, within the Barbie franchise.

<i>Horizon Worlds</i> Virtual reality platform developed by Meta Platforms

Meta Horizon Worlds is an online virtual reality game with an integrated game creation system developed and published by Meta Platforms. On this multi-player virtual platform, players move and interact with each other in various worlds that host events, games, and social activities. They can also build and publish worlds similar to Rec Room. Horizon Worlds works on Oculus Rift S, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 3 headsets.

References

  1. ↑ "Barbie & Stardoll Unveil First of New Global Doll Line, Bringing Popular Virtual Dress-Up Emporium to Life". www.businesswire.com. 15 November 2011. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  2. ↑ "Happy 400 Million! | Stardoll". www.stardoll.com. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  3. ↑ "Glorious Games". www.gloriousgamesgroup.com. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  4. ↑ "Help: What is Stardoll? | Stardoll". www.stardoll.com. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  5. ↑ "Tilltufsat Stardoll byter vd och lanserar två nya spel". digital.di.se. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  6. ↑ "Barbie & Stardoll Unveil First of New Global Doll Line, Bringing Popular Virtual Dress-Up Emporium to Life". www.businesswire.com. 15 November 2011. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  7. ↑ "Tilltufsat Stardoll byter vd och lanserar två nya spel". digital.di.se. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  8. ↑ "Glorious Games". gloriousgamesgroup.com. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  9. ↑ "Help: What is Stardoll? | Stardoll". www.stardoll.com. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  10. ↑ "Help: What is Stardoll? | Stardoll". www.stardoll.com. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  11. ↑ "Help: Stardoll FAQs | Stardoll". www.stardoll.com. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  12. ↑ "Glorious Games". www.gloriousgamesgroup.com. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
  13. ↑ "CLIQUE - FEED". www.cliqueshop.com. Retrieved 2017-10-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.