Horseland As A Social Network
In addition to being a simulation game, Horseland also has many attributes of a social network. A great deal of Horseland's social network centers around user-generated content. Each player has a homepage that s/he can alter with HTML or CSS. Players often create and "sell" design codes for homepages, turning the code over to other players in exchange for coins. "Professional" (a.k.a. "pro") photographs and illustrations for horses and dogs are also exchanged between players.
Players can communicate with each other through flash-based chat rooms, in-game messages, personal blogs, forums and the flash-based 3D world. An additional feature of the game are lists of "Friends" which highlight each friend's last status or activity in the game. Players can send digital cards (sometimes called "Love/Luff Cards") to their friends (the occasion for this can vary, from birthdays to holidays).
Unofficial clubs are popular. Players create their own clubs through creating a new account. (Note: this is different from the official Horseland Clubs.) These clubs are run in a similar way to a "official" Horseland Club: they hold contests, gather members, create logos (called "club cards"), and propagate campaigns.
Players can also run in Horseland "Official" sponsored clubs. Becoming the "President" of a club allows a players to control animals that are accepted and rejected from the club. The "President" sets their own registry for the club for their term, each term lasts for one month. Players campaign to become "President" by TV'ing (trading votes) with other premium players. Often players hold voting contests in hopes of luring other players to help them gain enough votes to win in the club. Players can also "buy" votes off of other players who do not want to trade their votes. This is sometimes a controversial topic, as players can become presidents simply by "bribing" other players with a lot of money, instead of voting for a more ideal president.
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