User:Kwekubo/Dobedo rewrite

Dobedo is a former Sweden-based dot-com company that ceased operations following the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s-early 2000s. The site was an online chat room in the form of a two-dimensional virtual world and was aimed at 16-21 year olds, first in Sweden and later in the UK and Germany as well.

When a new member signed up, s/he would create an avatar and explore the island, which consisted of many 'rooms' including private ones. Community members were able to participate in a storyline set out by the editorial teams behind each site variant. Characters who were a part of the story would often join in the chat, interacting with site visitors as if they, too, were 'real'.

At one point in the history of Dobedo, an egg was discovered on the island (in reality, a graphic installed at the behest of the editors). After some time, the egg began to show signs of occasional movement and was discussed by the entire community, asking 'what could it be?'. It hatched eventually, spawning a robot known as 'Robo-Bob' which began attacking the members of the site and other characters. This was not unusual; members of the site loved it precisely because of the fact that anything could, and often did, happen thereon including virtual storylines involving false imprisonments, theatre shows, parties, pop star interviews, money being given out by Dr Trumpfellow - the island's resident 'evil capitalist bully' - only for it to turn into dog faeces after a set period of time... Creative, funny and often shocking events were commonplace. The site was, after all, despite its cartoon appearance, not aimed at children nor were children welcome or expected to sign up for the service.

Robo-Bob began to change all of the story characters into robotic slaves, giving them the choice of whether to join him and change their avatar to one sporting a robotic head, or whether to fight him. Eventually, the robot was destroyed by Priss, one of the editorially-created characters. She was the girlfriend of Danny C, who originally found the egg.

This was but one example of the crazy and inventive storylines on Dobedo which were the predominant reason for the site's cult status. People were still writing and maintaining blogs and other websites lamenting Dobedo's closure and calling for its resurrection as late as 2006. It is fondly remembered by many and is a direct ancestor to contemporary chat sites such as GaiaOnline and Second Life and was, for its time, remarkably advanced, offering almost as much as its descendants today in terms of built-in email, avatars, rooms and items for personal selection.

Another trait of Dobedo was that it used 'zapping' as a form of punishment. Members of the chat service who had built up trust and recognised responsibility among their peers and the editorial team were often rewarded with the gift of a 'Zap wand' which was similar in operation to the operator privilege on IRC networks. This wand effectively drafted people - willingly - into the Dobedo virtual police force and could be used to silence disruptive and abusive members who broke the terms and conditions of the site. A strict zero tolerance approach was enacted towards racism, homophobia, sexism and bullying. The worst offenders could be sent to a 'dungeon' for varying lengths of time or the editorial team had the option to delete and ban accounts.

One of the most popular things on Dobedo was the ability to collect items from various 'machines' dispensing drinks or coins or other bits and pieces. On the Swedish site paid-for items were experimented with but these were not introduced on either the UK or German sites because the editorial teams on both these objected strongly to overt money-making efforts within the chat experience itself.



Dobedo was NOT funded by advertising as this Wiki entry previously stated prior to revision. That was incorrect or at best incomplete information. Dobedo was funded by venture capitalists from its inception to its closure during the dotcom bust period around 2000. However, in the Swedish version of the site, ads were incorporated into the chat but that never happened in either the UK or German incarnations. In the UK, a deal was struck with MTV to provide the TV company with MTV-branded Dobedo chat rooms which led back from MTV to the Dobedo island but, unbelievably, no money ever exchanged hands. Dobedo gained nothing from the moneyless partnership and at the time many staff, particularly in the UK office which was known for being both the most radical and inventive branch of the company with its most senior editorial staff located in London, were at the time very angry at what they saw as the Swedish office going 'over their heads' and ignoring their advice about the deal.

Dobedo closed when the venture capitalists decided to end their funding despite having made assurances of long-term support prior to the dotcom bubble bursting which affected many companies. Ex-employees of Dobedo berated Beedo, the company behind it, for failing to match its creative ingenuity with anything approaching a realistic and pragmatic long-term business model for success.

When Dobedo was shut down, some of the original technical team behind it decided to launch a new chat website, in Sweden only, under the name Chili.

Dobedo's International Story Editor Andy Hinkinson-Hodnett - known to Dobedo-ers as Hinky and providing the personas behind Evil Bob, Robo-Bob, Diana, Dr Trumpfellow, and Danny C as well as being the motivating force behind many of the most outrageous storylines - went on to work as a copywriter and journalist for a number of websites and magazines, including Attitude, The Pink Paper and Boyz.

Dobedo's historical contribution to the development of online virtual worlds cannot be understated and it should not be forgotten on that basis alone. Certainly, those who used the service will likely remember it always. Especially those who met and fell in love on Dobedo and held virtual 'weddings' thereon.