Stardoll Information

Stardoll is a browser game for girls and boys based around the paper doll concept. Launched in 2004, the website was attracting a reported 200 thousand unique users a month (as of September 2009); as of September 2011 there were over 124 million users worldwide. Users can dress up dolls using a range of tools and can participate in interactive activities depending on the type of account they used. There are also "educational" games included in the site which are claimed to improve quick thinking.^[1] Members can create clubs, in which they communicate with other members.

History

Stardoll first appeared as Paperdoll Heaven in 2004 as the personal page on paper dolls of creator Liisa Wrang (a 57-year-old Finnish retired housekeeper^[2]) grew from its original home on Geocities.^[3] It expanded in 2006 after receiving venture funding from Index Ventures^[4] and Sequoia Capital.^[5] Relaunched in 2006, the site targets a demographic of girls and boys between the ages of 9 and 17, who can either register for free or sign up for a paid account (called a 'Superstar' account) that opens a number of aspects on the site.^[6] The site also has user-run fashion magazines, clubs, instant messaging, and virtual shopping. Each Stardoll member is supplied with a personal page and message one another via a built-in chat. The site has drawn interest from celebrities and fashion designers, some of whom are represented on the site either as one of the figures that can be dressed up (such as Avril Lavigne and Hilary Duff)^[7] or through use of their respective fashions labels.^[8] It has been named a Webware 100 winner by CNET.^[9]

Some critics of Stardoll and similar sites have expressed concerns with the commercial aspect of Stardoll.^[10] The site has also experienced controversy around their use of celebrity likenesses without permission from the celebrities' management.^[11]

In November 2011 the Stardoll by Barbie doll line was introduced. This contains eight different dolls, with two of them each being from the Starplaza stores Fallen Angel, Bonjour Bizou and Pretty 'N' Love, and the remaining two being from a new store called Doll Space. There were also three 'Hot Buys' fashion packs released. Each doll contains 100 stardollars and a weeks' Superstar subscription.

Stardoll Royalty

Stardoll royalty is a form of paid membership that you get when you have been on stardoll and a superstar for over a year. The benefits of being royalty are

• A diamond next to your doll
• Access to the VIP club
• Hear news before others, like new LE or antidote

The owner used to be Clubcreator who was a stardoll staff member, that creates most clubs. In late 2010 Mette.stardoll became a new stardoll staff and took over the club. She aims to make it a place where people can talk about all things stardoll related. Many stardoll staff are members of the club, which tells members they are " Exclusive."

Stardoll staff

The staff at stardoll.com are

Arabic Raghda.Stardoll

Austrian Merle.Stardoll

Brazilian Julia_Stardoll

Danish Nynne.Stardoll

Dutch Daphne.Stardoll

Finnish Oona.Stardoll

English Callie.stardoll

French Noemie.Stardoll

German Selina.Stardoll

Greek Danae.Stardoll

Italian GiuGiu.Stardoll

Korean Yuna.Stardoll

Norwegian Mette.Stardoll

Polish Gosia_Stardoll

Portuguese Leonor.Stardoll

Russian nastya_stardoll

Spanish maite.stardoll

Swedish Svea.Stardoll

Swiss Leon.Stardoll

Turkish Eda_Stardoll

The stardoll.com staff aim to make stardoll a fun and safe place. They're suites look very rich, and have lots of Limited Edition, Antidote, other limited clothing and real brands, to convince the slightly dumber new members to upgrade there account to superstar, looking at all the 'fun' they can have and what they can do. They also have a lot of starpoints and win competitions. All the staff are workers at the STARDOLL HQ in they're country. The stardoll staff are not always the same person however, as shown in an interview with the real callie stardoll on a well known stardoll blog HERE You can tell a member is stardoll staff by a badge on they're user information, saying STARDOLL STAFF. This is so members do not pose as them

Real celebrities on Stardoll

Well known people with verified accounts are identified as "Real Celebs" on Stardoll. As of the July 8, 2011 listing on Stardoll they included the following:^[12]

• Alberta Ferretti
• Alyson Michalka
• Amy Diamond
• Augustus Prew
• Avril Lavigne
• Dakota Blue Richards
• Darin
• Faith Hill
• Kimora Lee Simmons
• Milly & Becky Rosso
• Paulina Porizkova
• Sabrina Bryan
• Vivienne Tam

Starplaza Stores

Permanent Stores

• Stardoll - clothes that aren't lined in a certain style (both girls and boys)
• Starplaza Archive - previously discontinued clothes can be brought back and put in this store.
• Fallen Angel - gothic-themed fashions (both girls and boys)
• Pretty 'N' Love (formerly Pretty in Pink) - sweet, girly style clothes
• Bonjour Bizou (formerly Bisou) - town style, girl next door clothes.
• Rio - glamorous clothing that you might see in Rio de Janeiro.
• Fudge - street-style clothing (both girls and boys)
• Folk - fashion inspired by folk, tribes, etc.
• Evil Panda - kitsch, kawaii-style fashions.
• Decades - vintage styles from previous decades.
• Voile - ball gowns and formal dress.
• Tingeling - fantasy-style fashions.
• Basics - very simple, coloured fashions.
• Killah
• Young Hollywood - limited red carpet style clothing, inspired by clothes worn by stars
• LE (Limited Edition) - are in a limited supply released in waves.
• Antidote - also in limited supply but slightly cheaper than LE.

Non permanent stores

• Apries skies - Ski holiday winter clothing -
• Evening Falls -Very gothic clothing and furniture -
• Windows on the world - Clothing inspired by different countries -
• Rivera - summery beach clothing -
• Wild candy - Cheap Non-superstar clothing, with a fun style -
• Sunny bunny Kloz - Quirky Kawaii styled outfits. -
• Identitee - Cheap shirts seen with slogans or club smiles -
• other world - Clothes with a fantasy style, like *tingeling but with furniture and more of an 'other world' theme

Tribute stores

Stores that are tributed to the real brands, most came out in 2010 summer but still are released regually

• Gucci
• Channel
• Dior
• DVF
• Moschino
• Givenchy
• Lanvin
• Alice + Olivia
• Versus Versace
• Yves Saint Laurent
• Louise Bourgeois
• Alexander McQueen
• COUTURE 2010

Real Brands

• DKNY (now closed, but still available via the 'Starbazaar')
• Sephora (now closed)
• Stuff by Hilary Duff (now closed, but still available via the 'Starbazaar')
• Philosophy by Alberta Feretti (now closed, but still available via the 'Starbazaar')
• ELLE (now closed, but still available via the 'Starbazaar')
• Baby Phat
• Mary-Kate and Ashley (now closed)
• Kohl's (made of Candie's, Abbey Dawn, Mudd Jeans and Hang Ten) (now closed)
• Milly & Becky Rosso (now closed)
• Miss Sixty
• PPQ of Mayfair

Stardoll also makes one-off stores for various promotions like movies, TV shows, stores etc. and also makes 'Hot Buys' which are new items are released for a certain period of time. A new range of items is announced each month, and these items are often inspired by real life brands like Topshop, Forever 21 and H&M among other brands that include designer brands.

Tribute shops

In the summer of 2010 and again in the summer of 2011 Stardoll released several couture shops that users could buy. Every shop item was superstar and highly priced; and are now highly valued, since each store was available for one month only. (List in order of shop release)

• Chanel (June 1 - 30)
• Diane von Fürstenberg (June 9 - July 9)
• Just Calvalli (June 16 - July 16)
• Sonia Rykiel (June 23 - July 23)
• Herve Leger (Aug. 10 - Sept. 10 )
• Couture (Sept. 7 - Oct. 7 )
• Louise Bourgeois (Oct. 19 - Nov. 19 )
• Yves Saint Laurent (May 30 - July 6)
• Versus (June 13 - )
• Alice + Olivia (June 27-)
• Lanvin (July 12-)

References

1. ^ Walker, Rob (February 17, 2008). "Dress-Up for Dollars". New York Times Magazine. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/magazine/17wwln-consumed-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=slogin. Retrieved April 25, 2008.
2. ^ [http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Liisa+Wrang+-+the+rags-to-riches+story+behind+Stardoll/1135262186716 Snellman, Ritva Liisa. "Liisa Wrang - the rags-to-riches story behind Stardoll" Kuukausiliite December 2010
3. ^ "Stardoll.com: From Little Things Big Things Grow". TechCrunch. http://www.techcrunch.com/tag/stardoll/. Retrieved April 25, 2008.
4. ^ Index Ventures, accessed April 25, 2008]
5. ^ "Virtual Dress-Up Site Gets $6M". Red Herring. http://www.redherring.com/Home/17402. Retrieved May 4, 2008.
6. ^ "MySpace not their space". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/5507535.html. Retrieved April 25, 2008.
7. ^ . NPR. . Retrieved April 25, 2008.
8. ^ Gershberg, Michele. "Donna Karan, Sephora to sell in Stardoll Web world". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092600040_pf.html. Retrieved May 4, 2008.
9. ^ "Webware 100 Winner: Stardoll". Webware. http://www.webware.com/8301-13546_109-9914692-29.html. Retrieved May 4, 2008.
10. ^ "When the Internet becomes child's play". iol.co.za. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_News&set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=vn20070727121841926C268693. Retrieved May 4, 2008.
11. ^ "Millions Of Us and Virtual Greats; Merchandising and Virtual Goods". Virtual Worlds News. http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2008/06/feature-million.html. Retrieved June 12, 2008.
12. ^ Official List of Real Celebs on Stardoll

External links

• Stardoll's Home Page
• The Official Stardoll Blog

Categories:

• Massively multiplayer online games
• Children's websites
• Virtual reality communities
• Entertainment websites

Related 'Stardoll' Searches:

See Also:

• Cool Presentations On Stardoll
• Myspace Stardoll
• Rares of Stardoll
• Scroll Boxes for Stardoll
• Stardoll
• Stardoll Barbie Doll Hunt
• Stardoll Presentation
• Stardoll Staff
• Underneath Stardoll
• Webware Winner Stardoll