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"California-based Faketown is a 6-year old \"social game\" that quietly relaunched in mid-August, although they've yet to announce the change publicly.  The site centers around a virtual chat room, and allows users to create, buy, sell, trade and share virtual products, services and real estate - it's broadly similar to Habbo Hotel, Cyworld and Gaia Online, but with much more freedom to develop your own content.  And as it happens, it's also very, very cool.\nMost of the interaction happens within a Flash window, wherein your pixelated pal can explore the sprawling virtual world.  You can drop into different locations using the world map, and each town is governed by an elected major.  Towns also have their own economies, social systems and varying levels of tax - there are definite echos of Sim City here.  Other activities include buying land, furnishing your virtual abode, playing games, creating drawings and animations, uploading MP3s and photos and a whole lot more.  It goes without saying that chat is the most used feature, but there's also a \"mobile chat\" option for contacting friends who aren't in your immediate vicinity.  And unlike the elevator music that accompanies most of these games, venues in Faketown play mainstream rock and hiphop, uploaded by the users themselves.  Just like the new TuneFeed widget from Faces.com, I've no idea if it's legal to broadcast your music collection in this way.  That said, it certainly makes the experience more fun. \nItems are bought using Faketown's virtual currency (\"fake coins\"), and anything you buy gets stored in your inventory.  Coins can be earned through various actions, but also bought with your real-world credit card at a rate of $1.00 per 100 fake coins.  There are eBay-style auctions, too, allowing you to bid on virtual items including custom avatars (\"fake IDs\").  What's more, Faketown seems less juvenile than Habbo Hotel, Gaia Online and Cyworld - adults can play without feeling patronized.  That could be a bad thing, of course, since pre-teens are the biggest market for these games.\nIn terms of features, Faketown is impressive.  In fact, it's just plain cool.  The only drawback is that they haven't reached critical mass yet: the most populated rooms only have 3 or 4 users.  They claim to have more than 500,000 members, but clearly they're going to need a lot more Fakers online to realize the site's full potential.    \nSee also: Habbo Hotel's Funding, IMVU, Cyworld US, Meez and Sitepal.\n\nHey Faketown Residents!\nFeel free to add the user \"Mashable\" to your Faketown friends.\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2006/09/06/faketown-20-the-next-habbo-hotel/>