Last Wednesday, November 4, 2009, all of the new players of Hello Kitty Online were invited to join the Tour Bus Guild for an exclusive tour of Sanrio Harbour and Florapolis.

Once everyone was inside the guild, GM-Azrael broke the news that his friend GM-Galatea has gone missing.  He implored for their help to track her down. As soon as he yelled the name of the last player she was seen with, the hunt for the missing GM was on!

Players rushed to the General Goods Merchant where the first out of six witnesses of the lost GM stood. They were asked to read and solve the clues, posted in the in-game blog feature, which will point to the location of the next witness.

The journey from one place to the other was the highlight of the event. Not only were players toured around the game but they also learned a lot of in-game features that only Hello Kitty Online offers.

Everyone was successful in finding GM-Galatea! They were all rewarded with full set of equipment as a token of GM-Azrael’s gratitude for finding his missing friend.

Congratulations to all participants and we hope you enjoyed your trip with the Tour Bus Guide!

To all the guilds that have participated in the Designer Depot event: It’s time for your guild to submit a design! Only guilds that have participated and submitted their orders at the Designer Depot Hat and Shirt events are allowed to submit their designs. Eligible guilds should follow these steps to produce their own customized guild shirts and hats:

1.  Check the Designer Depot orders thread for the items your guild is eligible to claim. Depending on your orders, download the corresponding template(s) for the shirts and hats.

Click here to download the Designer Depot Hat templates

Click here to download the Designer Depot Shirt template.

2.  And now the fun part! Brainstorm with your guildmates and come up with a design for your shirts and/or hats. Remember to abide by the Terms and Conditions stated below! We recommend that you use the SanrioTown forums to discuss the designs with your guildmates.

*Tip: try to keep the design simple. Complex designs and text may not display clearly on in-game items.

3.  Using the image-editing software of your choice, apply your design to the template(s). You can also print out the template and fill it in by hand, then scan it. Either way, the files (JPG or PDF) should be no larger than 300 kilobytes each.

4.  Choose one person (leader / representative) who will submit the design to Sanrio Digital. Guild representatives have to register by logging in to their SanrioTown account and posting a reply in the orders thread stating the name of the guild represented. There is no need to post your email address on the forums. Representatives are the only persons eligible to submit guild designs for this event.

5.  Guild representatives must email hkoevent@hellokitty.com the following:

a.  Subject line: “Designer Depot – Guild Shirt” for shirt design submissions and “Designer Depot – Guild Hat” for hat design submissions.

b.  Email body: the name of the guild you represent.

c.  Attachment: the shirt/hat design in JPG or PDF file format with a maximum size of 300 kilobytes.

We look forward to seeing your designs! Deadline for submissions is October 21, 2009, at 23:59 Eastern Standard Time.

Terms and Conditions
1.  Designs must be created within the limitations of the orders made during Founders’ Beta. See the official announcements for the Designer Depot (Shirt Version) and Designer Depot (Hat Version) for more details.

2.  Designs should not contain:

a. Any Sanrio character or any other copyrighted characters

b. Profanity

c. Obscene images or symbolism

d. Words or symbolism that may offend another player, guild, the HKO Team or any other party.

3.  The Hello Kitty Online Team reserves the right to alter designs without prior notice based on its absolute discretion in the event the designs violate any of the conditions stated above, or for any other reason.

4.  The designs submitted by the appointed representatives are considered final and no future submissions or alterations will be considered.

5.  Submission of designs must:

a. Be made by the appointed representative (as listed publicly in the SanrioTown forums

b. Be made through the SanrioTown email address used to register as a representative in the SanrioTown forums

c. Be submitted by 23:59 EST on October 21, 2009, at 23:59 Eastern Standard Time. This is the deadline for submissions.

6.  Designs submitted by the guild become property of Sanrio Digital; the Hello Kitty Online Team reserves the right to publish them for any purpose without prior notice.

7.  Guilds that fail to submit a design before the deadline automatically forfeit their right to claim all items related to this event.

Calling on the leaders and representatives of the 3 winning guilds for our Helping Hearts charity event! We will be sending the questions for the guild interviews soon, so please send us an email at hkoevent{at}hellokitty.com so we will know who to send the questionnaire to. Please include your character name, email address and the name of the guild you are representing.

Again, the winning guilds are: HKO Founders, Coffee Shoppe, Misfits. Only emails from the leaders or representatives of these guilds will be entertained.

You may also have one person email us all the names and email addresses at once. Your answers will be posted permanently on the official Hello Kitty Online website, so please discuss among yourselves before sending in the final answers.

This announcement is also posted on the forums, so if you have any questions or concerns, you may reply to that thread or email us at onlinegame{at}hellokitty.com. Thank you very much!

Sanrio Digital recently received an unexpected surprise from the children who received the bags and shirts you selflessly worked for during our Helping Hearts charity event. Of course, none of this would have been possible without you, our dear players, so now we’d like to share with you a few scanned images of the thank you cards we received from the Po Leung Kuk residential child care unit.

It’s truly heartwarming to see how much effort they put into their thank you cards. Giving may be a reward in itself, but we hope that seeing these notes remind us all further of what this charity event is really about. We join the children at Po Leung Kuk in thanking all our players once more for participating in this event.

We will soon post more of these cards plus interviews with some of our donors on the official Hello Kitty Online website, so watch out for that. We hope to see you in our next event!

We’d like to congratulate and thank everyone who participated in the Helping Hearts special charity event. Each item you crafted and donated is deeply appreciated, and we would like to take this time to recognize all our donors for their generous contributions.

Below are the final contest results. Winners were calculated by item value, which was proportional to the difficulty of the item.

Winner 1
HKO Founders

20 shirts

Winner 2
Coffee Shoppe

6 shirts

Winner 3
Misfits

5 shirts, 1 bag

 
30 shirts, 27 bags

Total items submitted by players: 61 shirts, 28 bags
Triple-Boost Bonus: x3
Limited edition items donated by Sanrio Digital: 183 shirts, 84 bags

We will be contacting the winners in order to organize interviews, so guild leaders and guild representatives should watch their email accounts!

The details of the institution and the children who will receive the limited edition Hello Kitty shirts and bags will be released as soon as we clear a couple of corporate requirements for public announcement. Watch this space in the coming week for more news!

Our sincere thanks to the winners and all the people and guilds who joined us in this cause. Once again, the players of Hello Kitty Online have left their mark on the gaming world by showing that they eagerly donate their time and effort to benefit the less fortunate. We look forward to joining hands with you again in our next event!

The Hello Kitty Online Team

During Happy Hearts, we had a series of quests that gave players a chance to find Cupid, save Valentine’s Day, and win their very own plush doll from Sanrio’s “The World of Hello Kitty” collection. Many raced to be among the first five to finish the quests, and now without further ado, here are your winners!

Kenman

Kaito

Serenity

Miyabi

Yueya

Congratulations to those who won! We will be sending you instructions soon on how you can claim your prizes, so watch out for the email. Thank you for your participation in the event, and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. See you in our next event!

We know how hard you have all been working to craft shirts and bags for our in-game charity event “Helping Hearts“, so we’ve decided to give you a well-earned boost! As of right now, each Helping Hearts Charity Item is worth three (3) real-life items. That means that every in-game bag or shirt you craft will become a real gift for three children! Just don’t forget to submit your items to a GM at the end of the event!

Once again Hello Kitty Online players are working together for a meaningful cause, showing why they are the best player base in the gaming world. Thank you all for the patience, time, and hard work you’ve poured into this event. Good luck!

The Hello Kitty Online Team

Following the success of the Founders’ Beta event “Food for Friends“, Hello Kitty Online proudly announces “Helping Hearts“, in which players have another chance to turn in-game effort into real assistance for those in need.

Start: 21:00 (9PM) EST on February 19, 2009

End: 22:00 (10PM) EST on Sunday, February 22, 2009

Event Type: Guild contest; charity

Objective: An orphanage needs your help! The objective of your guild is to craft as many special event shirts and bags as possible before the end of the event. Hand them over to a GM. We will then count your submissions and donate three (3) times the number of shirts and items to an orphanage.

These are the shirts and bags (limited edition Hello Kitty Football Cup):

Mechanics: see “How it works” below.

Item guide books distribution: daily from 21:00 (9 PM) to 23:59 (11:59 PM) EST.

Shirts and bags collection time: from 17:00 (5PM) to 22:00 (10PM) EST, February 22, 2009

How it works:

1. You need guide books to craft the 2 special event items. GMs will provide the guide books to no more than 5 representatives of each guild (each representative receives 4 unique guide books). The guide books are as follows:
   • Shirt:
     • Shirt Fabric Guide
     • Helping Hearts Charity Shirt Guide
   • Bag:
     • Bag Fabric Guide
     • Helping Hearts Charity Bag Guide
2. Guide books will be distributed by GMs daily from 21:00 (EST) to 23:59 (EST). Guild representatives may approach or send a private message to the assigned Game Master(s). Assigned GMs will announce their presence at the start of distribution time.
3. The required shirts and bags are not easy to make and will require teamwork. Guild members will have to work together to gather the resources needed, and pass them to players who have learned the guide books and who are thus able to craft the special items. There are some of the resources needed:
   • Silk
   • Red Dye
   • Soft Cotton (crafted variety)
   • Thread
   • Zippers
   • Straps
4. The exact quantities needed and the 2 mystery ingredients will be revealed to players who use the guide books.
5. Players can submit the crafted shirts and bags to GMs at collection time on February 22, 2009, from 17:00 to 22:00 (EST). Guild representatives must send a private message to the assigned Game Master and arrange to hand over the crafted items. Collections will be organized in the order of private messages received by the GM, so it may take several minutes before a GM is available to collect your goods.
6. After a guild is done with their submissions, the GM will announce his or her count for the guild representatives to confirm. After this confirmation the count is considered final.
7. The results will be posted on the official event blog after the end of this special HKO event.

Please note that HKO will be taken down at 23:00 (11PM) EST on February 22, 2009.

Rewards:

The victors will be calculated by total item value. Shirts are harder to make but have a proportionately higher value than bags. If you don’t have much time or resources, you may want to make bags rather than shirts.

The top guild will be rewarded with a permanent spot on the official Hello Kitty Online website. An interview with the guild leader and 2 other representatives will also be posted on the page, so other players may learn more about the guild and their contribution to this event.

Two runners up will also be rewarded with an appearance on the web site and publication of interviews with the guild leader or other representative.

Players of Hello Kitty Online: go forth and work for a good cause! Thank you in advance for your generous contributions, and we hope you enjoy this event. And remember: helping those in need can be done at any time and any place!

(Modified February 21, 2009 to reflect the “triple boost” update)

Happy Hearts is almost over, and our players wasted no time finishing the Valentine’s quests. We’re pleased to announce that we now have our 5 winners for the race to help Cupid, but before we announce them, here are the items they will be receiving!

Our winners will each be receiving one of these plush dolls from Sanrio’s “The World of Hello Kitty” collection, which are only for sale in Japan! Hello Kitty comes in costumes from (left to right) Japan, Russia, Jamaica, Finland and France. Each plush doll is about 20cm tall (Click on the image to see it full-size).

We’ll be announcing the winners of the event next, including information on how they will be receiving their prizes. Stay tuned!

Out Valentine’s celebration has finally begun, and you know what that means! The birds are singing, the air is fresh and lovers snuggle like nobody’s business — Wait, no they’re not. Where are the birds? Why does the air feel normal? Where’s the love? Something’s not right in Sanrio Land!

Cupid, our ever-so-cute herald of Valentine’s Day, has gone missing! Looks like it’s up to the saviors of Christmas to keep the heart of Valentine’s Day beating. We are giving away real Sanrio items to the first five Adventurers who can solve this mystery, and ultimately bring back the spirit of Valentine’s!

Here’s how it goes:

1. London is where it all begins. Choco seems agitated, pay him a visit and maybe he can show you where to start your search!
2. Finish the quests as they come. Everyday at 1AM (Eastern Standard Time), new quests will appear that will add to your quest chain, and will lead you closer to saving Valentine’s Day.
3. After each quest chain, you will receive a Key. Do not drop these keys!
4. Right after you finish the final quest “Spreading the Love” take a screenshot with:
   • Your inventory showing 5 keys you’ve collected (Press I) - make sure to move your mouse over the last key, to show the “Key of Connection” tooltip.
   • Your character info page open (Press C)
5. With the screenshot attached, send an email to hkoevent@hellokitty.com using your Sanriotown account. Be sure to use the email subject “Happy Hearts“!

If you are one of the first five (5) to send in your valid emails, we will send you a reply with instructions on how you can receive your prize. Stay tuned to find out just what prizes are at stake!

Being one of the most important occasions, it is imperative that everyone in Sanrio Land is enervated with love once again. So good luck everyone! With your help, this can truly become a Happy Valentine’s Day!