Lost Media: What Happened to Babydow?

Founded in 2005 by parent company Owlient, Babydow.com tasked players with raising a baby with the aim of sending their child to Academy at the age of 3, where they are archived forever.

The platform was free-to-play and friendly for users of all ages, and I spent years on the site for its pleasing aesthetics. The servers were split by language (English, French, German). Sadly, the browser-based site officially shut down in 2014 following Ubisoft's acquisition of Owlient.

The early Owlient development hosted a catalogue of other games like Fashiown and Howrse, which is still in operation today. But since the death of Adobe Flash, there haven't been many other online games like Babydow.

Babies

Start by choosing your baby’s race (Asian, African, and European), hairstyle, and mouth shape. The hairstyle and mouth would determine the baby’s appearance through every stage.

You could theoretically keep 20 babies at a time within your Nursery. Babies require food, a snuggly, and a bedtime ritual, else they may wake up during the night. If a baby is neglected and not put to bed multiple nights in a row, it is taken by the Gardeners and archived permanently.

Babies are born through the planting of seeds– Cabbage Seeds for boys Rose Seeds for girls.

Later in its run, Babydow released novelty babies in the form of Elves and Trolls.

Personalities

Gluttonous: Bonus = Food. Penalty = Hygiene.

Charming: Bonus = Hygiene. Penalty = Curiosity.

Athletic: Bonus = Walking. Penalty = Food.

Talkative: Bonus = Speech. Penalty = Walking.

Curious: Bonus = Curiosity. Penalty = Speech.

Milestones

First smile (500 overall growth + 4 weeks old)

First laugh (1000 overall growth + 3 months old)

First tooth (3000 points in food)

First step (4500 walking points + 9 months old)

First word (3500 speech points + 10 months old)

Asks for potty (3500 speech points + 1 year old)

First held object (3500 curiosity points)

First kiss (4500 overall growth + 1 year 5 months old)

School

At age 3, babies are sent to school and permanently archived. Your child’s growth is indicated by their uniform:

Red: Most Growth

Gold: Good Growth

Blue: Average Growth

Burgundy: Ok Growth

Green: Least Growth

Currency

Beads were the primary form of in-game currency.

One Pass was valued at $2 USD.

There was no official trading system, meaning trades were unmoderated through Private Messages. Reputation was established by word of mouth and corroborated with seniority (days logged in). Creating multiple accounts for trade was considered cheating.

The Fairy Forest

Arnica Workshop: Open your own shop (1 pass)

Bamboo Tuning Fork: Music skill boost

Buttercup Purse: Beads

Box of Wonders: Random loot (1 pass)

Exotic Remake: Change your baby's hair (1 pass)

Lobelia Throne: Potty train your toddler (1 pass)

Lotus Floater: Boost swimming skill (1 pass)

Magic Seed: Have a baby without waiting (3 passes or beads)

Mandrake Elixir: Have identical or fraternal twins (2 passes)

Maple Pencil: Drawing skill boost (1 pass)

Metamorphosis Potion: Change your baby's ethnicity

Narcissus Mirror: Discover your baby’s personality * discontinued in 2010

Poppy Oracle: Find the snuggly that suits your baby

Primrose Hourglass: Speed up time. Sandman: Earn development points at bedtime (1 pass)

Willow Sap: Restore your baby's wellness gauges to 100%

Wisteria Dream: Similar to Primrose Hourglass, skip time infinitely

Dressing Room

Everyday clothing items and accessories were sold in the boutiques section of the Market tab. Babies needed to be dressed in accordance with the time of day and in-game weather patterns.

Sunny:

Baby must wear sunglasses & shoes.

Cloudy:

Baby must wear shoes.

Rainy or Snowy:

Baby must wear a coat & shoes.

Private Boutique

Babydow hosted a dress-up feature common to all dollhouse games, and for the price of 1 pass, users could use the Arnica Workshop to create their own designs in Photoshop or Gimp to sell in their Private Boutique. Each listed item included one free download for personal use.

While normal clothing items wore out over time, Private Boutique items lasted forever and provided babies a slight developmental boost.

Rankings:

Best Players: Players with the most experience points

Best Babies: Babies with the highest development

Best Nurseries: The most reputable nurseries to enroll babies

Layouts

On every profile page, users were provided a Tumblr style HTML form called a card to introduce themselves to the world.

Over time, custom layouts became a type of commodity that could be traded for goods or services. The best designers could trade these HTML layouts through Private Messages for rare items, while lower-skilled designers could easily turn a profit in supplies by using 3rd-party sites to generate codes.

How to Play Babydow:

Ultimately, Babydow shut down because the company was operating at a loss, which isn't uncommon for web domains that gear most of their marketing resources towards children. However, Howrse is still live and available as an app for iOS!