Beginning in 2002, Sulake began one of their first commercial gaming projects for Coca-Cola called Coke music (later renamed to "MyCoke"). This game is commonly compared to the famous game of Habbo Hotel. In Coke Studios, the single goal was to create a virtual room, which could be used in any ways imaginable. An avatar would be called a "V-ego". The game was only available between 10:00 AM and 2:00 AM (EST [UTC-5]). A localized UK version operated until it was shut down on July 31st, 2006.
Rooms
Rooms were available to walk around, wave, dance, talk, and play music.
Private Rooms
You could create a dozen rooms (later changed to 20) for your own use of furni. You could choose wallpaper, flooring, and from a catalog of furni. Of course you would need to be able to afford your wealth with currency. (See Decibels Below). The owner (and users with rights) could kick other players and move/rotate furni in these rooms.
Public Rooms
Public rooms where often based on real-life areas, for users to play music, chat, and walk. You could not place furni in these rooms or kick other users. There are various locations based on real-life cities where the user can perform music available, such as San Francisco, Mexico, Goa, Tokyo, London, Sydney (Australia), and many other places.
Decibels
A name based off of the measurement of sound loudness, decibels where the currency used within Coke Studios.
Ways to Earn
- Receiving 'Thumbs Up' votes from other users whilst performing music. (10 decibels per thumbs up).
- Drinking Virtual Coca-Colas found in crates, vending machines, and refrigerators. This was available 10 times a day. Each Coke would give a message saying you received 10 "DB's" (decibels). (This would earn up to 100 decibels per day total).
- Filling out surveys. (Commonly on 3rd-party products or in-game content). These would be available once a month and would give you 500 decibel upon completion but, later changed to once a week for 200 decibels per completion. However, sometimes these where not released on time.
- Account creation. A system that was off and on, promising 5000 decibels to new accounts. However, many times this was not fulfilled.
Cost
All items within the studio where technically gained for free. Making songs where also free (to earn decibels). There was never any way to purchase coins into the game (except the way below, see MyCoke rewards).
My Coke Rewards
MyCoke Rewards (or simply Coke Caps), was a way to purchase chunks of decibels at a time.These would be obtained on specially marked caps of single purchased bottles of Coca-Cola. You would simply enter the code found under the Coke cap. There was a 1 in 5 chance of getting a whopping 5000 decibels. Another 1 in 5 chance of receiving a rare piece of furniture (only to be released with this promotion). You had a 100% chance of getting 1000 decibels (If all else failed). (You would only receive one of these chances). The furni you had a chance to receive would change about once a month, making all of it some of the rarest furni in the game. Later the program was changed, so you would buy furniture with rewards points on http://www.mycokerewards.com/.
Music/Performances
You could mix songs within the Studios or on the website for performances or private enjoyment. After mixing songs, you could play the songs on Cd players, Jukeboxes, and Stereos for player given 'thumb ups or thumb downs'. You could earn 10 decibels for every positive vote. The more positive votes you got (thumbs up). However, if you got a negative vote (thumbs down), you lose 10 decibels out of the total decibels you earn (Though you would not loose money at the end of a performance).
Shark Tale
A promotion created for the movie 'Shark Tale' involved a server dedicated to promotion, along with a large new line of furni (with underwater theme). After this server was closed, all furni was credited to the regular server. This furni was considered to be extremely rare and valuable in trade.
Trade
There was a system of trade in the studios. However, you could only trade furni and only 6 pieces at a time. It was a very unstable system as anti-scamming systems/project where never used and common scamming would happen for furni worth more then any 6 furni.
Example of a common scam:
- Player 1 is selling a Gong [a rare piece of furni only obtained by winning the Sumo game 15 players in a row worth a lot at one point].
- The gong is worth more than 6 of the most expensive pieces of furni (Coke couches [2000 decibels]).
- Player 2 promises 10 Coke couches for the gong.
- Player 1 put in the gong in trade, as player 2 puts in 6 Coke couches (max).
- Both players accept (and the trade is technically complete) and Player 2 still owes 4 Coke couches for a fair trade.
- Player 2 leaves without paying the rest of his fair trade.
This can also happen in vice-versa, depending on who gives the promised item first. Example:
- Player 2 gives Player 1: '6 Coke couches' (and plans to get the gong in the next trade after offering 4 more Coke couches)
- Player 1 decides he doesn't want to fairly complete the deal and leaves.
Bots/Bartenders
Before Beta, most public rooms would contain one or two Bots that would do actions upon word triggers (key words).
Common keyword triggers:
- "Pepsi" (Or another rival brand to Coca-Cola): "Sorry, we only serve Coke."
- "Coke" or "Pop" or "Soda": "Have a Coke and a smile!"
Closure of the Studios
Coke studios did not last the test of time in the online world. It was closed on July 31st, 2007, after a huge loss in community activity which was a result of almost unbearable lagging in ther server and glitches. All furni from the studios was credited to a certain amount decibels, then converted into CC Metro credits. It is unknown if there is any record on saved rooms at the time of closure, or if they files were simply deleted.
Final Goodbye
On March 9, 2010, CC Metro closed without a predecessor, possibly ending the era of MMO (Massive Media Organization) gaming through Coca-Cola. MyCoke released this quote: "The CC Metro virtual environment was part of a larger virtual world, there.com, that was hosted and maintained by Makena Technologies, and was not owned or operated by Coca-Cola. Unfortunately, there.com ceased operations on March 9th, 2010. As CCMetro is part of the larger there.com environment - CCMetro closed as well. Please click here to see the complete there.com announcement." Currently MyCoke.com is used for general Coca-Cola advertising (including cellphone apps, mini games, wallpapers and other downloads). All accounts created are still active (still with your possibly future needed user name).