Social gaming and dating community Human Pets has launched HumanPets.com, expanding its online hangout from a Facebook application to an independent site.

Targeted at both teens and young adults, Human Pets offers a virtual world based on the concept of having humans as pets, their nicknames determined by their owners. All users are animals who can be fed, groomed, nicknamed, and even sold and bought as pets. Players can also earn virtual currency by participating in games, forums, chat rooms, and auctions.

Human Pets also offers adult content and activities to its 18-plus-years-old users in the form of optional paid memberships, allowing subscribers to exchange erotic items and join adult herds (herds being Human Pets' equivalent of groups). A portion of the paid membership proceeds are donated to the World Wildlife Fund.

According to Human Pets, the community has grown to 2 million users since first launching as a Facebook application in summer 2007. 15,000 people have reportedly signed up for the independent site since its beta release last week. Human Pets claims that its users spend over 30 minutes per day on average at the community.