The early 2000s babies are growing up pretty fast and our childhood is getting farther from our memories. It’s becoming clear that the newer generation hasn’t lived the same experiences as we did when we grew up; rather than living through the 2014 Tumblr age, they romanticize it.
One of the major things that we had growing up was computer-based video games. Even though game consoles were popular, computer games captured the attention of our generation.
1. The Hook Up
Players can explore the thrilling world of The Hook Up, which houses the conflicts of new relationships, best friends, first dates, and sworn enemies. Players would not only try to figure out the new town, but they would also gather cards that held the secrets, rumors, and facts about the other teens in the game. A moment could arise where a player could use those cards to good use — when getting asked out on a date or an enemy doing them dirty.
When The-N changed to Teen-Nick, the beloved game was one of many that were lost as it wasn’t compatible with the new server. There are a few petitions circulating the internet in hopes to get the beloved game back. One being on iPetitions and another on the Petition site.
2. Ourworld
Outworld is another virtual world, this time with casual gaming activities. Each player has an avatar with a condo that can be decorated. “Flow” serves as the in-game currency that players earn by talking, dancing, eating and drinking, and playing various games. Flow can be exchanged for experience points, which help players level up. Coins, along with in-game “gems” allow players to buy items like clothing, accessories, and furniture for their homes.
Players can speak with one another, request friendships, create groups, and participate in contests. In 2013, popularity, marriage, and adoption were added features to the game.
In December 2020, many mainstream web browsers have stopped allowing Adobe Flash Player as a plug-in due to its vulnerability to exploitation. As a result, Ourworld has taken a hit and it isn’t as easily accessible as before.
3. Fantage
Fantage was born in March 2008 in the middle of a boom for kid-focused virtual worlds. This was about a year after Disney had bought Club Penguin for $700 million. Fantage is actually short for Fantastic Age and it was modeled after Club Penguin.
In 2009, the site had more than three million registered players. Five years later in 2014, the site had up to 30 million registered players.
According to Venture Beat, the online multiplayer game officially shut down in June 2018 after a decade online. It was one of the many multiplayer online games that shut down in recent times.
The avatars had big heads, big eyes, and small bodies. They could glide around on an air board to get around. In 2018, the company hosted a farewell party for the fans.
4. Club Penguin and Club Penguin Island
Here’s another beloved online multiplayer game that shut down in March 2017. The original Club Penguin came onto the scene in 2005 and was bought out by Disney two years later. When it officially shut down, it was to make room for Club Penguin Island; funny enough, Club Penguin Island was discontinued a year later.
As the name may imply, the characters were penguins that would waddle around on a huge iceberg. Players could speak to one another, adopt pets, play classic games, and throw around snowballs.
In the years following the shutdown of both versions of the game, copycats that popped up. Club Penguin Online was one of those copycat fan servers and it was shut down in May 2020. The British man behind this specific server had been arrested on child pornography charges — whew, chile.
5. Woozworld
Woozworld is described as a “fun, unique and free virtual world for kids, tweens and teens!” According to its Wikipedia page, the mobile gaming brand Azerion acquired the computer game. Woozworld also announced in 2019 that it’s releasing a Beta version as it transitioned away from Adobe Flash.
With its transition away from Adobe Flash, it developed its own app, which is still available on both the Apple AppStore and Google Play.
6. Avatar U
Avatar University is another computer game from The-N website, but just like The Hook Up, it was lost when the site changed to Teen-Nick. Avatar U was the sequel to another popular game, Avatar High. The target audience was older and it created a more sophisticated presentation.
Avatar U had the popular Sims-like design and allowed players to control the lives of college students. Each student in the game had their own social media page where they’d post about their day. Players could also roam around campus and partake in the various school activities.
If you want to reminisce the game, you can read this Reddit post on how to possibly play it again. There is an entire Reddit thread, called lostmedia, which chronicles updates on older computer games that may have been shut down or lost.
7. Meez
According to its Wikipedia page, Meez is another lost virtual multiplayer world and a social network service. The game went offline in December 2017 and it expired four months later in March 2018.
If you go to the Meez Twitter account, you would see that the last tweet was in September 2017 and it was one simple question: “did you miss us?”
A Youtuber named Kammabear made a video of them doing an investigation as to what happened to Meez. They searched through the social media of not only Meez but some of the staff members of the site as well. They speculate that the staff completely abandoned the site altogether.
The last time that Roscoe Meez, the technical administrator of Meez, tweeted was all the way back in June 2011. Another Meez staff member, Lucy Meez, last tweeted in October 2016.
Their theory doesn’t seem too off, as the website is nowhere to be found and the Wikipedia page doesn’t offer much information either. The last time that anything related to Meez was posted was almost four years ago, and it appears that it vanished from the world wide web.
8. IMVU
One of the only games that’s still alive today, IMVU saw its peak popularity in the 2K computer game craze. It was first founded in 2004 and it allows users to have 3D avatars, meet new people, chat, create, and play games.
According to a Frequently Asked Questions page, the site had around 50 million registered users. At the time, the game was only accessible on a computer, but now there’s a phone app.
9. Neopets
Neopets may be the longest-living website on this list as it went live on the internet for the first time in November 1999. Users take care of digital pets called Neopets and they can explore the world of Neotopia. Outside of taking care of and feeding one’s Neopet, there isn’t a clear objective to the game.
According to one of its press releases, Neopets claims that its site was a leader in stickiness; the term refers to the average amount of time that users spend on the website. The press release states that the average Neopets user spends 117 minutes (almost two hours) on the site in a single week. Nielsen Net Ratings ranked Neopets as the number one stickiest website in both May and June of 2001.
The website is still around to this day and the Beta for the mobile-friendly experience launched last year. As of right now, Neopets Mobile is only available on T-Mobile. Rather than be a full-fledged app, Neopets Mobile is the website that’s more compatible with mobile devices.
10. There
One of the OGs when it comes to 3D virtual worlds, There has been around since 2003. The virtual world is less of a role-playing game and more a social one where players can hang out with friends and potentially meet new ones. Users can customize their avatars by choosing hairstyles, gender, head and body shapes, skin and eye color, clothing, etc. Members can have their avatars communicate in real-time using emotions, body language, and text and voice chats.
There had announced its closure in March 2010 and shut down the next week. A little over a year later, it was announced that There would make a comeback. Previous members would have access to their old avatars as well. In May 2012, There reopened to the public, this time with a monthly subscription fee.
There is still active to this day and I currently have it on my laptop (the free version, of course). It’s not as popular as it used to be, and when I went through the world of There, it was like a ghost town. Perhaps, I was playing at the wrong time, but I remember There in its heyday, and it almost makes me feel some type of way to see its world so empty.