Any online game/virtual hubs that still exist? (Like Webkinz, Habbo etc)

[grubbyfox]

Does anyone know of any of those fun little hubs that still exist? Or like, either have been re-made by people or similar? Any new and upcoming ones? I'm thinking like, webkinz, habbo hotel, club penguin etc. Not necessarily just those old ones, could be new ones, open source ones, indieweb, whatever. But websites with the same sort of gimmick at least.

Would love to hear if you know of some and/or have tried and enjoyed any.

[Furbisms]

There are a lot of revival projects, I can't possibly list them all here, but for what you said: webkinz still exists, habbo I'm unsure of, and I think club penguin has 2 revival projects?

In terms of new stuff off the top of my head the only thing I can think of is pony town but I'm sure there's more than that.

The only list I know of is this one, which is non comprehensive https://lispeaks.com/virtual-worlds

This is probably a rabbithole you could go down for hours, though. I do kind of want to create a truly comprehensive list of all playable virtual worlds but it would take some time and I don't want to seem like I'm simply copying the above list if I have very little extra to say so I have to make sure it's like... Unique? Worth making I guess?

[grubbyfox]

ooh thank you for that link! looks like habbo is still alive indeed. now i'm inclined to try it lmao xD


webkinz, that toyline is supposed to come back this year, isn't it? im not too familiar with it, so idk but i heard some talk about it.

[Ducky]

Gaiaonline is still somewhat active. Of course, not nearly as many people as it was in its prime. It seems a majority of them are folks from the old days logging back in to relive some nostalgia (myself, included.) 

[Furbisms]

I hadn't actually heard of webkinz toys coming back but if they do I might be tempted to grab one depending on what they have. I have a huge collection of webkinz.

I have been meaning to hop back on gaiaonline (probably making a new account because I haven't the slightest idea what the credentials on my old one were and it probably didn't have much on it anyway)

I heard they added a wardrobe that let you try on basically anything and if that's the case I want to use it to make dolls for my site, haha.

[Captin]

I know that animal jam Is still kicking but I'm not sure if that one counts because Its not web based and instead an app. I kinda want too see these kinds of games? sites? Platforms? make a return one day. I know there's not much a demand nowadays with kids being on YouTube and stuff instead of playing games but I think it would be cool to see these things come back so I can experience them.

[lucky]

Webkinz are indeed set to come back to stores in the fall :) It hasn't been officially announced but leaks have been going around for a while now. The site has stayed kicking since 2005 also! Just celebrated its 20th anniversary back in April.

Transformice and Town of Salem are still pretty active too, and they're both available on Steam! Town of Salem even has a sequel now.

Not exactly what you're looking for as it's not geared towards kids, but Newgrounds is pretty lively and still features primarily Flash games and animations. Despite it's reputation from the 2000s It's actually a pretty nice little community these days. The site runs on a rating system, so I don't recommend uploading anything if you're not too keen on criticism.

[Ducky]

I heard they added a wardrobe that let you try on basically anything and if that's the case I want to use it to make dolls for my site, haha.

Yes, they did! It's called "Avatar Builder" 

[Furbisms]

I know that animal jam Is still kicking but I'm not sure if that one counts because Its not web based and instead an app. I kinda want too see these kinds of games? sites? Platforms? make a return one day. I know there's not much a demand nowadays with kids being on YouTube and stuff instead of playing games but I think it would be cool to see these things come back so I can experience them.

Animal jam used to be a web based game, I didn't know it's an app now tbh.

And there actually are quite a few virtual worlds you can try now if you're really keen on it, the link I posted above has quite a few and I'm planning on making my own more exhaustive list some time soon.

[Symberzite]

Not quite what you're looking for, but I've been regularly playing old shooter games, ala Team Fortress Classic, Quake, Neotokyo and there's still a lot of active servers on them, especially on friday night.

Retro shooter communities are super chill, but know that you are going to be absolutely demolished by 30+ year old sweats there.

[villain]

Less virtual worlds like what you described in your original post but the pet site scene has been chugging along the whole time, from what I gather. NeoPets had a bit of a resurgance of activity when they came under new management last year(?), and there's Grundo's Cafe which is a revival of oldschool NeoPets. Flight Rising continues to be relatively active from what I gather, that has forums that made me think of Gaia when I used it. There's a number of active ones that have been mentioned in other threads here - if you're hankering for game-adjacent forum communities I think that would be the scene to check out!

[candycanearter07]

If you're willing to go text-only, there's a ton of MUD servers out there that are still running. It's basically like a text based adventure game with how it navigates, where a description of a room is read out and you type GO <direction> to walk around, but it is pretty interesting. The one I go on occasionally is "lambdaMOO".

[nolove]

ahhh, webkins. the first crime i can ever rmember committing was taking the tags from the stuffed animals at th store and registering the animals to my acccount... for free!! i may have been 9 or 10. maybe a bit older/younger. memory is fleeting, anyways... ha.

i do so adore these types of games, i wish there was more of a community for them these days. i do know of a good few that are still around since like 2004 and around that time- ill list them below for easy reading

- IMVU: a 3d avatar / social hangout game, virtual world, ssame as it ever was
- Everskies: a really aesthetically amazin dress-up game, they have a mobil app and i play it daily from time to time.
- Second Life: similar to IMVU, but slightly more mature. virtual worlds, avatar customization, the whole shebang
- VR Chat: i am inclined to include this game despite its modern nature of being maybe only a few years old, it is very reminiscnt of things like IMVU and SL. 3d funtime. fun fact- you dont need VR to play it haha.
- DragCave: not sure if this counts..? it has been around for a decade i think, still going strong. i lov it.


did anyone else ever play the game EVONY back in the day? in browseR? you would lvel up ur fortress and ppl would attack it from tim to time. had nice chatrooms. ahhh the past. i love to romanticize it!

[windit]

Hello! Maybe of interest to yous in this thread -> I came across this documentary series yesterday, called Preserving Worlds.

Preserving Worlds is a documentary series about aging virtual worlds.
Preserving Worlds is a travelogue that takes you through some of the most interesting and impactful online games and communities of the past forty years to see what it’s like to visit them today. Along the way, you’ll meet people who are working against obsolescence to keep the communities they care about alive and accessible.

I haven't watched it yet but find this topic so fascinating - mostly, as a filmmaker, I'm interested in how people visually represent online experiences. It's so hard to do!

[fuwaka]

does anyone here remember the virtual world Secret Builders? it wasn’t as popular as other virtual hubs but there was a community of users who would mod clothing via HEXCODE editors… ( ´_ゝ`)

I was one of them!  I miss that virtual world fondly. I have fond memories of logging on and doing all sorts of quizzes and (non-harmful) exploits in order to gain as much as the premium currency as possible to have flashier clothes…

ahh.. good times.