Worlds.com

[Muffinboi]

Now, this isn't exactly a game according to many of its long time users, but Worlds.com, also known as Worlds Chat or just simply Worlds, is a 3D chat MMO. It was released back in April 1995, hence the dated graphics, and is still running to this very day. The thing about it aside from the uncanny graphics and many places to explore is how very few people remain in the MMO.


You see, this MMO used to be pretty popular at the time, but when groundbreaking MMOs like Second Life came along, Worlds.com had a huge decline in popularity along with most of the other first generation virtual worlds, to the point where only a small handful of people go on them today, if they're not defunct, that is.


Up until around four or three years ago, this MMO used to be very obscure, but some users from a series of imageboards took interest in the uncanny graphics and how it was the closest thing to a multiplayer LSD Dream Emulator. A few months later, and the popularity from the imageboards sort of died down, but a few people still take interest in this long-running MMO.


If you are interested, here's some stuff I compiled together to get Worlds working.


If you are familiar with Vinesauce, Vinny explored this back in 2012.

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[Negative Zone]

Oh man this brings back memories. I don't think I ever played on Worlds.com but I remember thinking graphical chat rooms were the neatest concept. I did play on one called... The Palace, I think? It was a lot less complex than this seems to be, though. The rooms were basically just static backgrounds and your avatar was just a simple sprite. IIRC the rooms let you embed MIDI music too, and you could link them together with exits and stuff. I was obsessed with Final Fantasy VIII at the time and I vaguely remember rooms that were just screencaps of the prerendered backgrounds from the game which was the coolest thing ever to me. Amazingly enough it still seems to be around though it's maintained by fans nowadays.


I remember briefly trying some other early virtual world software but I can't remember anything about it. I always wanted to get into Second Life but it never clicked for me, and nowadays I'm too skittish with real time chat where if someone I don't know talks to me in a game (and it's a conversation I don't initiate) I freeze up and have a hard time communicating. (Go figure that one of my favorite genres is the MMO...) It's something I'm starting to work on again, though. Gotta resocalize myself!


I think I'll give this a try since I have a lot of nostalgia for early 3D and that whole 90s virtual world aesthetic.


EDIT: Most of these links don't seem to work anymore, including the ones about getting the client to work with Windows 7. Is there an alternative source?

 

[Muffinboi]

Here's one that I found on Tumblr a while ago.

 

[Negative Zone]

Awesome, thanks! I'll check these out in a bit. (music)