- 6 weeks ago
Ever wondered what happened to your favorite childhood virtual hangouts? Join us as we revisit the most iconic online worlds from the 2000s and explore the drama, scandals, and changes that led to their decline. From wacky mini-games to community chaos, discover why once-thriving player-built communities faded away—and whether gaming’s biggest social space could be next. Which of these digital playgrounds did you call home?
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00:00Whatever happened to all your favorite childhood virtual hangout games?
00:09Roblox, perhaps the only enduring online social space from the 2000s,
00:13is marred in controversy regarding platform safety and the exploitation of its users.
00:18But these scandals have always surrounded internet role-playing games.
00:22In fact, millennials sort of served as the guinea pigs of the early internet,
00:25which was, at times, a scary and under-scrutinized place.
00:29What I've just seen makes me think this is a dangerous place for youngsters to be.
00:35Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:36And today, we're remembering 10 of the most prolific player-built communities that fell off the map.
00:41If I can chat here, hello.
00:43There's nobody.
00:45What infamous scandals contributed to their downfall?
00:47Where did all the avatars go?
00:49And could Roblox be next?
00:51Ooh!
00:52Number 10. Toontown Online.
00:55Disney's 2003 stab at the virtual world game allowed users to create their own custom toons,
01:01which looked vaguely like rejected Disney characters.
01:05The Cogs, robotic corporate overlords, were the main foe,
01:09though defeating them was just a loose storyline that contextualized the world toons inhabited.
01:13You've got some corporate robo bad guys to deal with.
01:17These evil Cogs want to mess up all the fun.
01:20How typical.
01:20Users were free to play poorly optimized games,
01:23chat using pre-approved phrases,
01:26and throw cream pies at one another.
01:29Yes, this was the main feature.
01:31More animated and sillier than ever before.
01:34Simply put, the graphics were pretty rough,
01:36and the interface felt increasingly outdated as time went on.
01:40The lack of updates led to a dwindling player base.
01:46So just 10 years in,
01:48Disney announced that the game would be permanently shut down,
01:50citing the unsustainability of its business model.
01:53Really, Disney was shifting focus to a more fruitful online hangout game they acquired,
01:58Club Penguin.
01:59We'll get there.
02:02A fan-created revival of Toontown does exist today,
02:05and it strips away the paid membership barriers from the original game.
02:09So check out Toontown, rewritten for a bit of nostalgia,
02:12and a chance to don that sombrero you never had enough jelly beans to purchase before.
02:17You can put accessories on your tunes.
02:19Hats, glasses, cute little shoes.
02:21Number 9.
02:22Habbo Hotel.
02:23Scammers, mafia henchmen, cyberbullies, predators.
02:27Habbo had it all.
02:29It's happening right here, right now in Habbo Hotel.
02:32The ultimate hangout place on the planet, packed with friends.
02:36Created by Finnish company Sulake in 2000,
02:38the Pixel Hotel features a number of public spaces to socialize in.
02:43This image is associated with a group of hackers who invaded a children's social networking site,
02:48blocking the virtual pool at a virtual hotel.
02:50But the main draw is the creative user-hosted rooms.
02:54The adoption centers, falling fernie games, and trade spots were all immensely popular back in the day.
03:00But the seedy underworld of casinos really fueled player interest,
03:03and helped introduce children to gambling addiction.
03:05The hotel was always incredibly clicky,
03:09serving as a place where guests could form core memories,
03:12like being attacked by Habbo Club members for not having the cool clothes.
03:15Generally looked quite slobbish, and you had no clout,
03:18unless you had Habbo Club, because your outfits were so much cooler.
03:22Or asked to participate in shady activities we can't even name.
03:26Baba will suffice.
03:27In 2012, a Channel 4 expose revealed just how many adults role-playing as kids were exploiting young players,
03:34which forced Sulake to temporarily disable chat.
03:37By 2014, casinos were outright banned as well.
03:54Needless to say, the hotel had plenty of vacancy soon after.
03:58At this point, you are all alone in this gigantic hotel?
04:02Well, not for long.
04:04Habbo still exists today,
04:06though a number of updates over the years have made it practically unrecognizable.
04:10A side project, similar to Toontown, rewritten,
04:13was officially launched by Sulake in 2024 to rake in some nostalgia cash.
04:17Habbo's, now grown-up, no longer had to beg their parents for coins.
04:31But just six months in, Habbo Hotel Origins was practically dead too.
04:36Today, the main hotel is overrun by agencies,
04:39which recruit, and supposedly pay, users to recruit other users.
04:44Basically, they tell you that you have to, like, change yourself.
04:47They're trying to indoctrinate you so that you become one of them
04:50and they can control you like a robot.
04:52Yeah, it's basically a cult.
04:54It's unclear what these shady organizations even do,
04:57but they're a perfect metaphor for the corporate shell the game has become.
05:01Join the bench. Wear the uniform.
05:03And you are in.
05:04Number 8. IMVU
05:06Does anyone know what IMVU even stands for?
05:09Okay, apparently, it's Instant Messaging Virtual Universe.
05:19IMVU debuted in 2004 as the sleekier, sexier 3D version of the social network and game fad.
05:25Emphasis on sexy.
05:27Avatars were curvy, scantily clad models
05:29that probably had no business being as provocative as they were.
05:33Marketing clothes like Baby Tee Bad Kitty to its young, teen audience was the choice.
05:37And a number of updates over the years have left Avatars looking more like Bratz dolls
05:42with voluptuous, maxed-out features.
05:44This is her.
05:45I gave her the bust-down middle part 613.
05:48Since the game always leaned into the romance angle,
05:51it eventually evolved to incorporate an access pass that requires 18-plus age verification.
05:56However, with free-to-play elements becoming paid luxuries,
05:59bots swarming the game,
06:01and users spending half their time begging for items off their wish list,
06:04it's easy to see why IMVU lost a ton of players.
06:08Also, another reason why I think it's bad
06:10is because you have to unlock all this s***.
06:13Like, it costs so much money to unlock the marriage packages.
06:17It's still up and running,
06:18but has developed a reputation for being a creepy teen dating game
06:22that would benefit from a lot more moderation.
06:25It's safe to say that the recent discontinuation of their customer service line
06:28might be an indication that the game is doomed.
06:30Welcome to the IMVU Help Center,
06:32your one-stop shop for getting the help you need
06:34from the community and IMVU customer support.
06:38Number 7. Second Life
06:40If Habbo is the crude version of Toontown
06:42and IMVU is the lewd version of Habbo,
06:45then Second Life is the unhinged, adult-only version of IMVU.
06:49There is, obviously, consensual sex in Second Life.
06:52Which is a big part of it.
06:53It happens.
06:54No, really.
06:55Second Life is known for being the Wild West of online hangout spaces.
06:58You want to run, baby girl.
07:01Never, ever, ever come back.
07:04Players can be anything.
07:06And they can go anywhere, too.
07:08He took me to a Titanic recreation that they had back in the day.
07:13A server housing a recreation of Amsterdam
07:15once sold for $50,000 on eBay.
07:18Launching in 2004, the game spawned a sort of metaverse,
07:21but where every one of those universes
07:23could be a haven for profoundly raunchy antics.
07:26Let's do this thing.
07:27Focusing more on realistic graphics and high fantasy,
07:31the game initially attracted users looking to be part of alternative communities,
07:35like joining a gang of vampires, or vampire strippers.
07:40Yes, Second Life has always been incredibly mature-themed,
07:44allowing users to modify and upload accessories
07:46that effectively enable full-out nudity.
07:49Because its players get deep into roleplay
07:52and take the game very seriously...
07:54I'm a dragon, obviously.
07:56I love dragons.
07:59It's also become a hotspot for trolls looking to clip content.
08:02Would you like to come to a theme park with me?
08:04No!
08:05You're pissing me off now!
08:07Just stay away from the Sim and my wife!
08:11Second Life has had a number of serious controversies, too,
08:14like the inclusion of pornography and a rather hilarious lawsuit where a man sued Creators Linden Research Incorporated for banning his account that had virtual assets totaling upwards of $6,000.
08:25Much worse, in 2008, a woman was arrested after the failed abduction of a man she fell in love with in the game.
08:32Before he'd seen me, I'd already googled him on the internet and found a picture of him.
08:37I knew what he looked like.
08:38Second Life is still accessible,
08:40but the huge drop in peak online players could point to its inevitable downfall.
08:45There's a freedom that comes from being in the virtual world.
08:49Number 6. Gaia Online
08:52Economics 101.
08:54Hyperinflation is not limited to the real world.
08:57It applies to virtual worlds, too.
08:59Gaia's tradable currency allows Gaians to participate in auctions or user-to-user trades for collectible items,
09:06some of which are rare due to limited availability in shops.
09:09But its once healthy economy was totally destabilized by gold generators that randomized payouts during sales.
09:16The anime-style game, which went live in 2003,
09:20utilizes forums to supplement the somewhat lackluster minigames and chatroom experiences.
09:25Wow, this is really a messy interface.
09:30The early days saw some absurd shenanigans,
09:32like players figuring out a glitch that made their avatars nude.
09:35I don't want to give this out because you may get banned for this glitch,
09:38and I'm just showing you guys it.
09:40But like with most of these other games that saw a similar rise and fall,
09:44Gaia Online suffered from corporate greed,
09:46spurred by the loss of dedicated fans and the need to milk its remaining players for all they've got.
09:52It's sort of cyclical if you think about it.
09:54Increased emphasis on microtransactions and the introduction of marketplace taxes pushed players away,
10:00but became necessary evils to keep servers online.
10:03And online it is,
10:04though sort of operating more as a ghost town than the thriving village it once was.
10:08What are we stumbling upon?
10:10Ha ha! I'm the only person here!
10:12Ha ha!
10:13So much for those angelic halos Gaians once paid thousands of dollars for.
10:18Number 5, Pop Tropica.
10:20This wonky, cartoonish adventure game has a pretty familiar art style.
10:24That's because it's the creation of Jeff Kinney, who pens the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.
10:29Pop Tropica was developed in 2007,
10:32and featured problem-solving quests that advanced players through different islands.
10:35Solve problems, complete quests, and save the world.
10:39With a slightly more educational edge,
10:42the game was less about the sandboxy, make-your-own-world experience, and more conquest-driven.
10:47But that made it stand out.
10:48Hell, Time Magazine even listed it in their 2011 collection of 50 websites that make the web great.
10:54Sadly, it's had quite the fall from greatness.
10:56Like some of its competitors, Pop Tropica only allowed for pre-scripted chat,
11:01and put most of the emphasis on world expansion.
11:03Except those worlds quickly became overrun with sponsored ads,
11:07like the Cinnamon Toast Crunch challenge that forced you to watch commercials.
11:11On March 21st...
11:12Keep it, boys.
11:13The Muppets are under new management.
11:15The social element just wasn't there to sustain a community,
11:19and locking certain islands behind a membership was the final nail in the coffin.
11:22Pop Tropica is free-to-play.
11:25However, members get early access to new islands and other fun extras.
11:29The entire company behind the game shuttered in 2024,
11:32and Pop Tropica was ported over to CoolMathGames.com.
11:35Whoa, throwback.
11:37Unfortunately, with tons of reports that it's practically unplayable in its current state,
11:41Pop Tropica is now very far removed from its prime.
11:45With no new islands coming out, perhaps it's time to rebrand as Flop Tropica.
11:49Welcome to Flop Tropica.
11:51Number 4, Mies.
11:54On the other end of Time Magazine's ire,
11:56Mies was named one of the top five worst websites on the internet in 2007,
12:01right next to Second Life.
12:02This distinction was probably pretty accurate,
12:05considering it was taken offline with absolutely no warning roughly 10 years in.
12:09The Mies Nation was established in 2006,
12:12and allowed residents to visit different hoods to chat.
12:15It was a safe space for self-expression if you were in your emo phase at the time.
12:19Though to be honest, the graphics were pretty terrible.
12:22Avatars looked like uncanny sleep paralysis demons that were accidentally generated by a corrupted AI.
12:28Is he real?
12:29I don't think he's real.
12:30Oh my god, what a creepy face.
12:32That's gonna haunt me forever.
12:33The already sluggish animations were routinely bogged down by hacks and exploits.
12:38There were even entire YouTube markets for tutorials on gaming challenges for greater rewards.
12:42Mies was like a fever dream of what virtual hangout games should look and feel like,
12:52as if someone tried to program one from memory.
12:55Like when you have body type options like Booty Betty and freaking Pregnant Polly,
12:59you know the game is bonkers.
13:01Despite this, there was a period where the community was profitable,
13:04with millions of registered users.
13:06Considering the game was such a mess though, it fell apart rather quickly.
13:11There was no official reason ever given for the dissolution of the website,
13:15but it's not hard to imagine what went wrong.
13:20Number 3.
13:22Fantage
13:22Yet another virtual world to fall victim to the 10-year life cycle.
13:31Fantage was a cutesy role-play game with Japanese aesthetics.
13:34Founded in 2007, the world offered more parent-approved features like word filtering
13:40and in-game reporting systems.
13:42But that didn't stop the Kauai Fantagians from causing as much chaos as conceivably possible.
13:47The thing is, scammers would do this to get the item they wanted, and then kind of dip.
13:52Similar to Gaia, users experienced somewhat of a virtual recession
13:56thanks to the crashing in-game economy.
13:58As a result, players were willing to resort to extremes like trade scams
14:02and straight-up account hacking to loot funds.
14:05Now, there was a pirate role-play game out around this time,
14:08but piracy seeped into the cherubic fantasy world of Fantage 2.
14:12To make matters worse, employees at the company behind the game
14:15began speaking out about toxic workplace conditions.
14:18So really, nobody was coming to these poor kids' rescue.
14:21AHHHHH!
14:23With morale down the drain,
14:25the shiny veil lifted to reveal a pretty ugly community of cyberbullies.
14:28Digital famine can truly bring out the worst in people.
14:33With development priorities totally mismanaged by disgruntled staff members
14:37and Fantasians becoming more trouble than they were worth,
14:41the game was shut down in 2018.
14:43Fantage had lost its charm.
14:45No one was making friends or having fun.
14:48Everyone was in it for the items.
14:50Number 2. Webkinz
14:52Remember begging your parents to buy you a new Webkinz plushie
14:56so that you could use its digital access code to extend your online membership?
15:00The secret code that unlocks Webkinz world!
15:02The coolest thing is everything Webkinz!
15:06Get a parent's permission before going online.
15:08Each sold separately.
15:08Toy company Gans was smart enough to launch the Companion World in 2005
15:12alongside its stuffed animal line,
15:15where you'd play as the pet you purchased.
15:17Genius!
15:17Well, that is until the bubble burst.
15:20What's the coolest thing about Webkinz?
15:22So many pets!
15:24The two...
15:25A few years into launch,
15:28the physical toys themselves became less sought after.
15:31So in order to keep kids online,
15:33a freemium model was developed,
15:35allowing continued, albeit limited, access to the game.
15:38Deluxe membership has arrived.
15:40When your parent signs you up at the e-store,
15:43you'll start getting great new benefits right away.
15:46A special hat to let everyone know that you're deluxe.
15:49Webkinz can be defined in eras.
15:52There's the Classic Era,
15:53which most players look back on fondly.
15:55You can also earn Kins Cash by playing in our arcade.
15:58Then came the Transition Era,
16:00which saw the discontinuation of some of the best games,
16:03like Dicekins.
16:05A lot of the remaining minigames got stale pretty quickly.
16:08There's only so many times you can mine for gems
16:10or visit Dr. Quack before you get bored.
16:12Congratulations!
16:14Looks like you found yourself a gem.
16:16You can keep that gem for your collection
16:18and try for that legendary crown of wonder.
16:21Because the game was aimed at very young children,
16:24social features were limited.
16:25As players began to age out,
16:27or simply tire of the limited gameplay,
16:30Gans cooked up a successor,
16:31Webkinz next.
16:33And...
16:33No.
16:34Just...
16:35No.
16:35There's another way to play Webkinz.
16:37In 3D.
16:38With exciting new pets and features,
16:41including babies.
16:43This is the era of Webkinz that turned fans away for good.
16:47The charm was gone,
16:48the interface was clunky,
16:50and it was abundantly clear
16:51that this was not the same game players fell in love with.
16:54I can walk through chairs now.
16:56That's new.
16:57It's another case of poorly animated 3D graphics
17:00managing to look worse than the timeless 2D style.
17:02By 2019,
17:04the plush pets were discontinued.
17:06And as of today,
17:07the game is effectively a relic.
17:09Before we unveil our top pick,
17:11here are a few honorable mentions.
17:13Cue nostalgic montage.
17:15In Build-A-Bearville,
17:16you can bring your furry friends to life online for free.
17:19Pixie Hollow.
17:20Get off there and show your pixie pride.
17:23Movie Star Planet.
17:24You can create your own movie star or music star.
17:27Join today and receive 1,000 Neopoints for free.
17:35Discover your world.
17:37Neopets.com.
17:38The greatest place not on Earth.
17:40Before we continue,
17:41be sure to subscribe to our channel
17:43and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
17:46You have the option to be notified for occasional videos
17:49or all of them.
17:51If you're on your phone,
17:52make sure you go into your settings
17:54and switch on notifications.
17:56Number 1.
17:57Club Penguin.
17:59Nothing beat chilling in your decked out igloo
18:01with your puffle as you hosted a dance party.
18:06Club Penguin was your run-of-the-mill buy stuff,
18:09furnish stuff, wear stuff, play stuff, hangout space.
18:12But something about it was just magnetic.
18:15In a lot of ways,
18:16Club Penguin laid the blueprint for Roblox.
18:19With games themed around working a job,
18:21this offered kids a more structured form of roleplay.
18:24And sure, we've seen it before,
18:25like with the Webkin's employment office.
18:27But Club Penguin's highly engaging challenges
18:29and emphasis on social interaction
18:31made it stand out in a sea of copycats.
18:34Nothing, absolutely nothing beats the sled racing game.
18:42The idea of waddling around Antarctica
18:44as a colorful penguin was innately absurdist.
18:47So rather than just abandoning the game
18:49when teenage years hit,
18:50players leaned into the whimsy.
18:52At Club Penguin, you're a penguin!
18:55The band from Club Penguin's subreddit
18:57captures the meme potential
18:58of the overly sensitive moderation bots.
19:01Who's Petiti?
19:02Hey, Petiti.
19:03But considering everything we've learned,
19:10the downward trajectory of the game
19:12is rather predictable.
19:14It's profitable.
19:15It peaks.
19:15It's acquired by Disney.
19:17It's corporatized.
19:18It bleeds its residents.
19:20It dies.
19:20It launches a horrifying 3D sequel.
19:22That dies too.
19:24Though the 2005 game is now defunct,
19:27and a number of fan-made reskins
19:29just can't bring the magic back,
19:30we can still look back fondly
19:32on the memories made
19:33before that final shutdown.
19:40Which of these games
19:41did you log the most playtime in
19:42during its heyday?
19:43Share your memories in the comments.
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