Virtual Worlds are Weird! [Second Life, IMVU, Whirled, and More] | Billiam

[@DrakoDarker]

"I'll never be able to recapture the spirit of playing with disgusting avatar like this" I think it is the time for Billiam to play VRChat

[@skullkil]

had the exact same idea wen he said that

[@RhythmGamer]

This I have to see

[@CyberpunkPrince]

VRChat is basically the modern version of these sites, so yeah he should definitely check it out as a follow-up to this video. And while it loses a lot of the charm you can also play VRChat without a VR headset so that won't be a barrier if he doesn't have one.

[@mattwo7]

@@CyberpunkPrince If only customizing your avatar and virtual space was as easy in VRChat as it was in second life. You can't even change your base avatar without having the Unity model maker. I mean there _are_ temporary avatars but as soon as you log out, they go away.

[@mattwo7]

@General Sotheny Still, SL let you fully customize your avatar.

[@Nocturne22]

I knew someone who made a decent living as a clothing designer on Second Life for like, 4 years. That was a literally his full time job, and he was sustained by a very small pool of customers who would pay insane prices for stuff like striped socks and shoes that looked exactly like a specific brand of sneakers.

[@carlangelo653]

@@stayskeptic3923 My friend makes really good money by selling roblox clothes.

[@mikutsu5356]

When a boomer says that millenials only care of not working and making money online i will show them this comment..... Like, the content our generation creates today is at least WORTH THE PRICE and not taking advantage of any mental or social handicap 🌟

[@LivianBivian]

I would love to see a follow up to this. The first things that came into my head that you missed were: -Nicktropolis -Club Penguin -Poptropica -Maid Marian games Also, i don't know if this had a virtual world, but Postopia is another fun online nostalgia trip. They had a bunch of games and were made by Post, the cereal company.

[@kennedybies]

I’d like to add Free Realms to this list!

[@SenorEscaso]

Whyville, which is still up today, but hasn't seen a facelift in probably over a decade.

[@medusablade4178]

Poptropica had full story lines and games for each island. So much fun

[@beautyindarkness8146]

Postopia was my jam

[@Edgelordess]

Hey Sister!

[@kuddlykennen2893]

"IMVU bought Furaffinity" Why does that phrase make so much sense?

[@Penguinmanereikel]

I don't get it.

[@RyoLeo]

deviled_eggs well it’s is furry deviant art but also very very nsfw... which is why I totally don’t have at least 15 tabs open among my hundreds of open tabs

[@scotthoran6809]

They know what they're doing

[@solierafromtheultrareconsquad]

@deviled_eggs e621 is essentially that, too, but it basically devolved into a porn site.

[@CandyBoot]

Rafi Kazi IMVU has a lot of furry outfits for your avatar.

[@crymorefkr]

5:57 I thought imvu was supposed to sound like "I envy you"

[@melbapeach162]

Me too

[@valfiggs5]

I thought it was I aM Virtual yoU

[@Hi-Im-Paul69]

It's... Not?

[@melbapeach162]

@@Hi-Im-Paul69 news to us all

[@Jenny-tm3cm]

You can’t convince me it’s not

[@lieutenant_lucky_rocks]

Finally, I get a look at what all those IMVU ads on other game sites are actually advertising.

[@CrobatmanIamthenight]

Imvu is great tbh, it helped me socialise as a horny anti social teen.

[@blunderingfool]

It looks a lot different than I remember, used to be very cartoony.

[@CrobatmanIamthenight]

@NanoPhoenix im 25

[@burnmydread3354]

nice name

[@lieutenant_lucky_rocks]

Lucky nice name

[@lilithjade4363]

making emo babes all night in imvu is what gave me insomnia when i was 10 years old

[@sunshineyrainbows13]

Mood

[@sgtsongbird]

Big same

[@mind-of-neo]

I cannot express how much I miss the days of maximalist features and aesthetic, over the stale, sterile minimalist aesthetic and reductive feature models that predominate today.

[@Stereo6400]

@deviled_eggs truer words have not been spoken. 😔👌

[@romchompa6858]

myspace was the shit

[@HaplessOne]

Dude imvu was good when all the heads were huge and cartoony/anime like. Then everyone wanted to be super sleek and pretty and it went downhill from there.

[@areyoucereals]

For anyone who misses MySpace, there's a site just like it, friendproject.com There's quite a lot of active people, and I've made a bunch of friends with similar interests :) It's mostly ruled by New Scene (think: anime + scene culture + gore) kids and e-girls/e-boys, but it's still a fun place :)

[@Dumb_Killjoy]

Welcome to IMVU classic pages

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

"I can't make 7 million hour video on this!" Sir, I don't believe you realize just how much I would be willing to watch a video of that length.

[@CallieRoseMartinsyde]

I've been playing Second Life for more than a decade. Yeah, it's basically a glorified chatroom and a lot of users are there just for pixel sex. But for people with disabilities, or not a lot of money, or whatever other reason, it's a place where they can do things they can't do in real life. You can go sailing, horseback riding, clubbing, cycling, hang gliding, and lots more. It's not as good as the real thing, but if you're broke or wheelchair-bound, it's at least a mental break from reality - and it doesn't have to cost a penny.

[@videlvasq]

This describes it really well. As a mentally and physically disabled person it has been a welcome escape from my first life where nothing quite seems to be easy or even possible. I've played it for ..around seven years now? In Secondlife I can have picnics, wear cute clothes, go to museums, explore custom islands, ride horses, go swimming, and all of it I can do with my long-distance friends. So many things I miss irl.

[@chillmanmax]

why dont you just play vrchat then?

[@OpalSilkMoth]

This is so true

[@OpalSilkMoth]

@@chillmanmax VR headsets are expensive and cost alot of money AND not everyone has a beefy computer

[@chillmanmax]

@@OpalSilkMoth vrchat doesnt require headsets to play. you could play with a commercial computer just fine, and it's a really popular game. the only part setting it back is no customization due to it using 3d models, but you can just go to an avatar place and easily find one for you.

[@TheNamelessNarrator]

I used IMVU a lot when I was a teenager like almost obsessively. I didn’t really have friends, had a really bad home life so making some ideal gothic avatar and escapism through imvu was a huge thing for me when I was younger.

[@ethansloan]

I hope you're doing better now.

[@Patrick33194]

Im glad that it helped you 😌 how is your life these days?

[@shrillshrimp200]

Remember the black Angel Wings. That was fucking classic.

[@mewtwo150clone]

I also consider myself not to have any friends

[@zidini]

Aw I think it’s really cute everyone cares so much.

[@cjhs2006]

I Was Such a Dork Back Then,I Loved Stuff Like Custom Mouse Cursors,Downloadable PC Wallpapers,Screensavers,Virtual Worlds,&,Etc.

[@gavingiwer855]

Nothing wrong with being a dork lol!

[@cjhs2006]

@@gavingiwer855 Thanks,I’m Still Pretty Dorky Nowadays Too

[@MusicInTheDarkness]

My dad used to play second life and even tho I never really looked to hard while he was playing I'm pretty sure he was using it to date so... Yeah there's that lol.

[@kumatorahaltmanndreemurr]

Imagine cheating on your wife in a fucking virtual world

[@rintinfin4440]

Cringe, and I've very rarely used the word.

[@MusicInTheDarkness]

@@kumatorahaltmanndreemurr My parents have been divorced for 20 years so no cheating but even just the dating was weird already asdfhjkl

[@nicholaswoollhead6830]

@@kumatorahaltmanndreemurr my best friends mom did that lol. Was married to my friends dad, but met some other guy on sl and moved across the country to be with him. They are still together 10 years later tho and very happy so it wasn't all bad, except for my poor friend who had to explain why he was moving away.

[@tristanjacobucci]

My friend Tasha/Tony is wildly engrossed in Second life and for them it's because they don't have the means to afford hormones/sex reassignment surgery and it allows them to be the person they wish to see in themselves. It gives them some small peace and for that I applaud it.

[@Valtharr]

I'm just gonna repeat myself: Do Habbo already!

[@ZebitasMartinex]

I thought he was going to talk about Habbo in this video too for some reason

[@TrialzGTAS]

Habbo Hotel!

[@HighsideOfJupiter]

The Pool is closed

[@fenomozo9108]

Bobba

[@CortezaDeAbedul]

@HandsOffStalker He means that the pool is closed, therefore no one can access to it.

[@abe2935]

I've been in second life for 9 years and still love the creativity as well as the interactive platform. Very artistic and creative things happen there. So much to do even if it isn't classified as a game. I do wild west role play, and farming right now which is fun. The sense of community there is amazing. Also, I don't know where you're getting $50 for shoes or the figures as far as how much money SL makes. You can get just about anything in SL for free including membership is free as well so paying for things is your choice. I love the concept of virtual worlds and hope to see them evolve. 🙂

[@PimPeccable]

Yeah! He was talking about $50 shoes while showing is $L400 shoes. That's only $1.50!!

[@nativeprincess8986]

Agreed lol his video is way off tho

[@HighsideOfJupiter]

You should look into YoWorld (formerly Yoville), OurWorld, Fantage!, and Pixies Hollow online.

[@aliceangel7644]

I miss pixie hollow online

[@ovosan4195]

Also, barbiegirls too, it was great :c

[@Lepharmory]

Or TyGirls or the like.

[@starnight8819]

I miss fantage.

[@starnight8819]

Ovo san I remember always watching my sisters play that. My favourite game was design clothes.

[@isabelleandaustinbarko2128]

I remember Habbo. Weird that I never hear anyone talking about it.

[@Starfishxoxo]

I would go on the retro version

[@itschelseakay]

I remember Habbo Hotel!

[@wysarde]

When I was like 10 I was really into IMVU. It gave my computer several viruses and essentially bricked it.

[@MysticDarkStar]

sorry but imvu does not give Viruses i know i have been on there for 12 yrs now

[@leahtofu]

Lmfao thats a lie, you probably downloaded it from a shady website

[@wysarde]

@@leahtofu what would I stand to gain from lying on the internet about an outdated video game to a bunch of strangers

[@wysarde]

@DejaVoodooDoll nope, i was a simple man whose only goal was to dress like an emo vampire. I have absolutely no memory of clicking any links for free stuff.

[@wysarde]

@DejaVoodooDoll bro idk what to tell you, i was 10. im really sorry that happened to you uh, hope youre safe, but its hard to know what to say in response to that when previously i was talking about a shitty computer game i played as a child

[@lisalove944]

I used to go on IMVU like every day when I was a teenager. I had a whole group of friends that I met online. It was so different back then I rememeber the random chat was always active. It was a weird time 😂 not gonna lie I was into the furry shit at one point

[@Dumb_Killjoy]

Same, I still am!

[@delusionalshawty]

zwinky was my childhood omg i was so upset when they shut it down. there was ‘clones’ but they were all full of viruses

[@tannerparks6030]

Me and my sister loved zwinky!!! I remember getting into a bunch of drama on there because I was virtually dating like 6 other users and they all met up to roast me. I had to create a different account just so they would leave me alone. It was so much fun logging on and typing in the chat "who wants a boyfriend/girlfriend/child?" and changing between the guy, girl and small avatar

[@lebro4401]

Zwinky toolbar

[@anis9166]

I LOVE IT TOO. I was one of the emo people with white skin and the sad expression haha. People were very dramatic there, I accidentally found myself in weird situations. I was so sad when they shut down :(

[@allysontyra1152]

I spent so many hours of my high school days just on zwinky. My best friend and I would sit in her kitchen on her desktop & her laptop just farming zbucks all night long. We were the fashion show people though, not the "bf/gf/child" people. Although we did create an entire website dedicated to scamming people out of their zwinky accounts. Lmao.

[@HikikomoriGirlHound]

Same. I had a girl "confront " me over talking to her zwinky mom. I got everyone to think she was a 40 year old man lol. Man i was toxic

[@annsleejimeson5577]

I wish it would come back 😭😭

[@SparkstarScope]

Oh my god a video covering Whirled with actual popularity. FINALLY. I was late to the party, I joined Whirled by 2013 or so, but my GOD I had a blast. All the user generated content made for such a creative experience. From the GBA Sonic avatars with tons of actions to the custom room backgrounds, it was all so cute and charming. If I had learned of this game's existence when I was younger, it would've been the Club Penguin killer to me. Whirled easily was the best social media game to me. The full focus on user creativity made this much of a difference... And the fact that it wasn't made out of the ugliest and most dated 3D models in the market. I recently learned of Whirled Club, but it's apparently completely dead, so I can't bring myself to registering for it. I really wish a full comeback could be made, but in this day and age with VRChat being so hot, I bet that Whirled wouldn't last long enough for it to be a worthy investment. Sigh...

[@ryanxiiivods]

There was me, a twelve years old, surfing the internet, when i saw an imvu ad. The twelve old me download it, thinking it was something like the sims. Let’s say it was nothing alike, and there was some weird shit to buy 😂😂😂

[@Fae_van]

Omg me too, i totally thought it was like a sims type game when i saw those ads

[@divinebovine12185]

I always thought IMVU was "I M virtual U"

[@GameHogGames]

Cracking video idea. I spent a shameful amount of time in IMVU, and dare I mention Habbo Hotel...

[@ScreamingAllTheTime]

Game Hog oh I wish I could erase the memories of Habbo Hotel. I know why after a few months I rarely ventured out of the hospital RP room. I stumbled into one sex dungeon and said NOPE.

[@ScreamingAllTheTime]

Sora Fora the one thing I wish I could tell younger me was the adoption centres were not that innocent jfc

[@Amsayy]

Habbo Hotel was my shit 🙏🏻

[@mihawk508]

That one Halloween event they did a long time ago where they had that those girl that would randomly pop up from room to room and mess with the lights will forever live on in my memory

[@cjhs2006]

I Used to Get on Zwinky When I Was Like 11,I Stopped Out of Embarrassment When I Was 12,I’m Still Embarrassed That I Used to Get on it,&,I’m 30 Now(I Also Used to Get on IMVU,Same Story,Same Ages)

[@GoblinDave152]

14:25 "But I'll never be able to recapture the spirit of playing with a disgusting avatar like this" Actually you probably can with the help of 'VR chat'

[@brainstormsurge154]

Ya, but VR Chat can be wholesome, degenerate and autistic fun all rolled into one. Whereas all those others are just 3D vomit.

[@alannahthreet8749]

I played a lot of these.. but the most popular were Meez, Zwinky, and IMVU - second life was more for adults who could afford a good running computer to open up clothing files and be able to run the chat rooms. IMVU only allowed fashion and chatting and no way to get currency unless you spent real money (they later introduced other options). Meez, Zwinky, and other browser based chat avatars, allowed teens to chat with one another without crashing to much and not having to spend money to look fab. These platforms offered online dating, socializing for the unsocial (or the weirdos who had trouble making alt friends in a small midwestern town...) AND role play! Text role play of fantasy D&D based characters, anime high school, or furry wonderland! These definitely hold a special place in my heart and the fond memories of a awkward teenager.

[@professorkittyhawk]

I remember first hearing about Second Life after it was featured in an episode or two of CSI New York. Someone died in game and died in real life and it they end up playing the game to try figuring out who killed the person. Weirrrrrd.

[@Amsayy]

Kittyhawk I remember that episode so vividly lmao

[@cooldude56g]

Probably the weirdest part of that is there is no death mechanic in Second Life. There never was. You'd have to go to a sim that had like special HUDs or something for any in-depth combat. Even then, if you were to quote-on-quote "die" in those sims, the worst that would often happen was that you'd teleport back to your home waypoint. No other consequence.

[@professorkittyhawk]

@@cooldude56g May have misremembered the persons character dying. Been a long time. May have been the player died and their character continued being used or something. Still a weird thing to feature in an episode of a CSI show.

[@DeRien8]

@@professorkittyhawk I think I remember seeing a Criminal Minds or SVU episode featuring Second Life (as a name for whatever generic online virtual chat they faked for the show) where the person went missing in the real world and they had to follow clues online and irl until they figured out that someone the victim was talking to had created a sleeping avatar of the missing person in a lake house replica of a real place. They went to the irl analogue and found the missing person. One of the investigative team I think might have gotten hurt?

[@DeRien8]

Figured it out. The SVU episode I'm thinking of is titled Avatar. Don't think the online space featured is actually called Second Life, maybe a mention was made or I just had that association.

[@BeeIsDoubt]

My sister and I used to play Zwinky. Neither of us were SUPER into it, but we did play about once a day-ish just to get zbucks or new outfits/furniture. Something that I wish was mentioned in the video, because of how weird it was, is that in Zwinky, you can wear no clothes and instead be covered by a barrel, with arm straps. It was a barrel dress.

[@SnoopingTurtle]

I spent hundreds of hours on Whirled as a kid, I remember being so excited when I first got my gir skin that let me take the dog hood off. I stan Whirled.

[@ZaparinoBobino]

Same. Except it was a groomers paradise

[@marybabygirl44]

Zwinky was amazing! A big part of my childhood/preteen years.

[@kingwashington4044]

please talk about Meez it was one of the virtual world apps that I was playing when I was nine all the way until I was eleven it was good I remember lying about my age saying I was 16

[@kyliekuhlmann9659]

Rip meez, it was a good game

[@kingwashington4044]

@@kyliekuhlmann9659 did meez really end? I admit I went and checked on it 2 years ago my rooms were gone but my profile was still there

[@SwampCeeMcGee60]

YES. MEEZ. Loons took that shit seriously.

[@SwampCeeMcGee60]

@@kingwashington4044 Meez went bankrupt around 2016-2017. They allegedly abandoned the site and just let the website contract run out. They never said a word and just let people continue to spend money on it. Everyone started to get suspicious when the admins suddenly stopped reviewing abuse reports and such. Some people called the building they were in and a janitor said they packed up their shit and left. I have no respect for the CEO's and the Admins after they just let people continue to pay for VIP perks, with no formal goodbye. Greed makes people vile.

[@laurenzo9160]

I spent an embarrassing amount of time on meez back when I was 15/16. 2009 was such a fun time to have Internet access

[@Virginny]

I still get on my old imvu at least once a year just so it never gets deleted. I spent alot of my time and money on imvu. It used to be so fun to. The roleplay used to be really good to like full walls of text by people who actually put effort into creating their characters and cared about writing.

[@BeyondBrii]

Oh no, is that why mine was deleted :(

[@Epzilon12]

I used Second life for a Biology class in college like 2 years ago. My favorite part about it was clipping out of bounds into my other labs. It was very jank and hilarious.

[@EndsOnAWin]

Explain? How did your college bio class work?

[@Epzilon12]

@@EndsOnAWin So there were obviously in-class lectures and exams, but the labs were on Second Life. We'd log in on a given account (made with us being Age 16 funny enough, so I could technically access the.. weird parts of second life now if i wanted to) and since we'd spawn in the school zone, we'd receive pop ups to do our labs. These labs would start with introductory questions that we should know based on lectures and the textbook, then get to the actual lab areas. These areas would have a variety of themes, usually labs. Other cool areas included a theme-park with biology themed questions where you'd actually win tickets to trade them in for Second Life cosmetics. My favorite was the two labs that had us in a blown-up model of a cell, being able to see and operate parts of the cell in detail. After the activity you'd have a post-test and were free to stick around until you were done. Overall, it was a very unique way to do the labs and honestly I liked the class and did very well in it as far as I remember.

[@shayww]

The footage of second life is super old

[@sdube001]

Gods yes. Even the free starter avatars don't look like that anymore. Never mind people who improve their avs.

[@TiffyVella1]

We could start a drinking game for these kinds of vids. Footage of circa 2003 avatars noob-walking and dancing- skoll！ Mentions of pixel-humping and general sleaziness - skoll！ Showing that photo of Anshe Chung - skoll！

[@Bradley_Dragon]

lol yep. this is "max graphics" imgur.com/a/ktvaQAY

[@humanpin1811]

Yall remember webkinz? I played that all the time when it started.

[@Shadowonwater]

I remember it but I switched to animal jam later. I still have a lot of my webkinz.

[@joegromlowicz9208]

I played a little but I kinda dropped off when it started asking for a credit card

[@superpika1of4]

They added so much lag!

[@kirbysuperstaruhh3769]

I loved webkinz, i still have some of my plushies and i still have my account

[@DrummerGiraffe]

WELCOME TO THE CURIO SHOP. HOPE YOU FIND WHAT YER LOOKING FOR

[@Gleamiarts]

I played Smallworlds, YoVille, Stardoll IMVU, Stardoll, Second Life, Maid Marion, ChitChar City, Pixie Hollow, Poptropica, Club Penguin, Habbo and countless others. I loved playing them as a child

[@widad_nora]

I'd love to see you cover MovieStarPlanet!

[@RealRexRiplash]

In the vein of Neopets, I sunk a lot of time into Exhibited-sim. The best way I could describe it is a dinosaur version of those "raise a bunch of animals to breed and sell" games. A large chunk of the game was just that. Raising a farm comprised of "enclosures" that held any number of dinosaur genera. Oddly enough, the bulk of the dinosaur selection was Theropods. An even larger chunk of this was dinosaurs like Velociraptor and Compsognathus.

[@druid4438]

I used TinierMe for a while because I was the sad kid into making online friends.

[@idontrlyhaveanamebutihavec9918]

I'm still that sad kid making online friends

[@animeluver22ful]

I miss roleplaying in TM while simultaneously changing costumes.

[@druid4438]

@@animeluver22ful I never got too in RPing on TM. But boy was it fun sitting in a corner and watching everyone else.

[@voopytimes]

One of my oldest friends I made on TinierMe as a kid, man... takes me back.

[@druid4438]

@The Meaning is Always Vague Yeah. I lost contact with people that I had been talking to daily, for well over two years. It was really depressing for quite a while.

[@noot7109]

If you have a GOOD gaming PC, Second Life has improved A LOT over the years :o.. Mesh avatars look like real lyfe if you pr0 enough to make such an avatar.

[@sdube001]

Love SL. In it daily.

[@cameelahcarter]

They need to be using firestorm viewer or blackdragone viewer or any other viewer other than the original SL viewer.

[@TiffyVella1]

SL today is nothing like the 10 year old footage typically rehashed in these kinds of vids. Its home to many communities, and is a great place for creative people to have an outlet. Those of us who enjoy 3d modelling, texturing, scripting, animating etc find it to be a great platform.

[@chocfreespiritfamily7675]

@@sdube001 add me username is lustibunni

[@rh162]

Similar to Whirled is Manyland. Its all user generated too. I'd really like it if someone was talking about it. It could use the traffic.

[@SparkstarScope]

I got excited and had a look at it. Checked the screenshots on the Steam page, but... It doesn't look as charming as Whirled was. No offense if you like the game, but the pixel style reminds me of this other game called 8BitMMO which was fun for like, ten minutes.

[@mippa5830]

I remember using IMVU as a teen quite a bit, because there was an exploit where you could wear anything you wanted without buying. As a broke child, that was a huge plus lol

[@mippa5830]

That was absolutely why I played as a child. It doesn't look anything like I remember though.

[@SirAsdf]

There are apparently bands who hold concerts in Second Life.

[@patricklukcy13]

That happened all the time. A friend of mine played it all the time and there was someone that even hosted a radio show through it.

[@SkandIous]

Oh yea, we even had doctor Phil come to secondlife too

[@melendabaptiste6202]

There are many musicians and singers that do live shows in second life and there are cover bands that pretend they are big bands that do live concert simulations... a lot of talent in sl

[@brandonporter8509]

At its height I know of at least one megachurch that had a “campus” in second life

[@Dumb_Killjoy]

@@SkandIous What

[@sSnaiils]

Ahhh... Zwinky, where cuties were actually people rping toddlers that wanted you to "adopt them".

[@otaking3582]

12:13 What the hell anime have you been watching that has character designs like _that?_

[@princesspeasant4536]

Right? It looks more like Gloom, the card game.

[@otaking3582]

@@princesspeasant4536 I was reminded more of Don't Starve or Series of Unfortunate Events

[@EmiMac20]

I remember playing Webkinz, Nicktropolis, and a little bit of Virtual Magic Kingdom, if you count those as virtual world games.

[@ArticJane]

Me - Wakes up, Sits at my PC, Logs into Second Life, opens youtube to find something to listen to, Finds Billiam made a video about Second Life and more "oh... This will be interesting" Me - Isn't disapointed by the video

[@unfinished-business]

I kinda miss Zwinky. It was something I use to play when I was like 13 up until I was 17. Never wanted to come back more than ever when I heard they were shutting down in 2016. Miss all the old friends I made.

[@mintyfawn]

Anyone remember Poupéegirl? You would take photos of real clothes you own and upload them to your virtual closet to get points. Then you could spend them to decorate your doll and room.

[@zombelladonna]

I spent so much time on IMVU in the 00s, I have really vivid memories of it. I don't remember it having a tinder style feature, back in the day it was more like omegle where you could chat with stranger, or you could chat with friends on your contact list (similar to AIM or yahoo messenger). You could go to either their room or your room and the chats would appear as 3D speech bubbles above the avatars heads, you could also interact with any furniture and objects in the room, and you could even have pets that would follow your avatar. And I remember reading a newspaper article about people being addicted to Second Life back when it was really popular in the 00s as well..this is so crazy

[@SpookyDeerArt]

i've played both second life and IMVU extensively- IMVU as a young teen and second life when i had my first job and blew most of my paychecks on making aesthetic as hell furry avatars. found out last night that my best friend played IMVU as recently as 2016 and he had no clue it existed before the app- when i told him i played it as a literal preteen he was shocked. he also lost his mind when i proved IMVU owned furaffinity lmao

[@virtualworldsbyloff]

You dont PLAY SL, you USE SL

[@AlexanderComics]

Second life was the first virtual world I ever played. I remember flying to someone’s private island and them not liking me being there. They started yelling at me in Spanish and that’s when I learned you couldn’t go everywhere you wanted in Second life. After that, I got super addicted to playing the Sims.

[@ShakeItLittleTina]

Nice & tasty mid-2000’s nostalgia, I love it

[@enviouslay]

Second Life is still pretty poppin' tbh

[@yshrivera]

I was so into Zwinky when I was 10 or 12 years old. My favorite thing about it was other users hosting a fashion show/competition wherein there are themes per round that you have to dress yourself and to determine who loses that round is when the host throws a pie at you. It was like ANTM for kids, I love it. Another site like this was Tinierme which is a better made game imo. It has a more cohesive anime art style and the animations are smoother.

[@charlottefoley461]

Keneva was a large part of my teens, and I was extremely popular around the time I was in middle school. It’s been shut down since. I never really knew why, but most info about it was gone last time I tried to look it up.

[@brycevo]

That opening was so much nostalgia. I haven't seen that glitter vomit in so long. I also remember seeing ads for these sites.

[@billiam]

I LOVE GLITTER VOMIT

[@brycevo]

@@billiam may as well check out the old stick games before flash gets shut down

[@charmcoin]

i'm so glad you covered whirled in this video, i've never met anyone else who remembered it! i spent so much time on that game making awful mspaint avatars and stuff haha

[@lonepuddingcup]

When I was about 9-11 years old (I'm 20 now) I was obsessed with playing a game called Woozworld (it's sortta like a Habbo Hotel clone but instead of Pixel it was more vector graphic if I remember correctly) and to my absolute shock ithe site is still up to this day even a whole decade later.

[@sorcererinasweater7670]

I remember that game! When I was in grade 4, I had a friend who tried to introduce me to it.

[@reeses3466]

yESS

[@FectoMemoria]

I used to play Woozworld too...

[@jeshirekitenkatt1212]

I've been playing secondlife for over a decade now. I enjoy texture creation, and the platform has an active community of people who make meshes with UV texture guides to work with. As a result, I can customize my avatar to an insanely specific degree with a few pre-bought parts and a little time on my part. This avatar is one I have explored my sexuality and gender through and helped ease my social anxiety thorough, which lead to other ways of exploring my identity through creative freedom and SL's general laxness regarding those topics. I've been able to bring to life ideas I would not have had the ability to otherwise, explored places that could not exist without the sort of platform it provides, made friends who I might have otherwise been too scared to make, and been motivated to greatly expand my skills in not just texturing, but 3d modeling, audio production, scripting, clothing and character design, and more. Just for my my love of bringing these things to fruition! In this way, it also does wonders for recovering from my depressive downswings. If you're an adult creative, need a somewhat safe and anonymous space to express and explore yourself, like to roleplay, and so on, it can be a very valuable and meaningful platform for that. 'Course, after a decade I know how to filter my company pretty well there, and most people poking in for the first time to make a video to take the piss out of it don't. And there's plenty to take the piss out of too, don't get me wrong, and it's funny to see that too. :P As an afterthought, Billiam, consider dipping into the world of OpenSim grids - they're basically second life private servers and can be logged into with Firestorm viewer, a certified third party viewer (client) for Secondlife and Opensim.

[@talulashippe]

The sad fact is that Billiam skimmed the surface, picked up Berry's tutorial, and otherwise relied on footage over a decade old to make his assessment on Second Life. I doubt he'll make another one.

[@chatboss000]

"Whirled" was my favorite online mmo thing as a kid. I loved the user-created decorations available, and vaguely remember just exploring, leaving the main "hub" that everyone went to and just running intosome wacky decorated abandoned public rooms and stuff.

[@johnmcnally7812]

For some reason Second Life got a lot of academic interest. There's even a full ethnography on it.

[@HarveMoone]

Do you happen to remember the name of that ethnography or a link? Is it on KZbin? Sorry lol very curious

[@bboops23]

My college had it installed on every computer. I assume it was a vestigial installation that had served some purpose in the past, but it no longer was used in the educational capacity they originally used it for. I made an account one day while waiting for some edits to render. Couldn't figure out how to walk, but I made my person fly. I never touched it again.

[@mariopikaman1]

Holy shit, Whirled. Oh my god, I remember being a player in Whirled during 2006, so I was just a kid who had a Tails player avatar, having a separate room that was the entire layout of Yoshi's Island 1-4 in his room, with Zac Brown Band's Chicken Fried playing in the main room because GODDAMNIT that was 2006 and that was the fuckin shitttt I also remember hanging out in a mystery portal room while Wierd Al's eBay was playing and the bingo rooms they had... Goddamn why did Whirled shut down again????

[@sniperofthebrine1367]

OK so, from what I remember, the original was funded and brought by Sega, but they eventually stopped funding it or something. It was one of the many reasons. Bars could be converted into real world money, so that would obviously take funding, and ontop of that, a lot of agents just gave up and left, I'm certain there were only two to three active ones by the time I was signed up around 2011, and absolutely none around 2015. Around that time, people were also getting access to the code, and giving themselves God powers via avatars, as a gateway. Eventually someone called Shark was able to tear up Brave new Whirled, and it eventually shut down around 2016-17 iirc. A new one is now being funded by fans of the original site, after at least 2 to 3 attempts to reinvigorate. First attempt was Glowbe, funded by an absolute degenerate, very likely supported by furaffinity. He'd always ram shitty furry jokes, and always hired fellow furries, and eventually people just rallied to make a new site, called Synced Synced was just as much a mess, but did get us somewhere. Due to it being early in development, it was riddled with crash avatars and hackers, trolls and even some of the staff were poor choices. One of the staff eventually split, and was able to acquire the code and actually make a legal copy of Whirled, which I believe is now called Whirled Club. Dunno how well that's going, but so far there's been no statements about the site being killed off yet

[@KamenRiderAliks]

13:14 and 13:36 shows a Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Avatar While 13:40 has a Kamen Rider Garren one, wow, how neat! Never knew there was a virtual world game that knew about Kamen Rider.

[@Lycaon1765]

I liked the game that McDonald's had. They gave you codes with your toys that you could redeem for pets, clothes, etc. I also think animal jam is fun. I used to watch AJ youtubers, but the I kinda stopped playing the game and then stopped watching the content and then a bunch of the youtubers simply quit or stopped uploading or uploaded infrequently. The company who made animal jam, wildworks, is currently making a new game called Feral and I've signed up for the beta and I'm just hoping they'll let me in!!! Oh I also played moshi monsters, I lost the password for my account though, I think since I didn't play for so long that they deleted my account because when I tried to use the email I signed up with to get my password reset it said that, iirc, that that email wasn't in the database or something. I have a DS game of moshi monsters, but I don't have a ds. ;-; You should talk about all of these!!

[@kirbysuperstaruhh3769]

MCWORLD!!! OMG!! I REMEMBER WANTING THE CODES MORE THAN THE TOYS THEMSELVES!!! Also i looked at feral and despite not really liking Animal Jam all that much i still signed up for beta because i love fantasy stuff and i dig the look and style of it so much.

[@Lycaon1765]

@@kirbysuperstaruhh3769 FUCKING SAME!!! I miss the game, they shut it off in 2014. :(

[@Lycaon1765]

@BLAZING HEART no I didn't. Is that one still up or no?

[@sarahdaestrela6098]

Whirled was actually developed by Three Rings, which folded and Grey Havens was created to salvage its remaining games and keep them running. Their other big properties were Spiral Knights and Puzzle Pirates, the latter of which made up my entire teen years and is still (barely) alive.

[@demicx1156]

I still love and play imvu...I met my current boyfriend in 2013 I’m imvu and we’ve been dating for almost two years now

[@Dumb_Killjoy]

Huh, I didn't know that people could have actual relationships on there. IMVU is just obnoxious teenagers at this point.

[@thispersonis1420]

Are they still together?

[@demicx1156]

@@Dumb_Killjoy there’s a few of us older players 😂

[@DrugsAreForWinners]

I love all the old stories about Second Life. Like people literally becoming rich from selling property and what not.

[@blunderingfool]

To be fair it takes a fair bit of skill to make a good looking home on that program. Especially if you're not going to use Primitives. (Which would be a good idea, prims suck by modern standards.)

[@ScooterinAB]

Like everything, if you actually have talent, you can actually make a little money in SL (I know a bunch of DJs, some who started in SL and actually became real life DJs or do real live shows). But just like the comic speculator market and the dot com bust, most people think it's a path to free money when it isn't. While still quite popular, SL's "crash" came after everyone and their dog thought it would lead to real life sales, and then started scratching their heads and wondering what the hell they were doing. Once car companies realized that virtual cars weren't leading to real car sales, they bailed.

[@dorientjewoller113]

@@ScooterinAB Looks to the right side of me and see the system I paid with what I have earned as a dj in SL.

[@ScooterinAB]

@@dorientjewoller113 Like I said, you can make some money off of real skills, and those who are highly skilled can make more. What I'm referring to is the speculators who jumped into SL as a fad and those who think they can make a fortune doing nothing.

[@laurendoe168]

Yes, it is possible to make money in Second Life... but that's not why I spend so much time there. There's just so much to do! I am currently spending a lot of time (and money) fundraising for American Cancer Society. The Relay For Life season is about to start (Feb 15, 2020) and the Roos With A Dream team have a lot to get ready before then.

[@mc.gemstone]

Pixie Hollow and Moshi Monsters were the ones I grew up with the most but I did see tons of these ads for stuff like Second life, IMVU and Zwinky.

[@FectoMemoria]

GOD, I grew up on those two as well...

[@Bansheex0]

Oh god this feels like a childhood throwback. I played on meez, zwinky, imvu, and Gaia.. I had no life growing up jeez

[@UnderdarkTrans]

"Is that Kermit the Frog with two samurai swords SMOKING A BLUNT?"

[@cherryquill]

I used to play Whirled! I loved playing the games and hanging out with my friends there, and I did play a LOT of Corpse Craft as well as a zombie survival game I don't recall the name of. One of my friends actually rigged animated avatars for the game, which was really cool.

[@AlainaWallflower]

WeeWorld and Meez would be a great addition for you to talk about. I remember using WeeWorld A LOT!

[@Gallant_Silver]

I got an ad for IMVU at the end of this video. I haven't seen one of their ads in years, so... thanks, Billiam.

[@talulashippe]

Your footage of Second Life is extremely old, except for Berry's tutorial, which features a starter, uncustomized avatar. But hey, at least you got the figures right. SL has a huge economy. You should really visit sometime, just so you can make an assessment based on how things really are these days. It's nothing like Life 2.0 anymore.

[@shannonhughes8488]

that was me, i was the cutie looking to be adopted. now i work in finance

[@Faerygism]

I met my best friend on IMVU. We're still super close and talk nearly every day 14 years later. I'd probably still be using it if my computer wasn't hot garbage.

[@oliviad4431]

i played this one called “wee world” or something

[@anononnymouse2795]

Yup. With the south park looking things

[@oliviad4431]

@@anononnymouse2795 yes!!!

[@SneakyCanner]

Yesss I remember when USA or like trutv channel promoted it way back

[@plantlady42069]

I was just recently wondering about one of these game types. It was Weeworld I used to spend a lot of time on!

[@valfiggs5]

I’d love to see you talk about the Disney instant message games, like Pixie Hollow and pirates of the Caribbean

[@extremeoutlawking1771]

I used to use imvu when I was like 12. I'm hindsight its amazing I didn't get predated on.

[@crusixangel9513]

I remember spending most days after school (or maybe even sitting in class) on GaiaOnline

[@nullbyt]

I always thought the graphics of HABBO HOTEL were awesome I guess I’m just a sucker for pixel art.

[@Iggysluckytonite]

Billiam swearing more, I'm here for it. That's the 2020 energy I need

[@PaleoSteno]

7:37 Is that Applejack?!

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

Applecrack Because Billiam had to blur the butt.

[@anononnymouse2795]

Hey...i know you...

[@bereniceabigail1083]

I played IMVU when i was a literal 10 year old child, so many weird things happened that sometimes I believe it was just a fever dream. I still dream about its 3D format weirdness. A bad time to be on the internet without parental supervision. My computer got so many viruses my dad had to help me format it, and just told him I didnt know what IMVU was lmao.

[@solierafromtheultrareconsquad]

The closest I had to these games growing up were those old Facebook games, most of which got axed down at the end of 2012 to my knowledge. Farmville is probably the most imfamous, but I played Petville.

[@crypticcorvid]

Petville and Pet Society were my childhood. 😭 I was so upset when they shut it down.

[@solierafromtheultrareconsquad]

@@crypticcorvid Me too, man.

[@DeRien8]

Wait, Farmville was shut down? So that's why I stopped getting those annoying notifications from my adult facebook friends asking me to do whatever so they could get virtual rewards.

[@solierafromtheultrareconsquad]

@@DeRien8 Those were the days.

[@StalwartShinobi]

i used to think the coolest thing was to have every word an emote or animated image on msn. i was mistook for the zodiac killer just telling my cousin that i watched the matrix one weekend

[@OnlyEpicEmber]

The day I discovered Habbo Hotel, my little mind was blown as I only knew toontown and club penguin.

[@St4r_Z0mb13]

I remember when rooms in Whirled Club filled up to the point the server started giving out static avatars, good times.

[@geoleo965]

*SPOILERS:* Not even Skillshare can save your Second Life and IMVU avatar from its hideous and cursed Uncanny Valley.

[@lanesworld8288]

Another great video :)! I remeber IMVU from when I was a pre teen, but never knew about half the stuff discussed :)

[@Haannaaahhh]

I used to love Tinier me which shut down quite a few years ago 😭

[@sunshineyrainbows13]

DO A PART 2 WITH PIXIE HOLLOW, FANTAGE, TINIERME, SUPERSECRET, OURWORLD ...most of them are gone now. :( I was obsessed with all of these as a kid, lol. there was also one called "Hollywood" something that my sister liked.

[@POTscKIDS]

STARDOLL!!! Literally spent all of my allowance on there!

[@niftyswift]

SmallWorlds was one I was obsessed with as a kid.

[@WindowIntoMyWorld]

me, aged 7, downloading IMVU to the family computer and caused a virus, while i sat and watched my parents blamed my sister for it: ..👁👄👁

[@chiptoony2062]

god I remember being so fascinated by IMVU as a kid.... if only the ads didn't make the game look like it came with a complimentary side of viruses lol

[@GamingTechUnited]

Is that the Happy Bunny in the background? I feel like that thing was ALL OVER the internet and stickers in the mid to late 2000’s lol.