Welcome to our obsessive gallery of Avatar Worlds. Also known as “graphical chats” and “VR” (Virtual Realities), there are a lot of these cool Avatar-Based Virtual Worlds on the net. Are there any missing? Did we leave out your favorite, or fail to mention an important feature? Leave a comment or contact us to let us know about it!
| Active Worlds | ActiveWorlds lets you visit and chat in 3D worlds that are built by other users. Interactive Environments, Virtual Reality Games and VR Training Software can all be created using the ActiveWorlds system. You can custom brand your virtual world and host it on your own servers. The ActiveWorlds enterprise product is the platform of choice for many Fortune 100 corporations who want full control over their online worlds. | http://www.activeworlds.com/ |
| Blaxxun | blaxxun is the leading real-time multi-user 3D client/server platform for the delivery of shared interactive 3D content on the Web. The blaxxun Communication Server is ideally suited for deploying and managing rich-media community, collaboration and mobile applications and services which can be experienced with the blaxxun Contact plugin or the blaxxun 3D Java applet. | http://www.blaxxun.com |
| Comic-Chat/Microsoft Chat | This product has been discontinued, and no support is available. | http://www.comic-chat.com/ |
| Cyberpark | This system has been discontinued, and the inngames.com domain no longer exists. | http://www.inngames.com/Cyberpark/ |
| Digital Space Traveler | The Digital Space Commons. While the website is still up and the product appears to be active, there hasn’t been a new post on their front page since June 2008. Thanks to AusMounty for the URL. | http://www.digitalspace.com/traveler/index.html |
| DramaGame | Dramagame is an online multiplayer game where all characters are played by real people. Everyone gets a pre-made character with history and goals to play with. Chatting with other player characters is the core gameplay. [Requires Windows Vista or later.] The first version is already playable. The first story is called Velvet Sundown and it takes place on a luxury yacht sailing in the Caribbean. We just launched an indiegogo project to support the continuous development: http://www.indiegogo.com/dramagame Our main site is at http://www.dramagame.com | http://www.dramagame.com |
| Dubit Avatar Chat Community | The Dubit Avatar Chat Community is Dubit is an online community created for (and by) UK teenagers, in the form of a 3D chat world called “Dubit Island”. In this lightly-moderated environment, the Dubit team provides a safe online environment where people can meet, chat, blog & play games. Requires Flash. | http://www.dubit.co.uk/ |
| Furcadia | Furries, you’ve got a new home. “Furcadia is the magical world where the animals have learned to speak and walk upon two legs. Create your own customizable avatar and start exploring the friendly online game (MMOG) with rich player-driven content. Our established online community, grown over years, has become a second home to tens of thousands of players.” Some of the areas in Furcadia are recommended for users 18 years of age or older. Other features…
|
http://furcadia.com/ |
| Gaia Online | “Gaia Online is more than just an online hangout. It’s a world populated with millions of people gathering to chat, play games, watch movies, and show off their creativity through customized avatars, profiles, and journals.” The online world of Gaia includes chat, journals, shops, profiles, forums, arenas, and a wide variety of special live events. Thanks to Danny for the tip! | http://www.gaiaonline.com/ |
| Habbo Hotel | Habbo Hotel is a hangout for teens. Requires Shockwave. | http://www.habbohotel.com/ |
| Habitat, Habitat II | This system is no longer available. | http://teleparc.com/habitat2/ |
| Holodesk | This product is no longer available, and the website is down. | http://www.holodesk.com |
| IMVU | IMVU is a popular system that includes messenger software, rooms & wardrobes, and a free home page. | http://www.imvu.com/ |
| Kaneva | Kaneva says they will be running a 3D world where you can meet friends, chat, explore places, play games, listen to music, watch videos, win prizes, and build your own dream home. However, at this time all that exists is a contact list for updates and a promo for casino games. | http://www.kaneva.com/ |
| Maid Marian | Thanks to the anonymous passerby who provided the URL for MaidMarian! More than a Chat World, MM is a full-on MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). The Sherwood Dungeon RPG features “an infinitely deep dungeon with monsters and treasure”. Requires the Macromedia Shockwave player. | http://www.maidmarian.com/ |
| Meez | Meez is a 3D world comprised of a variety of regions called “hoods” – from Posh Heights to Hell’s Kitchen – allowing for different sorts of interaction based on your location (new hoods are added periodically). The world features public hangouts, personal “roomz”, and a wide variety of games. In the MeezNation, you can create your own 3D avatar – as well as your “petz”, “roomz” and assorted “meez gear”. | http://www.meez.com/ |
| Meridian 59 | Long thought dead, Meridian 59 has returned to the land of the living. And thanks to an anonymous passerby, we have a link to the current M59 website: http://meridian59.neardeathstudios.com/ | http://meridian.3do.com/meridian/ |
| Microsoft Chat | This product has been discontinued, and no support is available. | http://www.microsoft.com/catalog/display.asp?site=613&subid=22&pg=1 |
| Moove | Membership in the moove 3D virtual world includes a homepage, guestbook and mail. | http://www.moove.com/ |
| OnChat | OnChat is a “visual chat” system with customizable avatars and chat rooms. Their new system offers free accounts and a faster chat application. | http://www.onchat.com/ |
| Online Life | Online Life is a massive site including a multiplayer 3d virtual world, chat rooms, forums, games, blogs, and more. Earn gOLd by creating and selling virtual items in your own online store, playing free arcade games or multiplayer chess, playing in a text-based online RPG game, or competing in custom trivia quizzes. Your account gives you your own custom avatar, custom room, custom house, virtual land, virtual pet and profile, including updates from your other social network accounts in one place. You can even start your own club or blog. | http://www.onlinelife.com/ |
| Onverse | The Onverse is an online virtual universe full of people who like to hang out and play games. The action starts with a social networking site where you fill out your web profile, then you are ready to enter the ever-expanding online 3D virtual world to explore and find new friends. Meet up with your friends for a dance party or head out and explore for points. Use your points to buy new clothes for your avatar or furniture for your pad. | http://www.onverse.com/ |
| OpenVerse | OpenVerse is a visual chat program written in TCL/Tk. The program connects to any OpenVerse server. | http://www.openverse.com |
| Outerworlds | Outerworlds includes games, a mall, and the Virtual Reality Radio Station, WVRR. | http://www.outerworlds.com/ |
| Oz Virtual | This system is no longer available, and the website is down. | http://www.oz-inc.com/ |
| Roblox | Definitely the most surreal 3D chat world out there, Roblox is a live interactive environment peopled by extruded rectangles and bizarre 3D imagery. This free online environment is supported by dozens of new object releases every month, and features its own currency, gear, catalog, forums, stats, badges and explosions. Yes, explosions. In addition, you can create your own art and import it into the Roblox world. | http://www.roblox.com/info/About.aspx |
| Second Life | Currently the most popular 3D virtual world online, SecondLife has gotten so much press I don’t need to tell you about it. | http://secondlife.com/ |
| SwitchIn | Switch In is a free virtual world including a browser-based chat program and full 3D. Dress up your character in a variety of fun ways, walk around the world and explore a variety of fun locations. Goof off with silly animations, and change your outfit as many times as you like. | http://www.switchin.net/switchin.html |
| The Manor | The Manor’s creator, Scotsman, writes: “The Manor is my personal statement to the world that the lone coder is alive and well, and still writing programs that count. You can build your own world here, customize the experience to your hearts content, or yes, just chat with new and old friends. It’s a 2D visual chat experience that runs on almost any personal computer. And it offers everyone a choice of virtual online worlds, where you can be anyone — or anything — at all.” | http://www.madwolfsw.com/ |
| The Palace | Arguably the first 2D graphical chat world on the internet, The Palace was owned at one time by Time-Warner, then by Intel, and finally by Electric Communities, after which it failed as a commercial product. At one time there were hundreds of personal Palaces and several dozen large-scale commercial Palaces online, including KoRn KoRner and The World of South Park, both designed and programmed by As If Productions. Written by the legendary Jim Bumgardner, The Palace software is no longer supported by any company, but is kept alive to this day by an avid user community. | http://www.thepalace.com |
| The Realm | The first & longest established classic graphical massively-multiplayer MMORPG fantasy adventure game. Ideal for role playing adventures, quests, and online chat rooms. | http://www.realmserver.com/ |
| There | There is an online getaway where you can hang out with your friends and meet new ones in a 3-D environment that’s yours to explore. Chat, race buggies, attend parties, host events, go exploring and more. | http://www.there.com/ |
| Twinity | Twinity is a 3D online world that mashes up the real with the virtual world. In Twinity you can… create your virtual self · create your own apartment anywhere in the world · meet real people & make new friends · drop in on your friends and go out and have fun! Currently a group of visionaries is exploring Twinity for the very first time. | http://metaversum.com/ |
| Twinity | Twinity is a 3D online world that mashes up the real with the virtual world. In Twinity you can… create your virtual self · create your own apartment anywhere in the world · meet real people & make new friends · drop in on your friends and go out and have fun! Currently a group of visionaries is exploring Twinity for the very first time. | http://www.twinity.com/en |
| V-Chat | This product is no longer supported and the website is down. | http://cybernosis.com/vchat/ |
| V-Zones | The Vzones community has gone offline, and a note on the website states that the online environment will be rebooted on 24th June 2017 for a town meeting and party for old members. When you join the VZones, you become a digital person and meet other people from around the world. You can talk, gesture, walk around and explore…play games, win prizes, buy, sell and just have fun. Everything you need to have fun is included: an avatar, a selection of bodies, lots of heads and accessories and more. You even get to rent your own apartments. Try it free for seven days. | http://www.vzones.com/ |
| VastPark | VastPark is a new open source 3D virtual world development system. The aim of VastPark is to provide you with free and functional tools that make it as easy as possible to create or remix your own virtual worlds. These worlds can be built from highly interactive portable building blocks and 3D widgets – all of which can be created, shared, monetized and remixed by users, developers and corporates. The system also supports Avatars. | http://www.vastpark.com/ |
| Virtual Places | This product is no longer supported and the website is down. | http://www.vplaces.com/vpnet/index.html |
| Visual Chat | Visual Chat is a free chat Java-based server software package, featuring a 3D world, uploadable user avatars, whisper mode as well as public and private rooms. | http://www.vplaces.com/vpnet/index.html |
| Worlds Away | This system is no longer available. | http://teleparc.com/habitat2/ |
| Worlds.com 3D Portal | Choose from over 100 different humans, animals, characters and strange creatures! You can then walk around the worlds, explore the different worlds, see, chat, and interact with people, send email, animate yourself, and shop the store – all in 3D. | http://www-static.us.worlds.net/cgi-bin/download.cgi?action=full&bundle=WorldsCurrentVer |
| Worlize | In Worlize, users develop elaborate 2D worlds called “Worlz” and dive into an exciting form of creative expression and storytelling. Worlize empowers users to design multi-area Worlzs complete with custom interactivity, in-world objects and personal avatars. Anyone who can edit a photo or draw a picture can create their own world with avatars, accessories and backgrounds. Going miles beyond the standard fare of virtual worlds and social gaming, Worlize capitalizes on our inherent human desire to create, and then to share our creations with others. Now in Beta (Dec 2011). | www.worlize.com |
