i donโt want all these social media abstractions anymore. i want full skeuomorphism. i want web profiles to feel and look like little custom-furnished houses i can visit. i wanna visit my friends online
and i mean this in a ultima online animal crossing way not in a facebook metaverse way
give discord servers more physicalityโฆ it needs to have *rooms* not just โroomsโ y'feel
you check your messages; thereโs a new gift notification. itโs a little pixel teapot a friend of yours made. you proudly display it in your intro lobby next to your shitpost corner
There used to be a shit ton of game apps like this, like LINE PLAY (which still exists but admittedly isnโt as fun as it used to be). Then thereโs the old-ass website Meez (it was kinda like IMVU). I also miss apps like Kawaii Pet Megu (which is long since defunct, sadly) that encouraged playing with your friends.
In LINE PLAY you would create your own cute little avatar, dress them up in clothes that ranged from fairy kei to punk rock, make your own kawaii house with different furniture and items from gacha, invite your friendsโ avatars over and have โpartiesโ. They would sign your โdiaryโ (post anything you wanted to someoneโs page, and they could respond). The diary acted as a mini social media where the person could upload pictures. It was pretty cool imo
A customisable room and avatar, a blog with commenting enabled, maybe a forum, and some games/activities to connect through; that was all I wanted from a game/site when I was younger.
From memory:
SparkCity
BarbieGirls
Be-Bratz
OurWorld
Whirled
Xivio
GaiaOnline
Stardoll
goSupermodel
TinierMe
My stomach twists with nostalgia thinking about how real these virtual worlds felt to me T_T
