But for now, I can’t stand to break the strange spell this game has over me by asking for answers or a guiding hand. That would no doubt make for a more interesting piece of writing, so I’ll definitely do it in the near future. I have no doubt that, if I asked, they would all answer a bunch of my questions and then show me where all the cool shit is. Visitors seem rare, but not at all unwelcome. No matter what, the same fifteen people are always on. The people who still remain to play it just… don’t log off, merely idling while they sleep or go to work. As far as I can tell, the game doesn’t seem to experience “peak hours,” at least not in the traditional sense. People still play Active Worlds, and I’ve even exchanged brief pleasantries with a few of its remaining users. Then, as if to maintain the essential paradox that permeates all of it, the bot posts a Lenny face right after. When I connected to the tutorial world, one of the first things I saw was a bot message wishing me a happy 2022. Perhaps the strangest thing about Active Worlds isn’t that it’s still running, but that it’s still being maintained. the McMansion directly behind it was built in 2019, as if to complete an elaborate punchline decades in the making This sign, warning players that the area ahead is a barren wasteland, was placed in the year 2000. Here is a digital road, paved by someone who might have been 14 or 20 in 1995 they’re over 40 now. Here is it, quietly maintained with client updates and running uninterrupted since the 90s. Here is an MMO that predates every commonly-cited formative digital space from RuneScape to Second Life by over five years.
There is a sort of intangible power to this place that defeats the sense of time. The road is not just older than me: it is nearly a decade older than me.Īs I sit in a Discord call outlining just how old this road is, even my friends who are in their 20s sit in disbelief. I am shocked to find out that it was laid down in 1995. A sign, itself older than me, tells me that a nearby road network is one of the oldest structures in all of Active Worlds. By right-clicking on any object, I can see who placed it and when. There are many worlds to explore - all of which are anything but active - but this main one, AW, has been running since the mid 90s. It is a sort of internet archaeologist heaven, where player-created structures stretch out for what can seem like hundreds of virtual miles. As I write this, I have been exploring Active Worlds for several days.
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