When I was a kid, I basically lived on the Internet. Every day, I would go to school, finish my homework and log onto my computer. My friends and I would call each other and tell each other which sites to go on, and we would try to meet up somewhere in the game. I loved playing on virtual reality-type websites because they made my seemingly boring life interesting. Sometimes, I would even play different ones in multiple tabs. Here are 11 websites you probably played on when you were a kid.
1. Club Penguin
Club Penguin was the first virtual reality website I ever played on, and it was my favorite by far. My friends and I even started a Club Penguin fan club at school. We would make friends, throw parties at our igloos, and collect a bunch of penguin "boyfriends" by sending the heart emoji to different penguins. Soon, Disney bought Club Penguin, and it became significantly less fun, but it was good while it lasted.
2. Webkinz
Webkinz was another favorite website of mine. I got my first Webkin when I was about 9 years old and never looked back. I loved taking care of my pets, making friends, and playing in the arcade. My ex-boyfriend and I actually adopted a Webkin monkey together so we could continue playing the games. One of my friends had 74 Webkinz. How?!
3. Stardoll
Stardoll was fun for little girls who were into fashion, like me. I must have dressed a doll up every single day. My favorite part of playing on Stardoll was friending "celebrity" accounts, like HSMVanessa_323, who I actually thought was Vanessa Hudgens for about two years. Eventually, Stardoll got kind of complicated, and I stopped playing.
4. Pixie Hollow
Pixie Hollow was fun when I started becoming obsessed with Tinkerbell. It was especially fun when the "Tinkerbell" animated movie premiered, too. My favorite fairy was Silvermist, so I always used to play her games!
5. Habbo Hotel
I didn't really play Habbo Hotel because the people on it would say some dirty things and it would make me uncomfortable. But people who did play it say it was a lot of fun!
6. WeeWorld
When I was younger, I faked my age and got a WeeWorld account anyway, even though I was under 13. Unfortunately, my mom banned me from the website because she looked over my shoulder and saw other WeeWorld inhabitants cursing in their little thought bubbles. I ended up getting another WeeWorld account when I was actually 13, and it was one of my favorite websites to play on.
7. Neopets
Remember when the Internet collectively freaked out when someone found Miley Cyrus' Neopets account? It was a huge deal back then. I could never play Neopets because they never sent me my verification email every time I signed up, but when I eventually got through, I had so much fun. I remember when McDonald's included Neopet plushes in their Happy Meals, and I was the happiest girl in the world. I collected them all.
8. Virtual Magic Kingdom
Virtual Magic Kingdom was seriously underrated. When they took this game off the Internet, I cried for days. The customization of characters on this website was seriously on point. The graphics were beautiful, and the different quests and places to go really made the Disney experience.
9. Toontown
Toontown made every kid happy to be a kid. It was a goofy game that celebrated fun in every way possible. The only downside was that the servers were almost always too crowded, and you either had to wait forever to play, or the graphics were really slow and grainy. I was devastated when they took this game off the Internet as well, but for some reason the code for Toontown was posted online and a group of amazing people created Toontown Rewritten, which I play on a regular basis. No shame.
10. Millsberry
Millsberry was one of those "educational" games that was actually a ton of fun. You always had to make sure that your avatar was healthy, and it taught kids how to budget money and make good choices. One downside was that the website would regularly kick you off to remind you to go out and get some fresh air, but did anyone ever actually do that?
11. Nicktropolis
Nicktropolis was another one of those quirky games that integrated the Nickelodeon brand really well. Nickelodeon.com had a bunch of really cool games in general. I didn't play this one as often because I liked the other games on this list better, but it definitely had to be mentioned.
Sometimes, I wish I could be a kid again.