Favorite Childhood Websites? How are they doing now?

[SkyKnight03]

I liked Kongregate for it's achievement system and many social features.

It's devoid of any life now. They sold to a big corporation that removed all the social aspects and got into selling NFTs. (they have some okay mobile games too).

Not the happiest ending. I guess as a business they were correct about flash not being a growable market. But it's pretty soulless.

Kongregate as a website is still currently up and the old flash games are playable if you can work around it. But I suspect it won't remain there for too much longer.

 

[Suguri]

I visited a bunch of small websites that held lots of flash games when I was little. I don't remember their names or the links to them, so I'm not sure what their fate was since the Flash player was discontinued.

I do know that I used to frequent the websites for Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, and Disney Jr. I came on there to play the browser games. And then there was Scratch, which I have more memories of.

At least Nick retained a few games I remember playing the heck out of. They must've been popular or something. The other websites I mentioned only have this new stuff, no old games.

As for Scratch, I don't think any of you know what that is so let me explain. It's a website that holds a programming language where you can drag and drop blocks to make creations called "projects". If you make an account there, these "projects" can be shared on the website for all to see. It had a huge influence on my artistic skills, and I don't think I'd be the same without it.

Anyway, the core of Scratch has not changed, which I appreciate, but I can't stand some parts of the community sometimes. I've seen arguments break out in the comment section of some projects. People have said slang with inappropriate meanings on there such as "goofy/silly ahh", and I once saw a project where one of the characters almost dropped an f-bomb, which I assume is because they were trying to be funny. Excuse me? Did y'all forget that children use this website?? I understand that those people are kids too and are still learning what is good and what is bad, but they are the reason why I'm not as active there as I was about a year ago (and 7 years before that for a total of 8 years). While I was pretty immature back then and have found myself contributing to a few arguments, I have since grown as a person, and I don't remember the rest of the points I mentioned being this prevalent until last year.

I don't hate Scratch though. I appreciate that the people who work there have strived to introduce computer programming to children since its launch, and there are some kind users on the website if you look at the right place. I've even made a few friends on there that I've since kept in touch with on Discord.

Sorry for rambling on about Scratch. It's special to me, so that's why I was like that.

 

[mewp0ka]

I visited a bunch of small websites that held lots of flash games when I was little. I don't remember their names or the links to them, so I'm not sure what their fate was since the Flash player was discontinued.

I do know that I used to frequent the websites for Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, and Disney Jr. I came on there to play the browser games. And then there was Scratch, which I have more memories of.

At least Nick retained a few games I remember playing the heck out of. They must've been popular or something. The other websites I mentioned only have this new stuff, no old games.

As for Scratch, I don't think any of you know what that is so let me explain. It's a website that holds a programming language where you can drag and drop blocks to make creations called "projects". If you make an account there, these "projects" can be shared on the website for all to see. It had a huge influence on my artistic skills, and I don't think I'd be the same without it.

Anyway, the core of Scratch has not changed, which I appreciate, but I can't stand some parts of the community sometimes. I've seen arguments break out in the comment section of some projects. People have said slang with inappropriate meanings on there such as "goofy/silly ahh", and I once saw a project where one of the characters almost dropped an f-bomb, which I assume is because they were trying to be funny. Excuse me? Did y'all forget that children use this website?? I understand that those people are kids too and are still learning what is good and what is bad, but they are the reason why I'm not as active there as I was about a year ago (and 7 years before that for a total of 8 years). While I was pretty immature back then and have found myself contributing to a few arguments, I have since grown as a person, and I don't remember the rest of the points I mentioned being this prevalent until last year.

I don't hate Scratch though. I appreciate that the people who work there have strived to introduce computer programming to children since its launch, and there are some kind users on the website if you look at the right place. I've even made a few friends on there that I've since kept in touch with on Discord.

Sorry for rambling on about Scratch. It's special to me, so that's why I was like that.

ohmygosh i remember also frequenting the same sites besides scratch.

was actually thinking about this earlier, since i have purple place (albeit not the original one) in my steam library and was thinking about the various sites i used to game on.

the only one besides supersecret (which i think is now defunct?) that immediately comes to mind would be poptropica. i used to visit that site in school, along with my fellow classmates. it was so simple yet so fun at the same time. i do know it's only on steam and mobile now.

i'm going to be thinking about this for the rest of the evening now lol i hope i can remember the other sites i used to game on.

 

[rocketspruggs]

My favorite childhood websites have changed quite a lot...especially Poptropica. This is what the old version of Poptropica used to look like back when I was really into playing it as a kid, and the other image below is what Poptropica looks like now...
Neither of these are my screenshots, I found them on the internet.

The new version tries way too hard to be hip and cool with the kids, because now they just have to include the word, "vibes", in a Poptropican's name to be current...ugh!

And as for other childhood websites, PBS Kids and Moshi Monsters have also changed.
The PBS Kids website isn't too bad, only the background and logo got changed, and they REALLY changed the Moshi Monsters website. The link's name is now, "moshikids.com", as it got rebranded to advertise one of their apps, called, "Moshi Twilight Sleep Stories". The new website's okay, I guess...it's just that it looks honestly nothing like the old Moshi Monsters website I knew and loved.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

Besides the obvious Neopets and Gaia....

My favorite childhood website was something called Whyville; it was meant to be an educational website where you had to complete these educational mini-games to increase your daily currency.. BUT I would just look up guides and make multiple accounts to give myself more currency lmao. You had a lil avatar that you could arrange yourself by buying user-made 2-D pixel assets, and you could draw your own assets as well and sell them. This system created a lot of drama, like for example at one point a really popular user-made item was forced to be discontinued because it was considered copyright infringement (it was just a little pixel drawing of some hands holding an Elmo doll lmao). However, they didn't get rid of the already purchased Elmo dolls, so that item became very rare and sought after (kinda like glow wands on TBT). If a popular artist decided not to restock their creations, those assets would also shoot up in price on the market. The trading system wasn't very good either, lots of people would get scammed.

There were so many visual chatrooms across the website, think Club Penguin or Habbo Hotel. I made my very first internet friends on there but I was such a cringey little kid back then (2004-2007).

It seems like the website is still up and running but I don't really want to try to log on or anything. I'm not sure I even remember my main accounts' password Ironically enough there's a knock-off Elmo doll on the front page in the featured avatars section.. but wow going off the avatars on there, the user-made art has really gone down hill ((I know it's a kids website but 19 years ago there were legit so many skilled artists on there))

 

[Suguri]

the only one besides supersecret (which i think is now defunct?) that immediately comes to mind would be poptropica. i used to visit that site in school, along with my fellow classmates. it was so simple yet so fun at the same time. i do know it's only on steam and mobile now.

My favorite childhood websites have changed quite a lot...especially Poptropica. This is what the old version of Poptropica used to look like back when I was really into playing it as a kid, and the other image below is what Poptropica looks like now...
Neither of these are my screenshots, I found them on the internet.

The new version tries way too hard to be hip and cool with the kids, because now they just have to include the word, "vibes", in a Poptropican's name to be current...ugh!

And as for other childhood websites, PBS Kids and Moshi Monsters have also changed.
The PBS Kids website isn't too bad, only the background and logo got changed, and they REALLY changed the Moshi Monsters website. The link's name is now, "moshikids.com", as it got rebranded to advertise one of their apps, called, "Moshi Twilight Sleep Stories". The new website's okay, I guess...it's just that it looks honestly nothing like the old Moshi Monsters website I knew and loved.

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Shoot I almost forgot about Poptropica T^T I enjoyed exploring the islands, but I didn't like how I had to get a premium subscription to continue the story in some of them! My favorite islands were the time-travelling one and the Big Nate one. I believe there were two Wimpy Kid islands as well; I would love to revisit those.

 

[QueenCobra]

Millsberry is officially lost media, according to one YouTube video. Webkinz has probably changed a lot, but I don’t have the strength to find out lol. Same for Neopets, Club Penguin, and the Disney Channel website.

OH! And the Garfield website…I loved the haunted house, coffee shop, and falling lasagna games on there! The VeggieTales website also had a game where you trained to become a sumo wrestler? I remember making Larry catch sushi in his mouth. I think there was a VeggieTales video about sumo. Maybe that got me into the sport??

 

[Zerous]

I've played on quite a few over the years but the main one I remember going on all the time was Kizi! It was my go to flash game website. I remember making my little character and playing the Papas games, Duck life, fireboy and watergirl and heaps of other games on there! I just checked and the website is still there, not sure how it's changed other than appearance though.

I also played heaapps on animal jam, as did my friends. I loved aj so much and got memberships (as birthday gifts) for a while. I remember I had a lot of rare items as well, lots of beta items, and the phantom plushie machine. So many good memories. I went back on more recently though and it looks like they've taken out a lot of the more fun aspects I remember though, so that's disappointing. I also played Pottermore for a while while it was more of a fun/game-filled website, and competing in the online house cup to make Ravenclaw win.
Poptropica was also a lot of fun and is still around, my favourite was definitely Greek mythology island though, I think I played it a ridiculous number of times as a kid.

 

[Kitsuragi]

most of them are gone. fantage, ourworld, club penguin are gone for sure. webkinz are still around, i checked on it like a year ago out of curiosity and was shocked i remembered my username and password. it's similar but changed, definitely.

 

[Lancelot]

I used to play a game called Chobots. It was pretty much like Club Penguin but imo more fun. They used to throw parties and rain items which was the best.

The mini games, art contests and stuff were the best too.

It went downhill at some point and they couldn’t afford to keep paying the servers I think. People tried to make spin-offs but it never got as active again. I dunno if it’s still going today? I might go and check now.


It’s not

 

[daringred_]

i mentioned on a different thread a little while ago that i used to be on moshi monsters for years between the ages of 11-16. it closed down when flash did, but i was off of it a little before that because they closed their forums and i gradually lost interest. so, as a website, it's not accessible anymore, at least not as moshi monsters (someone above mentioned they rebranded to be a kids bedtime thing) but you can still download and play a desktop version for completely free that was recreated by a group of fans and is still being updated to my knowledge. i check in on it daily just because i always liked collecting all the little pets lol.

 

[moonbyu]

this post encouraged me to check all the websites i used to frequent to play games when i was a kid!! lots of things have changed, obviously.

recently i found out that some of the computer games from major children television networks (ytv, disney junior, nickelodeon, etc.) have been saved onto another website and are playable even without flash so that's pretty cool! a lot would be considered lost media now because they literally can't be found anymore ofc, but for the most part, lots of familiar games are still playable for me .

the papa gameria series are only on google play and the app store but i've always liked playing it on the computer.

fantage, one of the first games i spent irl currency on, shut down years ago. it wasn't insanely expensive at the time (at the time of buying, it was like $50, although i def wouldn't place that much money into a game nowadays) but when you adjust it for inflation.. i made my mom spend like $75 for premium membership in a game that would close a couple of months later club penguin was super fun too but i didn't play it enough to feel sad about it closing down.

neopets was one of my favorite websites as a kid! the first thing i'd do coming home from school was hopping on my computer to earn some neopoints. i've only heard through word of mouth of what's been happening since i have left.. which is a LOT. i've been a little bored so i might create a new account and see what's going on.

sorry for rambling, i just really love nostalgia threads like this lololol

 

[Xara]

All of my favourite sites when I was a kid were games – Moshi Monsters, BarbieGirls, Habbo Hotel, MovieStarPlanet, Webkinz, GirlsGoGames, Bin Weevils, WoozWorld etc, with the first 3 being my all-time faves! I also loved playing the games on the PBS Kids, Treehouse, Disney/Family Channel and Barbie sites. Coolmath Games was my go-to in elementary school whenever I had free time in the computer lab.

I haven't checked most of these sites in years until today. I’m pleasantly surprised that most of them seem to still be up and running, albeit changed! Habbo Hotel, MovieStarPlanet, WoozWorld, Webkinz, GirlsGoGames and Coolmath Games are still around, with some of them even having apps now. I honestly thought most of them would be obsolete after the end of Adobe Flash, so I’m really happy they're still up. Even some of the retro Habbo servers/sites are still up (which I liked more than OG Habbo since a lot of them came with a free VIP membership and currency LOL)! The PBS Kids, Treehouse, Disney/Family Channel and Barbie sites are also still up, but they're very different. It doesn't look like the last 3 even have games on them anymore.

The OG Bin Weevils is gone, but there's a rewritten version now. It doesn't seem all that great or active, though. As already mentioned, Moshi Monsters is technically still around, kind of, but it's been massively rebranded. There's Moshi Monsters Rewritten though, which I’ve been meaning to check out for months and still haven't gotten around to doing. Definitely soon, though... I need to attract a moshling soon or else I fear I will perish. BarbieGirls has been gone since 2011 and I mourn it every day. There’ve been at least a couple of attempts to make a rewritten version, but no one's been successful yet. Mattel PLEASE

 

[TN4U]

Others mentioned Nickelodeon’s site, and I remember playing the flash games they had for kids to play. I still remember some of them (there was this 3D one which had Dora the Explorer drive around in a car and collect letters; another was a Crazy Taxi-esque bus game involving Hey Arnold characters). Unfortunately, most of these games have since been lost to the sands of time due to Adobe Flash having serious security issues later on, and the sites themselves are completely different.

There was one Club Penguin-type site I frequented called Pandanda. As you may have guessed, it was Club Penguin but with Pandas. The main thing that won me over here was that you could say pretty much anything you wanted to others as long as it wasn’t foul language or bully-type behavior. I’m willing to bet that it’s since closed down (I haven’t checked in well over a decade), but I sort of miss those days of simplicity.

 

[Giddy]

I used to go on girlgogames, Bin Weevils, Moshi Monsters and I think there was one for Monster High?
It;s such a shame going back to them, girlgogames has gone haywire with those awful princess games, and none of the house decoration or room decoration games are on there anymore! I cherished those games, they were so addictive. I don't think you can find the old one I used to play, guessing because of flash? (I still don't really understand what happened to flash)

There does seem to be some moshi monster rewitten or online versions, but I'm not tempted to download something to play it? I dunno how well it goes anyways.
Sad/fun fact, I still have a physical moshi monsters golden ticket of 24 hours of free membership that I NEVER USED. I STILL HAVE IT.

The other sites I used as a kid were mainly the CBBC sites adn Cbeebies/CITV that has amazing games, shows.

Cbeebies used to look so cute

The pictures of the characters made they all adorable

CBBC - I'll focus on more since I was looking omre into it - their site has definitely changed. And all the shows they used to have, there really isn't as many eye catching shows or games on there anymore?

Used to look like this and now it looks like this

The one game I remember playing was the bear behaving badly games

GUYS THAT CAVE GAME WAS MY FAV OMG I wanna play it again so baddd

 

[QueenCobra]

Also, I’m pretty sure I played on Star Doll a few times…the website where you dress up celebrities? The website is still up but looks a lot different, advertising their mobile app lol.

 

[mewp0ka]

okay just remembered two thanks to the videos i had been watching last night!

barbiegirls.com was another site i used to frequent and despite not liking barbie at all, my gosh was i on that site daily. that and neopets! admittedly don't recall frequently using the second site tho.