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Worlds Chat is a pioneering, virtual-reality chat room which first launched in 1995 and kind of horrifyingly still operates as of this episode; 27 years later. It's an incredibly remedial, low-bandwidth 3D environment interface which is home to urban legends regarding it's nefarious users and their potentially sinister, cult-like behaviour. Logging into this website is like taking an eery step back in time and it's prime fodder for a pod starring yer gerl.

Nexpo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9LWzr-_ibI

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Anonymous

Great pod as always-I loved this topic. My family's first computer was also a Windows ME, which was released between the very popular Windows 98 and Windows XP, making it something of a lost media. Speaking of, I'd love if you made a pod on lost media, liminal spaces, or back rooms as they all remind me of Worlds. As a teen I couldn't afford World of Warcraft so I made do with playing free online games which carried into now. I love going into still-online MMORPGs from the 00s to take in the desolate nostalgia, imagining how popular these games were in their prime. I will always see a few dedicated players left refusing to quit the game which I find fascinating. I then had a real life experience like this as well a few weeks ago. I decided to visit a shopping mall I haven't been to since pre-lockdown at around 7:30, not realizing it now closed at 8 rather than 9. One of the large anchor stores was no longer there, and many other stores were already closed for the night or beginning to shutter their doors. Only half of the lights were on and I was maybe one of 10 customers left in the building. I legitimately felt uneasy and left without getting anything.

Kim

Hello darling, I know that wasn’t the main point of the podcast but love the podcast as usual Please do a umbrella academy pod doll, It’s so good. I loved the way they handled viktor’s coming out honestly it was so natural and just had like “oh, yeah that’s my brother now.” and when they suggested a party about it I could have cried actual tears because of how it was handled and I jusy love the show could I suggest it be a full of berwfffff maybe??? Just a possible idea for the future. but anyways, If i remember correctly autumn played this game during a stream and wasn’t there a world on there that was created because someone got married because of the website or on the website i can’t remember but all i remember is that game was BIZARRE. i can understand the enjoyment of it though as it keeps you interested in every aspect of the game Alrigh’ cheers then

Mark Hall

Loved this episode, this topic really resonates with me lately. I played a game back in 2008 called LittleBigPlanet which was the first console game to really empire the level creation and sharing genre thanks to internet implementation in consoles. Anyway, cut to 4 years later and I'd become a developer on the franchise. Its now existed for 14 years and the servers are still running with well over 15 million levels. I still find myself creating levels on it some days and I do think part of me does it because I'm scared to let it go. It was such a huge part of my formative years and similar to what you were saying about feeling fondness for 80s/90s, it reminds me of a simpler, safer time in my life. The Playstation 3 servers were shut down last year to save money, only leaving the PS4 one up. Its strange to see something I so deeply care for slowly stripped back over time, and I know someday it will just be gone, all tens of millions of creations lost to time. Anywho, the game had to be updated last year after so long because dickheads had figured out how to modify the game's code, adding new offensive content and displaying racist and transphobic messages, some personally targeted. It was a whole community conspiracy, with the person responsible never being identified. But it lead to one of the longest times between video game updates in history. Sorry for the bizarre existential rant but thanks again for the fascinating pod.

Anonymous

Ok, so since you pretended to be a judge, why not a Novympia does Judge Just/Judge Rinder style video where you pass judgement on some sort of (probably Charmaine based) drama/shenanigans

Anonymous

My podcast app kept corrupting and speeding you up to cursed double speed or slowing you down to demon Lymp. I defo feel like it fitted the theme of cursed creepy technology! Great pod as ever I love Nexpo and anything internet mystery esque! Xx

Anonymous

Hi Lymp and all my fellow full of it listeners now hearing my voice through the vessel of the gorgeous Lympini. Im going to keep it short and just say Im so happy to report that the proverb of never meeting your heroes couldnt be any less true with these two. I was sweaty, shaking like a leaf, clammed up tighter than char’s dresses… and I still felt like they were interested in talking to me. I cant get over the image of their faces looking at me. I hoped you liked the book doll. Thank you sm <3 <3

Anonymous

This sounds a lot like IMVU

Anonymous

I think you would do a good Emily D Baker parody

Anonymous

Omg not IMVU. I installed on my laptop when I was like 9 and it legit took me 3 years to work out how to delete it😂

Anonymous

We should all raid it and have a Novympia meet up

Anonymous

VERY long time listener (I remember listening to ep 1 hours after it was posted back on YT) and this isn't related to the pod but I just want to say I think about the clip of Nova saying "Oh here we go" probably daily please use it more xx

Anonymous

Hey chickens! I'm back!! Since its been a while I have notes, but feel free to skip through. I never really left but life has gotten... sort of shit. I still listen, but sometimes late and never seem find the time to write my weekly newsletter to my favourite home of the Greek Gods, Olympia. This has saved you from reading such esteemed tales as “ The time I was 14 and met a 25 year old on the internet to experiment with BDSM” “ Why I hate how much I love Sugar Rush: A rant about the Julie Burchill” or “Why Lenora Critchlow is a queen”, and a number of other things. It also stopped me from letting you know that a Desperate Housewives Revival has been hinted at by the cast for years now, and it seems we will be having another walk down Wysteria Lane sooner than we think, although I might have dropped that in the DMs. First off, Iris Apfel. I think you could do a hilarious parody of her but do be aware that she was a strong and open Trump supporter during the last US election. There's a weird trend lately of infantilising or redeeming people who believe in, or have enabled, terrible things because they are old and cute, and as fashionable and outspoken as she might be on gay rights, she was happy to throw us all under the bus in the name of class solidarity. I know you like to be respectful in your parodies, so I don't know how much this will realistically impact your plans, but I hate to let anyone run in blind without all the relevant information. The Stranger Things episode had so many talking points I wanted to touch on, but I listened to it so late I didn't have a chance. I do think that its worth noting that nostalgia has a high price tag, it rakes in the cash. In the 80's we had things like Stand By Me, the original IT mini series and similar, set in the 60's and 70's. We were raised on our parents nostalgia because it was our parents generation who were making the media, the only reference for childhood those people had were the 60's and 70's, and the best media comes from lived experience. Its a golden ratio for making content that kids relate to. However, as much as Stranger Things seems to be part of the glut of content being pushed with an 80's spin, it was actually a forerunner in bringing the 80's back into the limelight this time around. Its easy to forget that the first season was released 8 years ago. Instead of being part of the trend, I do believe it started it. We'll be getting a series about kids in the 90s trying to overcome some sort of adversity as soon as its done, I'm positive. I'm hesitant to suggest this, but since you said you were surprised you enjoyed Umbrella Academy its worth a go. I worry it genuinely might be almost too far into the superhero genre for you, but The Boys on Amazon has honestly become one of the greatest critiques of the Superhero genre, the American government and the hard right I have ever seen. Very adult humour, it often relies on sex and violence to get laughs, but the villains and the darker scenarios provide so much more of a true sense of peril than your run of the mill Marvel fare, often masterfully paring absurdity with violence or danger.. This is coming from a hardcore marvel fanboy who cries at least 4 times per movie and once per episode, but I can see the flaws in the washed out kid friendly content they tend to produce. Like most queer comic fans, I have a huge attachment to a lot of Marvel characters because of what they represented to me growing up, but that doesn't mean I can't see, and say, that Umbrella Academy and The Boys are putting out so much more quality story telling. Back to the main subject matter. I never actually used Worlds. I was aware of it, but I think it woudn't run on my pc at the time either. It was very much 'the dream' for an internet obsessed shut in, Id been obsessed with the internet as a 'place' since I had been brought to see The Lawnmower Man as a kid, but I made do with Habbo Hotel just like you. What you were describing sounds very much like Virtual Reality chat servers now, and also reminds me of that virtual world Second Life, I never used that either, but the documentary about people who live their whole lives through it and the couple who left their spouses for each other through it is amazing, if you havent seen it. You may well have even done an episode on it though, my memory has more holes in it than the gusset of Chars tights. The internet in the 90s was like a digital badlands. I used to frequent AOL chat when my parents once got a free disk for it through the post. Me and one of my oldest friends (a lesbian) have memories of pretending to be a hot girl, pretending to be celebrities, and generally causing havoc in chat rooms we had absolutely no business frequenting. My poor mother used to vet my emails and chats (which I did not know at first but good on her). Imagine my embarrassment, after a particularly productive day of my friend and I trolling a rotten.com chat room, to be sat at the dining room table by my parents (ages14) and be confronted with a print off of a picture of an elderly man being fisted. Someone had sent it to us in the chat in amongst a jumble of other 'gross' pictures for shock value. They had recently found out I was gay, so trying to explain to them that I, a 13 yr old virgin, was not into fisting might go down as one of the most awkward conversations of my life. Thank god they were so vigilant though as Mother definitely stopped me being raped or worse by a man in his 20's who had, in hindsight, been grooming me for weeks. It was a lawless place, full of animated gif porn 4 frames long, easily obtained crime scene photos, urban legends made real, and the promise of so much information if you just learned to use it well enough ( Hackers has a lot to answer for). In an era where so much music was made to stimulate nostalgia, Robert Miles Children knocked the ball out of the park. It really had a my childhood self sitting there feeling old. I definitely dabbled in the club and drugs scene as I got older, and even 10 years later you would still get people gathering on the dancefloor to hold each other, no doubt contemplating the passage of time and letting that sublime sadness, that only nostalgia can bring, wash over them before the beat drops. Although my days are nowhere near as wild or substance filled these days, Ive still been in clubs where its been played, and the reaction is very much the same. It seems the feeling of lost opportunity and a wasted childhood is a universal experience when accompanied with the right chord progression. Who knews we were all so fucked up. Anyway, hopefully will be able to comment a bit more regularly for a while, but if I go missing again, dont worry. You can't get rid of me. Gavin.

Anonymous

Hey Gavin, you should write longer comments 💀