![]() On a few occasions, I tried to engage in the Outlands battle arena, but again, the lag made it a frustrating experience for me. Most of my time in the 3D chatrooms was spent attempting to decorate my house (I remember the controls feeling very counter-intuitive) or exploring the less active but visually stunning areas, like Cybertown’s Beach, perpetually experiencing a sunset. Because yes, I was That Girl ™ in middle and high school.)Īlthough the main selling points of Cybertown as a virtual reality were the 3D worlds, an extra-slow dial up connection and supremely outdated PC meant I seldom had the opportunity to make the most of exploring said 3D worlds. (Oh, and the handle for that second account? Anti-Cheerleader. Not too honest, though, as this was still at the height of the “everyone is a pedophile on the web” phase of the Internet’s history. I do recall being a bit duplicitous with my new alias, living up to those promises of creating a new life for myself and often telling other denizens that my name was Lara (because Lara Croft), whereas I was a little more honest under the roguemara account. While I don’t remember my Cybertown immigration date, I do remember my screen name: My first email handle was roguemara, an amalgamation of my two favorite characters at the time, Rogue of X-Men and Mara Jade of Star Wars, and I opted to keep that as my first account for Cybertown.Ī few months later, and for reasons that are completely lost to me at this point, I created another account. I guess it’s one of those little flashes of youthful serenity that has stayed with me over the years. I don’t know why that morning has stayed with me. I was really excited to check the polls in my neighborhood for some reason. It was sunny and pleasantly cool with the AC turned off and the windows open, and it was about an hour before the sunshine would come in through the skylight at just the right angle to completely obscure all visibility on the monitor. I couldn’t tell you exactly when I signed up–I spent the first few weeks of our newfound Internet access emailing school friends just because I finally could or reading smutty Star Wars fanfiction–But I do have an oddly specific memory of signing into Cybertown on a lovely October Saturday morning in 2000. ![]() Cybertown advertisement in Star Wars Insider ![]() ![]() The promise of having this life separate from all my real world apprehension, complete with my own little Internet house that I could decorate, a virtual pet I could program with special commands, and heck, even a job that paid in Cybertown’s currency, Cit圜ash or CCs, was one I couldn’t forget. The advertisements often gently emphasized how easy it is to feel isolated in the real world compared to the welcoming Cybertown, a marketing ploy that would certainly speak to me on the onset of my adolescent social anxiety. I’ve always had a fondness for the garish 3D models of the late 90s and early 00s–There’s something so inviting about the colorful, exceptionally saturated environments filled with an abundance of impossible chrome textures, gaudy patterns, and questionable representations of the human figure–And that single-page spread showing off Cybertown’s guide, Mina, with the backdrop of an admittedly highly idealized take on the town’s futuristic 3D world, ignited a curiosity and imagination that I hadn’t experienced before. It’d be another year before my family would have our own home PC, a purchase that would finally allow me to explore the engrossing digital community, but I often found myself flipping through Insider just to look at the advertisement and fantasize what Cybertown would be like. I first learned of Cybertown sometime in late 1999, when I saw an ad for it in Star Wars Insider. While it seems like most of my peers cut their chatroom teeth on social platforms like AIM or ICQ, my first foray into fraternizing with strangers on the web was through the now defunct Cybertown, Blaxxun Interactive’s family-friendly online community that boasted 2D and 3D chatrooms across an expansive and immersive virtual city.
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