Tag: computer

Posted in Gaming

Online Multiplayer Websites I Wish Still Existed

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I wanted to take a trip down memory lane from my childhood. You know those videos that show pictures of stuff that we used to see, especially if you grew up in the 90’s or 00’s? Well, YouTube started pulling them up, and one of the videos was about old websites that no longer exist.

It was kinda heartbreaking, but at the same time, it made me remember what it was like to go back to being a kid and logging onto these websites with no care in the world other than having fun.

Granted, I wasn’t one of those kids who was glued to the computer; my mom was pretty strict about screen time, especially when it came to the home computer that we all shared. If anything, we spent more time outside in the backyard than on the computer as kids.

There were so many websites that I loved visiting, but there were a few multiplayer ones that were my go-to’s as a kid/pre-teen. This was before Facebook was the place to go to play online games such as Farmville, which later my mom would let me have a Facebook at 13, just so I could send her stuff she needed for her farm.

Now, not all of these websites are gone, some of them had been relaunched with a new site name and owners or they are still hanging on with a thread. I will be including the new website link as well if you wanted to check it out!

So, lets go back down memory lane!

Millsberry.com

Millsberry was one of my all-time favorite websites to visit as a kid! It was simple and yet was super fun! You had a house that you could adopt pets, buy clothes, send mail to friends, visit friends houses, and play mini games that were based on your favorite cereal brands!

It was such a simple, but yet fun game to play and it sucked when it shut down. It first came out on July 2004, sadly it shut down in December of 2010.

HOWEVER, during researching this, I found out that there is a group of people that are trying to rebuild the beloved Millsberry.com! I was shocked and so excited! If it really happens, that is going to be amazing to go back and enjoy what made Millsberry.com such an amazing platform!

I’m going to leave the link here if you want to check it out: https://www.millsberry-rebirth.com/

Fantage

This was another game that not only I enjoyed, but my siblings did as well! This was one of the websites that we would literally fight over to be able to login. Between Millsberry, Club Penguin and Fantage, I would classify as more of a kid-friendly/kid-safe for online multiplayer.

There was so much you could do, visit different places, visit other players houses, become a spy, lots of mini games, and of course my all time favorite activity, the fashion show! Granted, some of the features did require a purchase of a membership, which I never had a chance to enjoy, but honestly, the only thing it did get you was upgraded hair, clothes, or stuff to decorate your home with.

Fantage was first launched in March of 2008 and lasted until July of 2018. Its crazy to think it lasted 10 years! During researching this, I did see that there was possibly a revamp of Fantage coming back, but it doesn’t look like a site or date is saying for sure if its in the works.

I think it would be so cool for this to make a return for sure!

Club Penguin

Of course, I have to talk about Club Penguin! This was another one my siblings and I fought over to log in as! It was different from the other ones as your character was a penguin that you could dress up, change the color of, and have a pet puffle that followed you around the map!

There was a lot you could do on the island! Tons of mini games to play, my favorite was the pizza making one and also becoming a ninja as well. So many places you could visit with friends and an igloo you get to decorate as well!

It was so popular that Disney even bought it! Granted, not everything was completely free; you did have to pay for a membership for the more fancier items, but there’s no surprise there. Plus they also had secret places you could go as well, I think it was more fun exploring and finding something new every corner.

Club Penguin first launched on October of 2005 and ended up shutting down on March 2017. Which is crazy to think it lasted that long, however, this isn’t completely gone away!

After researching, I found out someone did bring back Club Penguin, but its called Club Penguin Legacy and its completely free! All of the membership stuff that locked most of the items has been unlocked and if you are interested to check out a blast from the past, I have included the link below!

The link for Club Penguin Legacy: https://www.cplegacy.com/

ourWorld

ourWorld was one of those games I got into during middle school. One of my friends was so into it, that I ended up getting into it, however, I didn’t get into as bad as a lot of people used to. I can still say, I never spent a dime on that game!

It was a very unique world were you could level up and get different features that made your character look cooler. I didn’t do a lot of exploring as you needed to be leveled up to see most of the island, but I was more focused on playing the mini games, which the more you played, the more flow you got in order to level up.

Most of the mini games were really fun to play and most of my time was spent doing that. There were a few times I got a job at a cafe, but it got boring quick, plus sometimes most of the people wouldn’t want anything to do with you until you had the “cool” features or if you had a membership for it.

ourWorld launched in April 2008 and ended up shutting down in October 2021.

SmallWorlds

SmallWorlds was an online platform that I really liked, although most of the items you had to pay to be a member in order to unlock. Now, I didn’t spend as much time on this one as I did with the others, but it was different from the other online games that I used to play.

One of my favorite things was to go to school and role-play as a student. Now, I don’t really remember if they had mini games to play, but they had a lot of locations to visit and pretty much chat with others and role-play. You could also customize your character and house as well.

I think what didn’t keep me playing was that the characters sort of looked creepy looking and there wasn’t really a way to make them less creepy unless you paid more for it. There was a lot you could do free wise, but most of these games like this wanted you to pay to make your character better looking.

SmallWorlds was released in 2008 and shut down in 2018. However, this one is also available to play online, its just under a new name.

Here is the link: https://www.smallworldslegacy.com/

Poptropica

Poptropica was one of those fun online platforms that was very centered for kids and it was, in my opinion, a safer way to play online. Yes, you could still chat, but the messages were generated or pre-written, which I think my mom liked that factor.

This was one of the websites that you could play during school that the teachers wouldn’t mind you playing during free period. Pretty much, you visited different islands and there were tasks that you needed to do to unlock items that was used to lock more of the island. Once you completed it, you went onto the next one.

It was honestly a lot of fun and there was so much you could do on there. There was also areas where you could hang out with other players on each of the different islands, but there was only so much you could say to others.

Poptropica first released in 2007, however, the game has been moved to CoolMathGames in 2024. It is also available on Steam as well, which I wasn’t aware.

Here is the link: https://www.coolmathgames.com/0-poptropica

Those were just a few of the ones that I used to visit all the time as a kid/tween. There are others, but the other ones are still active today, like Habbo Hotel or Stardoll or IMVU, just to name a few.

I’m really excited for them to bring back Millsberry, it would be so awesome to show my kids the games that I grew up playing online. I showed my oldest about Webkinz and Club Penguin and she was all excited to try it for herself.

Of course, I would be sitting right next to her when she did because, honestly, I think parents need to be more observant of what their kids are doing online and talk about how to be safe online.

Were there any of the websites on this list that you also enjoyed like me? If so, which ones were your favorites? Let me know in the comments below!

Posted in Mom Talk

Mom Talk: This Game Isn’t As “Kid Friendly” As It Seems

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! I wanted to talk about this topic as my daughter is into gaming and some of the games she plays, I don’t see any issue with, however, there are some games that I thought were fine, but they really aren’t. 

Growing up, we had a home computer than our family would use daily, my mom would be watching us like a hawk when we were on the internet, if we were playing the many educational CD Rom games, she wouldn’t have to worry. However, once I was in middle school, I had a little bit more freedom to explore the internet. 

I completely understand why my mom watched us like a hawk whenever we were on the internet. 

Nowadays, kids have access to tablets, smartphones, computers, and gaming consoles that they not only can play games, but have access to play online with others. If you were like me and grew up with playing the Super Nintendo, we never really had to worry about “online gameplay”. 

However, you really DO need to worry. Especially, if your kids play online. 

Roblox

So, what started this was the fact that my daughter likes to play Roblox with her cousins. I signed up with an account to kinda check it out for myself just to see what the fuss was about. 

Well, once I started playing a few games, it seemed pretty harmless, but I jumped onto one server where this random person had messaged me saying I was ugly, I didn’t react because its literally a blocky character that’s your avatar. I honestly thought it was funny, however, depending how young of players you have on here, that could really upset them.

Ironically, I came across a video from this guy Visual Venture about Roblex. I got curious and watched it. It really opened my eyes to how DANGEROUS this game really is. 

Here is the video that I watched, any parents that have their kid playing Roblex, I HIGHLY recommend watching this: 

He not only breaks down some of the flaws about how Roblox can allow ANYONE to sign up and play, but how there are predators that have used Roblox to lure their victims.

Visual Venture talks about how the game is actually rating T for teens, but there are kids as young as 5 years old that are on this platform playing. The game was originally meant for players to create their own games and share for others to play, however, its not as sweet and innocent as you think. 

When I saw this article, being pissed was an understatement:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/roblox-schlep-pedophile-vigilante-lawsuits-1235414218/

You read that right, Roblox BANNED a guy that was trying to get predators off the platform, after he, himself, was groomed online by a predator. You’d think that Roblox would want to work with Schlep, the one banned, to make their platform safer for kids. 

If you read in the article, there have been so many cases where Schlep has gotten justice for getting these real-life predators arrested, so that no other kids have to experience being groomed or worse abducted.

This is why I won’t let my daughter play Roblox. 

Now, Roblox isn’t the only game you need to worry about, anytime your child has access to the internet, you need to always have your guard up. We can’t always protect them when it comes to the internet, but we can teach our kids about using the internet safely.

Here are a few things to teach your kids about protecting themselves online:

  • Never give out personal information
    • This is pretty common sense, but definitely a very good reminder.
    • Think of the word “Yappy”:
      • Y – Your Full Name
      • A – Address (Home/School/Email)
      • P – Phone Number
      • P – Passwords
      • Y – Your plans & birthday
  • Keep your passwords safe
    • Having a family Password/Username booklet can be very helpful for this! (Especially if you are like me and have a few streaming services)
    • Make your passwords long or use a phrase to ensure that no one can get it.
    • Avoid using personal names/birthdays/or same passwords.
  • Don’t talk to Strangers!
    • Same if it was in person.
    • Only talk to those online, IF you have met them in person.
  • Tell an Adult if something doesn’t seem right
    • If something looks bad or seems bad, tell your teacher, parent, or a trusted adult.
    • Parents: Don’t get upset with them as if it happens again, they might not want to tell you if they get in trouble.
    • Best way to prevent them searching random stuff is having parental locks and only have selective websites from a trusted source.
    • This also applies to any conversation they have online with others.
  • Ask before you Download
    • Always explain to them that not every website can be trusted and that they need to ask before downloading anything.
    • I see this more as a problem for young teens who don’t realize that the free game they want could be a virus.
  • Always Be Kind!
    • Remind your child that being kind to everyone!
    • Just remind them that you never want to be rude or mean to anyone because you never know who is on the other side of the screen.

As parents, we need to do anything and everything to protect our children, as using the internet because more and more normal each day, its best to make sure our children are growing up knowing how to use it safely. 

Its just like them having cell phones at a young age. I didn’t have one until I was 13, the same age you’d need to be to sign up for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. We shouldn’t be pushing the limits and having our children have access to those until they really understand and know how to use them respectfully and are actually the correct age to be on them. 

Teaching them that anything you post, say, or do, you can’t just delete it and its gone, it will ALWAYS be on the internet in one form or another. 

 

Let me know in the comments what you think about all this!

(Yes, I did use AI to general the man photo, got curious to try it out!)

Posted in Gaming

My Favorite Games I Love to Play

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey dearies! Since it’s been a busy week so far, I wanted to talk about the games that I love to play in my spare time.

For me, I mainly play on my PC, but I used to love playing on PS4. I figured since it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything for gaming, I should talk about the main games that I love to play.

Minecraft

I love playing Minecraft, I actually remember playing the first version of Minecraft. It’s a love hate that I have for the game. It’s fun to play, but there are some things that piss me off with the game.

Survival World is my favorite version to play because I like the Survival component. Creative Mode is fun, but its not something I want to play all the time.

Plus, they do add little things that make the game better, more challenges to try and do. I would love to try the mods that they have out there for it, but I have to upgrade my computer in order for that to happen.

Stardew Valley

I think Stardew Valley is such an amazing game. It’s got a little bit of everything and you don’t have to make money by just farming, you can fish or mine in order to make money.

Plus you can make friends to unlock different things, especially the Town Hall. Once you finish the bundles, you unlock the mine carts so your not running everywhere.

You can also get married and have kids, but the downfall is that you can’t use them to have them help you on the farm. Basically, they are useless, just there to complete your “farm life”.

It really gives me the creativity to make a farm that I really like and plus I even started making my own book to kinda help me out when finding out how much money I can get from different crops or fish or gems.

I also found a recipe book for Stardew Valley, that I just ordered and can’t wait for it to get here, so I can recreate some of these recipes that I’ve made in the game.

The Sims Saga

I’m a huge fan of Sims and I’m really only a big fan of the Sims 2 and 3. The reason why I love two are the graphics and the different activities you can do.

The reason why I love Sims 3 because it’s an open world and you don’t have to deal with any loading screen. Not to mention, I love that there’s more decorative options you can do.

I also love adding mods are so much fun to add to the game that and I also love adding different jobs or finding out if a Sim is pregnant. I just wish my computer ran faster because the graphics aren’t working for my computer.

My favorite thing I love about Sims are the challenges that you can do. Plus I have a few that I want to play and blog about as well!

Those are just the main 3 that I play on my PC. I am hoping that once I upgrade my PC, my game library will open a little bit more.

I also want to talk about my favorite games for each of the gaming systems I grew up with, such as gameboy, DS, Wii. PS1, 2, & 3, etc. Let me know if you have a favorite game or game system you love playing on.