This entry comes from the Preserving Worlds project, a documentary series chronicling virtual worlds that have survived long past their commercial viability. The featured world here is WorldsChat, a pioneering 3D social space launched in 1994 — and remarkably, still online today.
WorldsChat allowed users to create avatars, build spaces, and chat in a 3D environment. What began as a utopian digital hangout gradually evolved into a strange, vibrant labyrinth of outsider art. It’s one of the earliest examples of user-driven worldbuilding in persistent online environments.
A notable part of this archival snapshot is the 2015 interview with GradualDIME, an independent archivist documenting user-generated content in WorldsChat. He guided the team through notable locations and recounted the brief intersection between WorldsChat and 4chan’s /x/ board.
This interview predates the official Preserving Worlds pilot and was initially meant for another documentary, Sarasota Half in Dream, before becoming a standalone short.
Resources
- JimblysWorlds — Instructions on accessing WorldsChat on modern OSes, plus help docs and downloads.
- WorldsChat Wiki — Covers history, culture, events, and user-created worlds.
- Worlio — Hosts media files and oral histories related to WorldsChat, including:
- WorldsChat SubReddit — Community discussions and updates.
Music from This Episode
- "Self Help" by Lung Cycles
- hub3a.mid from the WorldsChat installation folder
- "f u t u r e b l u e s" by GradualDIME (aka Cosmic Retro), available on YouTube
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Citation
Cited as:
Yotam, Kris. (Jun 2025). WorldsChat (1995). krisyotam.com. https://krisyotam.com/notes/virtual-worlds/worlds-chat
Or
@article{yotam2025worlds-chat,
title = "WorldsChat (1995)",
author = "Yotam, Kris",
journal = "krisyotam.com",
year = "2025",
month = "Jun",
url = "https://krisyotam.com/notes/virtual-worlds/worlds-chat"
}