There.com

I recently had received an email informing me that my old avatar on There.com was able to be resurrected, with all my stuff.  For those of you who do not know, There.com was an online community, like second life, but it took place on islands, and mostly had an islander theme.  I wasted more time than I care to admit on that game.

I think the right word is game.  You made an avatar, you could fly a hoverpack, ride a dune buggy, pilot a hoverboat, ride a hoverboard, shoot a paintball gun, you know, game.

But then again, you mostly chatted, bought clothes, (which back in the day included Levi's and Nike's) interacted with friends, some of whom you had only met playing there.com, and who actually lived in other countries.  You could design clothes to sell, then trade your Therebux for real currency.  Mostly you converted real currency to Therebux to buy things, because seriously, hoverboard.

I got in on the beta, (class of seychelles), and had a lifetime membership, but had been a long time since I had played.  In fact I stopped pretty much the day I jumped into the Minecraft beta.  The company actually shut down the game in, or around 2008.  Apparently they had started back up.  Anyway, I decided "what the hell?", and downloaded the client.  Within minutes I was back on my favorite island, but my items would take another day or two to load.

I was skimming the FAQs and came across something that talked about payment, apparently there is now a fifty cent charge for test play.  That is good because the game was subject to a lot of griefing.  That charge would prevent most of it.  Also it was now an 18+ community, that would prevent the rest.

Buried in the FAQs was a line about still honoring the lifetime memberships.  Sweet.  So I waited a day or two and logged in, jumped on my favorite board, and raced away.

This game, online community, whatever; in its day was so crowded that whole areas would not load for minutes at a time, as servers raced to keep up.  There were cross country buggy races that had hundreds of participants.  There was an online concert.  (I forget the band).   There were houses that could be rented but none were available.  Everywhere you looked were people, porta-zones, things to do and people to talk to.

Now however, you might run into a group of three others on any given night.  No one flies, drives, or walks anywhere.  They just stand and chat.  I think membership is like 10 bucks a month.  I thought: "this will pick back up. Surely they started with the beta members, and are just beginning to fill up."  Nope.  They've been up for a while now.  It's still entertaining, but what good is a social venue with no people?

There.com was exiting.  There.com was a great place to hang with friends.  There.com was a good way to spend a Saturday night.

There.com was.

And it could be again...

The core game, community, whatever, is still solid.  Users can still create new items and sell them.  The community is, as it was then, very helpful and supportive of new entrants.  They will loan you any item you want to use, and you can level up without ever owning something.  It is still amazing to tool around on a hoverboard and see the astounding amount of detail that was put into the islands.  It is still a rush to do a time trial on a buggy course.  It is a ton of fun when you meet someone new, and teach them chat commands ('chicken).  The game still has the unlimited potential it always did, but what it lacks, and no one knows why, is advertising.

The owners are not pushing it.  They don't seem to care if it makes money.  That is great, but the community is much better with more people.  So here is the advertising they refuse to do.  Try the game for 50 cent.  If you don't like it, all you're out is half a bottle of Coke.  If you do, you have a club to hang out in, a board to ride, and people to meet.  If I see you, I'll even lend you my favorite hoverboard.  It's better than facebooking.