TalkWorld was a graphical "virtual chat environment" from the mid-1990s, originally made by Etchinghill Studios. You joined as a customizable sprite avatar in a small virtual town where you could walk around, enter buildings, and talk to other users over the Internet. The aim was to make it friendlier than the text-only chat programs of the day, while trying to usher in a new era of virtual interfacing within cyberspace.
Its main selling point was VoIP chat. Most chat programs of the time only let you type into a text box, whereas TalkWorld let you speak through your microphone so other users could listen live as you talked. This was far cheaper than an international phone call, because Internet use was billed at local phone rates. On top of that, it let you talk to other people while you were on dial-up, since you couldn't use your phone and the Internet at the same time without specialized equipment to get around the issue.
If you Google TalkWorld, you may come across a GitHub page and an itch.io page that let you download the program. Those versions came from a loosely connected group (that I am a part of) in which a few of the members, myself included, originally revived the software back in 2018, breathing new life back into TalkWorld. That server has since been shut down, so if you download those versions, they'll try to connect to a server that no longer exists. Don't even bother. I have taken it upon myself to rehost TalkWorld, where it will stay online indefinitely.
The screenshots above are the original 1997 program. What you'll actually be playing is TalkWorld 2.0. The old program is hard to get running on a modern PC, so the client has been rebuilt from scratch to run right in your web browser. There's nothing to download or install, and it works on Windows, Mac and Linux alike.
It's still TalkWorld at heart. It talks to the same kind of server, uses the original artwork and the original voice codec, and keeps the old program's windows, menus and toolbar icons. Almost everything around that has been improved, and a lot has been added.
The world has grown too. Past the town's fence there's now a Welcome Room, a forest path, a Wishing Well, a desert oasis with a full-blown '90s casino, and a Laser Quest centre that's still being built. New places keep getting added with our own world editor, so there's always something new to find.
If you're tired of Discord, Teams, and other centralized community software that sell your data, and of sweeping Internet legislation that diminishes personal freedoms under the guise of children's safety online (which really is the responsibility of good parenting, but no one wants to deal with that), then feel free to join TalkWorld and tell your friends and family to get online and talk with people around the world! Click the button below to start playing!
| Feature | TalkWorld v1.0 (1997) | TalkWorld 2.0 (now) |
|---|---|---|
| Getting in | Download an installer for Windows 95. It barely runs on today's PCs. | Sign in on the website and play in your browser. Nothing to install. Windows, Mac or Linux. |
| Graphics | A small software-drawn view. Nothing is drawn past 10 cells. | Smooth 60 fps 3D in a resizable window. You can see up to 64 cells, with optional fog. |
| Moving around | Keyboard only, at a fixed eye height. You can't go upstairs. | Mouse look, jumping, real staircases and upper floors you can walk around on. |
| The world | One 75 × 75 town. | The town plus new land beyond its fence: the Welcome Room, the Forest Path, the Wishing Well, the Oasis, the Casino and Laser Quest, with more on the way. |
| Objects | Flat cut-outs that always face you. | Redrawn objects you can walk around (16 angles), animated 3D signs, slot machines, tables, chandeliers, a fountain, cars and more. Click on things to use them. |
| Voice chat | Live voice, cut off after 10 seconds of talking. It breaks up on a bad connection. | The same voice codec, so it still sounds like TalkWorld. No time limit, smoother playback over shaky connections, an optional voice filter, and faces whose mouths move as people talk. |
| Seeing people | A player's name shows only when you point at them. Others can vanish a few steps away. | Name tags over everyone, a live map with every player on it, and a Users Online list (Everyone / This Area) that shows who's away. |
| Games | None. | A casino with SlotWorld, roulette, cho-han, blackjack and Texas Hold'em, most of them multiplayer, played with Gregcoin play money (never real money). |
| Gregory 98 | None. | Link your Gregory 98 account at the casino ATM, move Gregcoin between the two, and make wishes at the Wishing Well. |
| Message boards | On most boards, only admins can start a topic. | Anyone can start a topic on any board. Text and voice posts, mail and voice mail all still work. |
| Look and feel | One grey Windows 95 look. | Seasonal themes that change with the real seasons, holiday themes, wallpapers, window styles and five clock faces. |
| VR | None. | VR mode for WebXR headsets, with a wristwatch menu. |
| Your account | Passwords stop at 13 characters, and there's no way to change yours in the program. | An Account window with your account's history and a password change. Passwords can be up to 128 characters and are stored securely. |
| Help | A help file from 1997. | An up-to-date Help guide, an in-game Change Log, and Bug Report and Suggestions buttons. |
Disclaimer: I do not own TalkWorld. TalkWorld and all related names, artwork, and software belong to their respective owners. This is a non-commercial fan project. I am not responsible for any misconduct committed by users on the service.