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Neopets, Runescape, and the little internet graveyards that won't die
Manage episode 367228637 series 3487740
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You’ve heard their names. Runescape. Neopets. Toontown. LiveJournal. Myspace. Gaia Online.
Logic might dictate that these sites should be dead. They can’t possibly be alive. Right? Wrong.
We spoke to the people who are still on these sites two decades later and asked cyber psychologists to help us understand why.
The answer? A mix of nostalgia for bonding with a community, a desire to feel like a competent expert in something you value, and a need for consistency and control in a world that feels on fire. These sites likely won’t be managed forever—everything expires on the internet—but a look into the minds of these evangelists proves that they’ll hold on for as long as they possibly can.
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Thank you so much to Professors Harley and Debb, and our player interviews—Jaye, Sage, Felipe, Sara, and David.
You can learn more about Dr. Scott Debb and his research here, and you can learn more about Dr. Dave Harley and his research here.
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