Picture this, it is 2006 and your parents said you could be on the computer. You are waiting for your computer to turn on so that you can play online with virtual friends. Your Webkinz or Neopets have been waiting to see you because they need to be virtually fed. Sadly, your virtual pets have not been visited for a decade.

Back in the late 2000’s, the Internet was loaded with interactive children’s games. Other than Webkinz and Neopets, there was also Club Penguin. With each of these games, you got to be your own individual character and you also clothed the animals, fed them and had your own story line. For some certain websites, you could pay for a monthly membership and receive more perks than just a regular account. Some students spent hours playing these games, and leaves some wondering, what happened to the websites that so many used to play on?

Today, only few of these websites still remain the same while some have been taken away from us forever. The most popular of these games was Club Penguin which was released in late October, 2005. Millions of accounts were created but on Jan. 30, 2017, the creators decided to take it down and many were upset.

“I feel broken knowing they shut down Club Penguin, the puffles comforted me through hard times and gave me the motivation to get a dog of my own. Club Penguin definitely gave me a positive outlook on life.” said junior Payton Baker.

A couple months after they shut down the original Club Penguin, the makers released Club Penguin Island which have complaints of not fulfilling the shoes of the old version.

Webkinz and Neopets are still very popular to this day but they are not as pricey as what they used to be. With plushies costing around $30 each, now they are easily in the $5-10 range depending on which one you get. Except, these multimillion dollar websites are changing monthly, decreasing the amount of people who play them. The kids who played it right when they came out truly appreciated the websites. Now, no one will ever know the default version of each of the games and some of the websites are only in our memories now.