View Poll Results: What was your preferred IM platform?

Voters
25. You may not vote on this poll
  • Yahoo! Instant Messenger

    2 8.00%
  • AOL Instant Messenger

    3 12.00%
  • MSN Messenger

    13 52.00%
  • mIRC

    3 12.00%
  • ICQ

    4 16.00%
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 19

Thread: What was the best IM platform from the early 2000s

  1. #1
    Local Florist Site Contributor
    Recognized Member
    Aulayna's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Sector 5 Slums
    Posts
    6,964
    Articles
    143
    Blog Entries
    28

    FFXIV Character

    Mayrissa Fablestay (Sargatanas)
    Contributions
    • Former Developer
    • Former Editor

    Default What was the best IM platform from the early 2000s

    Nowadays it's all about the Wutsapp and Bookface Messenger and Dizcerd but what platform was you go-to in the early 2000s?


  2. #2
    Total Sweetheart
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    5,729
    Articles
    49
    Blog Entries
    18

    Default

    I have the fondest memories of MSN Messenger. Especially with EoFF users, I remember countless members giving out their hotmail address. Members who haven't been online in years still have their chat email linked in their profile and it's one of the biggest tells that they haven't been here in years.

    At some point or another I've used all of them to reach as many friends as possible, but MSN was the one I was on every single day talking to EoFF members. I'll still sometimes look up MSN sounds on YouTube just to hear them again.

    I think it's fair to say AOL had the biggest reach in popular culture in terms of widespread commercials. The "You've got mail!" was inescapable back then.

    While i'm fondly thinking about those days, I'd like to plug a very cheap game that will give you all the feels. I talk about it every chance I get when a topic like this comes up.



    Emily is Away is a Steam game that is basically an AOL/MSN simulator. Set in the early-to-mid 2000s, Emily Is Away tells the story of the protagonist's relationship with a girl, Emily, over the course of five years, from the senior year of high school to the senior year of college. The game is presented through a chat client on Windows XP styled after ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger, specifically their builds in the early-to-mid 2000s, complete with other users' profiles and interface.

    The nostalgia is hardcore. Everything from the avatar pics, to the goofy name taglines, away messages that are song lyrics, topical references of that time period. The first game is free. I highly recommend looking into it if you used chatrooms in the early 2000s. The story is bittersweet, and your conversation with Emily resembles how you'd imagine your conversations going with your closest friends of that time. Looking to the future, hoping you'll never drift apart, but inevitably doing so.

    There is a second game also available, with more friends to talk to and a narrative that branches more.There's even a link to a fake YouTube homescreen that plays videos from that time period and looks like YouTube did around that time period as well. Even if you don't check out the game, check out this cool "YouTube" link for nostalgia.

    http://emilyisaway.com/youtoob/0fwLvHR7Rgw/

  3. #3
    Huh? Flower?! What the hell?! Administrator Psychotic's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    53,267
    Articles
    71

    Default

    MSN > AIM > Y!M > mIRC

  4. #4
    Total Sweetheart
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    5,729
    Articles
    49
    Blog Entries
    18

    Default

    One thing I'll say about people who used Yahoo is that it definitely set itself apart from the others as a "meet singles in your area" type of chat client, where as I feel like a lot of people who used MSN and AIM were teenagers who used them to talk to friends. Not to say that they wouldn't chat up their long distance relationship partners there.

    But Yahoo was the DTF client.

  5. #5
    WarZidane's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Netherlands
    Posts
    885

    FFXIV Character

    Cattleya Paphia (Sargatanas)

    Default

    It's not the one I used the most, but ICQ was the best one in the early days just on a technical and UI level, IMO.

  6. #6

    Default

    MSN has the best memories for me for sure. It got really dumb as well, with the weird nudge feature and everything else. I think I had 3 AIM buddies because no one I knew in the UK really used it, unless they were extremely online. I actually liked the simplicity of it, but rarely got to use it for much.

  7. #7
     Master of the Fork Cid's Knight Freya's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Yer pants
    Posts
    26,207
    Articles
    277
    Blog Entries
    34

    FFXIV Character

    Freya Meow (Sargatanas)

    Default

    MSN for sure. I had hundreds of eoffers at one point on mine.

  8. #8
    Total Sweetheart
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    5,729
    Articles
    49
    Blog Entries
    18

    Default

    Friends from school, friends from MySpace, friends from EoFF

    This is the holy trinity of an MSN friend's list.

  9. #9
    Recognized Member Jessweeee♪'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    i'm on a sandbar help
    Posts
    19,881
    Blog Entries
    12

    FFXIV Character

    Sarangerel Qha (Twintania)
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight
    • Former Site Staff

    Default

    As far as functionality goes, I feel like Yahoo was superior and a really underrated chat client. I loved the games and cooperative paint function (though maybe the other clients had that too and I just don't remember ever using them).

  10. #10
    Recognized Member Scotty_ffgamer's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Eizon
    Posts
    5,275
    Articles
    4
    Blog Entries
    4

    FFXIV Character

    Scotty Ffgamer (Sargatanas)
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight

    Default

    I pretty much only used MSN when I was younger to talk with friends on a different forum I used to be a part of. I feel like I used to play checkers a lot through MSN as well with people.

    I used AIM when I got a little older just because that’s what my school friends used, but I never liked it as much.

  11. #11
    *permanent smite* Spuuky's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Hell, eventually.
    Posts
    3,653

    Default

    ICQ was by far the best actual platform. You could even send SMS messages to cell phones with it (internationally!).

  12. #12
    Feel the Bern Administrator Del Murder's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Oakland, California
    Posts
    41,604
    Articles
    6
    Blog Entries
    2
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight
    • Former Administrator
    • Hosted the Ciddies

    Default

    MSN had a messenger?

    Proud to be the Unofficial Secret Illegal Enforcer of Eyes on Final Fantasy!
    When I grow up, I want to go to Bovine Trump University! - Ralph Wiggum

  13. #13
    Total Sweetheart
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    5,729
    Articles
    49
    Blog Entries
    18

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Del Murder View Post
    MSN had a messenger?
    You may remember its later name, Windows Live Messenger.

  14. #14
    Feel the Bern Administrator Del Murder's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Oakland, California
    Posts
    41,604
    Articles
    6
    Blog Entries
    2
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight
    • Former Administrator
    • Hosted the Ciddies

    Default

    Well I never bothered with any of this stuff. EoFF mognet messages was as 'instant' as I needed.

    Proud to be the Unofficial Secret Illegal Enforcer of Eyes on Final Fantasy!
    When I grow up, I want to go to Bovine Trump University! - Ralph Wiggum

  15. #15
    Eggstreme Wheelie Recognized Member Jiro's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Posts
    26,942
    Articles
    65
    Blog Entries
    1
    Contributions
    • Former Cid's Knight
    • Former Editor
    • Notable contributions to former community wiki

    Default

    Oceania really only had MSN so it's an almost universal rite of passage for ANZ kids. I can just picture my contacts list now, half of them with smurfing elaborate ASCII art and smurfing song lyrics stretching across the screen. Phenomenal.

    They see me rolling. They hating, patrolling.
    Trying to catch me riding dirty.


Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •