Everyone I knew back when I was growing up played "Poptropica." It was the cool thing back when we were still kids along with "Club Penguin" and "Fantage." I remember how I would glue my eyes to the screen for days, watching the bobbleheads on my little characters and how they would swing from side to side like rag dolls.

My favorite island was of course Superhero Island—and for the silliest reason, too. There was an option for flying. That was all. I didn't have high standards back then for games to appeal to me. The premise of the island was that you were hired as a superhero on the spot (no resume needed or anything, which I find a bit concerning in retrospect.)

Your job was to stop a bunch of criminals who've escaped from their prison cell. I remember one of the prisoners in that island scared me so much mainly because capturing that prisoner involved jumping over rats. I hate rats—in fact, I'm terrified of them.

I remember when my third grade friend first introduced this game to me, I had no interest in it whatsoever. I didn't care about what the strange bobbly creatures did nor what adventures were set out in the game. A few days later, third grade me got hooked. I would constantly keep calling my friend to play with her to the point where both her as well as my parents told me to stop.

I eventually did stop and started at a less obsessed rate. But whenever I visit the site, I still get that hit of nostalgia because so much time and emotion (the game gets frustrating… often) were spent on this game. I made friends through this and it was almost like my first new taste of online interactions. I should've mentioned that at that time, I didn't have a phone or any form of social media.