Avatar Palace

A living place from another internet

Community open now

The internet had rooms. One of them is still open.

Pick an avatar. Wander into a room. Find a new favourite prop. Avatar Palace is a visual social world where the art, the little surprises, and the conversation share the same space.

Enter Avatar Palace Visit the museum

New here? See what Palace isChoose a door

FROM THE BEGINNINGJULY / 1994
Jim Bumgardner’s Palace concept drawing: colourful smileys gathered around two green card tables.
Before the first public rooms.Little faces, a shared place, and room for a conversation. See an early idea for Palace.Visit the museum Jim Bumgardner · concept illustration · July 1994 · displayed with permission

A little cabinet of Palace curiosities

Small pixels.
Big personalities.

A face you kept. A room you remember. Read the story of Nino’s Palace Chat smileys, revisit the classic client, and follow the software that brought people together.

Explore the storiesFollow the software timeline

Palace32 · Phalanx · Palace Chat · today’s clients

My collection · early previewKeep a little
piece of Palace.Choose a story. Make it yours.
Come back to it later.Start your collection →

Three Doors · one Palace

Which door will you open?

Visit the roots, keep the classic spirit going, or see what comes next. Three ways into the same Palace.

01

Original

Preserve what mattered.

 02

Retro

Keep the classic experience alive.

 03

New

Build what comes next.

This is Palace

A room. A face. A conversation.

Rooms hold the art and atmosphere. Avatars give people a presence. Props, smileys, and scripts make the space playful and responsive. Conversation appears inside the world.

Rooms

Shared illustrated places with their own mood, paths, and purpose.

Avatars

A visual presence that moves through the room with other people.

Props & smileys

Small expressive objects you can wear, share, collect, and discover.

Scripts & art

Hotspots and local room behavior turn a backdrop into an interactive place.

Conversation

Speech appears around avatars, so talking remains part of the scene.

Learn what a first Palace visit feels like

Peek inside an illustrated Palace room
Original visual demonstration · not live room presence A burgundy illustrated room contains two fictitious abstract avatars, two spatial speech bubbles, a smiley prop, and a glowing doorway hotspot. It demonstrates conversation inside a place rather than posts in a feed.

Open now

Enter the current Avatar Palace community.

Use a compatible Palace client, copy the current connection, and step into the rooms. The Enter page keeps the whole path to three clear steps.

Enter Avatar Palace

Current community connection

chat.avatarpalace.net:9999 This is the current connection for a compatible Palace client. Website availability does not guarantee server availability.

Find the people and the places

Community is more than one doorway.

Enter the current rooms, reconnect on Facebook, offer thoughtful feedback, or explore the wider public Palace ecosystem.

Enter Avatar PalaceCurrent connection and three-step guide FacebookReturn to the public community page ↗ The Listening RoomCompose feedback locally, then copy it or open email Public Palace DirectoryExplore other independent Palace communities ↗ Community hubEmail, expectations, resources, and existing-member Discord guidance Museum & historyFaces, room art, and the software through the years

Building Avatar Palace

Protect what mattered. Build what comes next.

The living community and its future tools move at different speeds. Each project stream is labelled for what it actually is.

Private early alpha

New Avatar Palace Client

Room-first design, Palace feel, accessibility, and modern desktop foundations. There is no public download yet.

In development · not public

Self-hosted server foundation

Independent server work is underway without presenting an unfinished endpoint as a public connection.

Active

Public website & accessibility

Discovery, entry guidance, history, privacy, and inclusive experience are being improved in public-safe layers.

Ongoing

Preservation & community

History, room culture, documentation, and community care continue alongside new work.

See what is being built

If you remember Palace, welcome home.

If you do not, welcome to another kind of internet.

Create. Protect. Continue.

Open the door Meet the community

Looking after the Palace

The care behind the place.

Preservation, attribution, privacy, and community safety are part of keeping this world open. Here is how we approach them.

PG-13 care & ethicsHow this independent community chooses to operate PrivacyWhat this website does with information Restoration & preservationHow the historical record is cared for Lineage, gratitude & independenceCredits, origins, and our relationship to Palace

Ethics are standardsContact & corrections · The Listening Room