What is There?

There is a social virtual world where people go to spend time with friends, meet new ones and have fun in a beautiful 3-D environment. There was created to take online communication to a new level, allowing people to incorporate emotion, body language, and even voice into real-time communication with one another – just like in real life. People from all over the world have joined There and grown it into a diverse community with something exciting to offer almost anyone.

What do you mean by “old” There? 

There’s Virtual World population soared in the 2000’s. In March of 2010 There closed. The 3-D social platform was rebooted in 2012 under a different business model offering monthly Premium Membership Accounts. When members or Staff refer to “old” There they are talking about the game prior to 2010. Our current Virtual World is considered “new” There.

How can I create an Avatar and play There? 

Download the latest There software to your PC. See our System Requirements. Go to There.com and get started on creating your Avatar by clicking on male or female. You will need a working email account to register your Avatar. Before you can log into the 3-D Virtual World, you will need to verify your email address. You should have received an email from There with a link to verify your Avatar account. If you have not received the email yet, check your spam folder.

How old do I have to be to play in the Virtual World There?

The Virtual World There is for adults 18 and over. We know this comes to a disappointment to our younger friends. Members will be required to do an age verification check if you want to use text chat and Voice to communicate with other members.

How can I get an age check?

Every time you log in, we will prompt you to pursue an age check. You will need to successfully charge $0.50 to your There account through PayPal to perform an age check. If the payment processing services believe you are 18 then we do too. It’s not really a fee per say as we credit you $0.50 USD in Therebucks.

Is There free to play? 

Yes! You can log into the Virtual World There for FREE with a Silent Trial Account.  We used to hold events called Free There Weekends, but FREE accounts are now available 24/7, every day  of the year.

What kind of trial accounts or membership types are there in new There?

Premium Membership – $10.00 USD per month
Basic Trial Account – One-time fee of $0.50 USD
Silent Trial Account – FREE 24/7

Silent Trials Accounts are limited in their communications. Free members are only able to text-chat with Phoenix Stars (New Member Helpers) or Staff members. If you’d like to be able to text-chat with other members in There, you can upgrade to a Basic Trial Account with an age-check by charging a one-time $0.50 fee to your PayPal. Trial accounts include the Explorer Pack and ability to listen to music in-world. Trial members are limited in their economic activities and cannot buy or rent Real Estate. Trial accounts cannot give or receive gifts from other members. Read the low-cost membership trials help article for more information about account limitations.

Premium Membership Accounts are the best way to enjoy playing in the virtual world There. This affordable monthly membership breaks down to only $0.33 USD per day. The plan includes Voice that allows your avatar to speak out loud and the ability to hear others in real time. For only $10 a month you can customize your 3-D avatar, text chat, advance your skill ladder, attend and host events, voice chat with friends, bookmark your favorite places, design virtual goods, shop and list items for sale, join up to 100 clubs, own Real Estate and much more with a Premium Membership Account in There. Premium accounts are available through PayPal and Stripe. Your PayPal account will need to have a validated mailing address and be linked to a reliable backup funding source (generally, a credit card) before you will be able to initiate your Premium Membership monthly subscription in There. Upgrade to a Premium Membership Account to get all of the bells and whistles There has to offer.

I don’t have a PayPal account. How do I pay for a monthly Premium Membership?

You can use Stripe as an alternate money processing payment system. Stripe is a card processor that accepts a variety of credit and debit cards from around the world. If your card is supported, you may use Stripe to purchase Therebucks or a Premium Membership. Please note that gift subscriptions, Basic Trial Accounts and Real Money Developer Sales are only available for purchase through Paypal.

How do I cancel my Premium Account subscription if I make monthly payments through Stripe?

Payments made through Stripe can be canceled through your There profile. View your profile, click on Member Info>Manage Avatar Subscription>Cancel your monthly subscription. You can restart your Premium Account Membership at any time.

How do I cancel my Premium Membership Account monthly subscription through PayPal?

Visit PayPal to cancel your monthly subscription. It will appear on your account as a Subscription/Recurring Payment with the name Monthly Subscription for There.com Avatar (Your Avatar’s Name). After cancelling, you will be able to continue to log with all of the Premium Membership perks until the end of your pre-paid period. There are no refunds for monthly subscription payments. You can restart your Premium Account Membership at any time.

What happens when I cancel my monthly subscription?

When you cancel your monthly Premium Membership Account either through PayPal or in your There Profile if you use Stripe, all monthly payments will automatically stop being collected. Your Avatar will retain full premium perks until the prepaid portion of your monthly subscription expires. When your Premium Membership Account ends, your avatar will revert to a Basic Trial Account with limitations. You will still be able to use text chat to communicate, but you will no longer be able to use Voice to talk to your friends. You can upgrade your membership at anytime to get your Voice and premium perks back.

Can you tell me exactly when my privileges will revert after I cancel my monthly subscription?

Not really. The monthly subscriptions are managed by our payment processors PayPal and Stripe. The There system takes action to remove your privileges as soon as an email communication is received from the payment processors that your monthly subscription has ended.

Can I pay for someone else’s Premium Monthly Account?

That is really nice of you! Yes, you can pay to upgrade another member’s account to Premium. Log into your member account. Open your Profile and click on Member Info. We limit the number of age-checks a PayPal account is allowed to process. You will be sent an email stating how many you have left available. Please keep track of your purchased gift subscriptions.

When purchasing a gift subscription for a friend, you will assume some responsibility for the Avatar account. For example, you are vouching that they are 18+. Be aware that if they get themselves banned, it also reflects on your account. Avatars that share the same PayPal account will not be able to leave a Peer Review on the same Developer Item.

How do I change my nametag color? 

• Some interactive items are missing their special customization.
• Voozoos are no longer supported.
• All custom vehicles have reverted back to their original stock paint jobs/ wheels/ engines for their chassis.
• ThereDocs and Questkits are migrated over in their empty, un-configured state.
• Items originally attained through the Skill Rewards (Golden Tickets) are not migrated. Instead, the migration of your skill points results in you receiving new copies of the Golden Tickets.
• The Coca-Cola Music Mixer is no longer supported.

Most of my items showed up in my inventory, but I seem to be missing a couple of things. 

Our records show that a large number of possessions were transferred between Avatars during the days leading up to the closure of old There. Our experience in helping members resurrect their Avatars over the last several years is that people tend to forget which of their Avatars owned certain items. We have also noticed that members have forgotten how they came to posses some of their virtual goods. Possessions can only be migrated to their registered owner, not just to whomever had an item in their pocket at the time old There closed. For example, a vehicle that someone lent to you in old There does not belong to you.

No seriously, I bought stuff for my Avatar and it has not shown up in my inventory in new There.

Are you sure you’re not having trouble finding it in your Organizer? Email Staff at Feedback@thereinc.com and we will run a special search to verify that you did indeed own the item and we will take a closer look at locating the missing goods for you.

I had an Alt Avatar in old There. Is there a way to be able to reclaim the virtual items on that inventory and transfer them to my main Avatar’s inventory in new There? 

Yes, there are two ways you can accomplish this. The slow and tedious way to transfer virtual items from your alt to your main is to resurrect your old alt Avatar, upgrade it to a Premium Membership Account so that the Avatar has the ability to Give and Trade. You will need log both Avatars in-world at the same time to to set up a Trade window to transfer the virtual goods over from your alt to your main Avatar.  An easier solution to transferring virtual items from your alt Avatar’s inventory to your main Avatar’s inventory is to use the Claim Possessions tool.  You do not have to log in your old Alt or purchase it a Premium Membership Account or set up a long and tedious trade session with the Claim Possessions tool. Please note, once an Avatar has had its possessions claimed with the Claim Possessions tool, it can no longer be resurrected and logged into the 3-D world.  If you want the virtual goods off of your old alt Avatar and you plan to log it into new There in the future, you should not use the Claim Possession tool.

I used to run a Club in old There. Can I get it back? 

Yes. We have reserved the names of all the old Clubs. They can only be recreated by the Leader of the Club at the time old There closed. You will notice that member list for your club is empty. Clubs are fundamentally a collection of Avatars. The Avatars in question, may not have rejoined new There yet. You will need to advertise your Club and invite Avatars that you run into online in new There to grow your group’s numbers.

I used to own a FunZone in old There and now someone else is renting it in new There. 

We maintained a rental reservation system during the first six months of the Virtual World returning back in 2012. If you did not claim your property by that point the Deed or Zone may have been purchased by another member or is now a There-owned open hosting area. You can host events in There FunZones or look for FunZone deeds available in the Auctions for sale by other members.

I was the Leader of a Neighborhood in old There, is it now gone? 

If you were not able to claim your Neighborhood in the first six months of 2012 then your hood was made available to the community to purchase. If you discover your old Neighborhood in There is available and you would like it back, please email Staff at feedback@thereinc.com and provide the link or doid to the Neighborhood Zone. Staff will list the hood in an Auction for you to bid on. When the Auction completes, if you are the high bidder the Neighborhood it will automatically transfer to your inventory and you will be the Neighborhood Club Leader. Go on a tour of Neighborhood hangouts in There.

I was a Developer and submitted a ton of designs. Will I have to resubmit my designs again?

No, your approved designs in old There will be migrated to new There as soon as you resurrect your designer Avatar and have it join the Developer Program again.

How long do I have to wait for There Staff to approve my designer submissions in new There? 

There is a new peer-review system in place now to approve designs. Developer Submissions are approved in new There by other Thereians who are also designers.

What’s new in the Developer Program? 

Customized hair! Yes, Developers can now paint a specific list of available custom hairstyles. Shop for men’s and women’s customized hair.

Can I start making US dollar sales on my new developer designs instead of Therebucks?

Yes, you can start earning real cash in new There with the Real Money Developer Sales option.  To begin, you will need to have a PayPal Merchant Account to receive your incoming payments. You will need to update the address of your PayPal Merchant Account on your Developer Profile. It is suggested for you to reach out to PayPal and work with them to set your account to micropayments so that the fees charged by PayPal will be as low as possible for you. It’s always good to offer Thereians the options of purchasing your designs with USD through PayPal AND purchasing goods with Therebucks. Some people don’t have PayPal, but they really want to buy your designs so it’s good to still offer a Therebuck buying option.

Can I act as a third-party Therebucks seller?

No, in new There members are NOT allowed to sell Therebucks. We have provided the Real Money Developer Sales as an option for designers to make real USD instead of stockpiling Therebucks.

How do I find people in There? 

There is a great big world with several Islands and lots of wide-open virtual space. People teleport and travel by vehicle to explore the Virtual World and discover thriving Island communities. It’s good to know when and where to find friends in There when you’re  looking socialize online. The best way to locate other members in There is by signing up for daily scheduled Events and exploring Neighborhood hangouts.

Someone is bothering me. How do I get rid of them? 

Sometimes you run into other people who just don’t like to talk the way you like to listen. Instead of getting into a big argument about it (they’re probably trying to troll you anyway), use the Ignore tool to mute them. Once you Ignore another Avatar, you will not be able to hear their voice, see their text chat bubbles, receive Instant Messages or Summons. You will not be able to see their custom design clothing in There and they will be unable to approach within a dozen meters of you. You will view the Ignored Avatar as halfway sunken in the ground 12 meters away from you. Everyone else will see the Ignored Avatar where it is currently standing, talking and communicating in real-time with everyone else. The best thing to do is teleport away from the person and go about your day.

I tried to log into There and I couldn’t get into the 3-D world. 

The Virtual World goes down for maintenance around 3:00 AM Pacific time. Are you SURE you finished registering your Avatar? Remember to check your working email account for the There Welcome Email. It includes a link to verify your email account before you can log into There. If you have not verified your email account, you cannot log into to the web pages or 3-D Virtual World.

When I try to log in it says Service Is Closed. 

Occasionally, the service is run in test mode after a client release (software update) for a few hours. During this time Silent Trials, Basic Trials and Premium Member Accounts are not able to log in. Only our debug Avatars will be allowed in to test the world during closure.

When I try to log into There it says Servers Are Busy. 

On occasion, we may have to limit the total number of people who can be logged into the Virtual World at the same time.

When I try to log into the 3-D world, it says Problem Connecting to World. 

Assuming you spelled your Avatar name correctly and that we are not down for maintenance, you most likely have security software on your PC or in your router/network that is blocking the There client from contacting our webapps servers (http://webapps.prod.there.com). Sometimes this will start happening after receiving a new client release (software update) if your firewall feels the updated client doesn’t deserve the permission you granted to the original client download. If you can’t figure out how to get your firewall (or other security software) to approve the current There client, then you can generally resolve this by uninstalling the client and then reinstalling the Virtual World There.

After logging in successfully, I never see my Avatar appear in-world. I just see some mountains on a blue background. 

Assuming the servers are not down for maintenance, this generally means that security software (on your PC or in your router/network) is blocking or not forwarding some forms of internet traffic. Some of our client/server interactions depend on UDP packets (both incoming and outgoing) in the port range 2300-2399. Make sure the are not blocked by your firewall/router/NAT. In some cases, you might need to set up explicit port forwarding rules in your router so it knows which PC on your network should receive the packets. While we can’t provide much specific help for your particular AntiVirus package, be aware that the AV packages are taking on more firewall-like roles, so what looks like a firewall issue might be some add-on AV functionality. For example, if you use the AVG antivirus package, it has a module called Web Protect.

Tell me more about my firewall. 

Well, we probably don’t know much about YOUR firewall, but it needs to allow our client software to use TCP (in and out) in the port ranges 2300-2399 and 52300-52399, as well as the traditional ports 80 and 443. We also need to use UDP (in and out) in the port range 2300-2399. Note that you probably have more than one firewall, and if you have an antivirus package like Norton or Avast it probably came with some add-ons that also have firewall-like behaviors. Any one of these can nuke a program it feels should not have access to the Internet.

Are there any Windows compatibility issues I should know about?

Our client works with Windows, versions “Vista” through “10”. However, Win10 has led to some issues that people have let us know about.

• The use of the mouse wheel has changed, and you might have to use Windows Control panel to set it as you like.
• Even if you have EDGE installed, you also specifically need Internet Explorer 11 to be installed.
• When installing Flash, be sure to be using IE 11, so as to get the proper version
  The version of AVG that many win10 users have, specifically hates our client until you add us as an exemption in Web Protect.
• Your super modern version of DirectX might not include the version 9.0c we need (available from Microsoft).

Are there any browser compatibility issues I should know about?

Our 3-D There Client depends upon the Internet Explorer reusable browser control, which emulates an appropriate version of Internet Explorer so as to be compatible with the websites you look at in a browser window while you are logged into the 3-D world. We automatically pick what we think is best for your particular combination of operating system and browser, but you can influence that decision via the “IE Emulation” setting in ThereTweaker.

What is ThereTweaker?

ThereTweaker is a stand-alone tool you can use to modify key client parameters (like screen size and IE emulation level) outside of the client itself. This is particularly useful when the current settings are preventing the client from starting up. Use your local windows search to find your copy of ThereTweaker inside your installed client folder (it’s in thereclient/dlls), and execute it. The interface is pretty straightforward. Once you save your changes, they take effect the next time you launch the There 3-D client.

I can log in OK, but I never get system messages and my compass and ChangeMe controls won’t open.

Some of our popup control windows depend on Flash. In particular we need the ‘ActiveX’ flavor of Flash. This is the same flavor as used by Internet Explorer, while many other browsers use the HTML5 flavor. If you do not regularly use IE, then you might not have the ActiveX flavor installed. To get it, you just need to visit the Flash Download Site while using Internet Explorer.

I can log in and play for awhile, but pretty soon things get really weird and stop working until I reset my router.

This could be a symptom of owning a Motorola SURFBoard modem (popular with cable modem ISPs) that needs to have its “IP Flood Detect” feature disabled. The Motorola implementation of this feature erroneously treats most incoming stream data as ‘an attack’ and its reaction to that attack is to just start throwing every other packet away. Turning it off will improve your internet experience considerably, not just for There.com.

I was able to log in just fine until the most recent client patch. Now I get told my Avatar is unable to contact the login servers?

Generally this means your firewall (or other security software) feels the client program has changed (It just did with the client update.) and thus no longer benefits from the permission you previously granted to it. Most firewalls are smart enough to just ask you again, but some will wait for you to manually change the firewall settings (remove the old permission, then either add a new permission manually or run the client and hope to be challenged by the firewall again). If you can’t figure out your firewall, you might achieve success by uninstalling and then re-installing the client.

None of these FAQs helped me. How can I notify There Staff of my problem and get help to resolve it?

Email Staff at feedback@thereinc.com for assistance with your account, technical issues or questions you may have about There. Always include your Avatar name in your emails so that Staff can easily identify who you are. Make sure to include as much detail as possible in your email to Staff.