DigiChat

DigiChat was a Java-based chat interface package designed by Digi-Net Technologies. It first saw use in late 1999/early 2000 with the as an adjunct to the Necropolis HTML chats, the Unmoderated Chat. While it was popular for the time, it served as a springboard for what was then a fairly unique idea: a fully-moderated chat where characters would have to be approved (or sanctioned) by a moderator (Storyteller).

This new chat, New Bremen, hit an unprecedented level of popularity when it opened in mid-2000. Its small team of 10 STs was quickly overwhelmed. While the number of players wasn't tracked (there were no player accounts at the time, just character logins), the number of active character logins stabilized to somewhere between 5000 and 6000.

Concurrently with these chats, White Wolf began hosting a series of pre-scheduled Developer Chats with various game line developers.

White Wolf quickly followed this up with additional DigiChats:


 * The Trinity/Aberrant Unmoderated Chat (sometime prior to June 9, 2000)
 * Fangsfall, the Scarred Lands d20 chat (sometime between October 4, 2000 and November 9, 2000)
 * Jade City, the Exalted First Edition chat (sometime between August 4 and October 7, 2001)
 * Rookhausen, the Ravenloft chat (sometime between February 22 and April 5, 2002)
 * White Wolf Chronicles, a tightly-moderated chronicle based on New York by Night (between October 5 and November 24, 2002)
 * Dark Ages Bremen, the Dark Ages chat (sometime between February 3 and April 4, 2003)
 * Unmoderated 3e Chat (sometime between February 18 and April 1, 2004), which subsumed the Trinity Universe chat
 * Vampire: The Requiem Demo Chat (August 5, 2004). The Demo chat later became:
 * World of Darkness Moderated Chat (August 21, 2004), opening with City of the Damned: New Orleans (Vampire). Added Werewolf and Mortal settings March 14, 2005, Mage later in the year.
 * White Wolf Open Chat Rooms, general OOC rooms for people to hang out and talk (between September 1 and November 4, 2005)
 * The Exalted Chat, a second-edition chat, opened in the same space as Jade City between March 11 and April 5, 2006. The new chat was set in Nexus.
 * The Moderated d20 Chat, a combination of the former Fangsfall and Rookhausen chats (sometime between August 21 and October 11, 2007)

The chats were shut down in early 2009.

While fans had started their own chats in the interim, it's only when the official chats closed that they fled to other sites en masse.