An “AA Chatroom” is a type of multiplayer, online chatroom, with avatars based on AA characters from 2channel. These were mostly popular in Japan during the mid-2000s, around the Golden Age of Flash, but its usage naturally declined as time passes and Flash became deprecated.

For the Japanese internet, nostalgic discussions recalled that Monachat, BarGiko Online, and Project Machi were the main three AA chatrooms of the mid-2000s, with Monachat being the most “known” of the three. However, the Western internet had a more narrower view of the subject matter, since BarGiko Online would be the only AA chatroom that got an ounce of international attention outside of Japan.

Monachat (もなちゃと, Monachatto) was a two-dimensional chatroom that had ran from 2003 to 2020 at the “monachat.dyndns.org” domain. It was extremely basic, you could change your avatar's color palette, and it allegedly had an addictive 'fight' (喧嘩, kenka) system. Naturally, they ran into issues with spam, but Monachat had surprisingly managed to survive until Flash was deprecated.

BarGiko Online (BARギコONLINE), also known as BarGiko (BARギコ) or Old BarGiko (旧バーギコ), was the isometric chatroom that was active from 2003 to 2007 at “www13.plala.or.jp/bargiko/”, and it featured a small town with a gyūdon restaurant and a multi-purpose hall with each floor dedicated to a subject. 4chan users discovered BarGiko in 2005,¹⁾²⁾ so foreign access was restricted to the 9th floor.³⁾

From 2007 to 2011, BarGiko Online moved to “uzeee.orz.hm/bargiko/”, but it completely changed the format and split activity into user-generated 'threads' (rooms) across multiple boards. This iteration never took off because people would rather use Monachat or the Gikopoi clone instead, rather than handpick the thread out themselves, so it sorta just died.

ProjectMachi (Project街, lit. “Project Town”) was a two-dimensional chatroom that 'surfaced' in 2006⁴⁾ and moved several times. The town was very colorful, unlike Monachat, and you could click to move around. It somehow managed until Flash was deprecated, leaving hints that a 5th version dubbed “ProjectNekoMachi” or “NekojectMachi” was being tested, but there hasn't been a lot of news since then.

• Gikopoipoi