Main Page
Introduction
Our World of Text (OWOT or OWoT) is a website that lets users type text anywhere in a grid. Users can choose the color of their text and visit other pages known as "worlds." In OWOT, all users start on the main page and can visit other worlds by adding the name of the world to the end of the URL after a slash, or by clicking a link in the Center Console or anywhere else on the main page.
OWOT was first launched on June 8, 2010, by the developer and creator of Your World of Text.[1] It was created as an alternative to Your World of Text that allows unrestricted scripting. In early August 2015, it was announced that OWOT would shut down on August 20th due to funding issues. Weeks after its original shutdown, control of the domain was handed to InfraRaven to start a revival of OWOT. The revival was based off the heavily modified YWOT source code from 2010 and featured a new menu design and a loading screen.
In 2016, a new version of OWOT was started which gave users the ability to change the size of their text and globally chat with users anywhere on the world. It featured a sidebar menu to the left which included options such as text color, text size, and chatting. This version was developed in parallel under the "beta" subdomain. After a series of presumed scripting attacks, the developers lost interest in developing the new version. Subsequently, the revival would shut down in late 2016 after a botched attempt at creating a new client.
On October 8, 2017, a new version of OWOT launched. The website's backend was created in Node.js while the frontend used a modified copy of the Your World of Text client in its first few months. Our World of Text is currently maintained by a hobbyist computer programmer going by the online alias of FP.
Functionality
A page on Our World of Text is made up of character cells that are lined up to a grid. To add text to a page, a user must click anywhere on the page that isn't protected to bring the text cursor to that position. Once the cursor is focused, the user can add text by simply typing as if it were any ordinary text editor.
Because OWOT is a multiplayer website, other users can see changes added by another user as they're happening. What makes sites like Our World of Text special is that it's possible to drag the page to a different location and edit in another place very far away. While an OWOT world is supposed to be infinitely large in theory, there is an upper limit imposed due to the integer limits within JS.
A world is divided into chunks that are 16 cells wide and 8 cells tall, called a tile. Each cell can store only one grapheme cluster, allowing Zalgo text to be written since users can create combined characters. Do note, however, that OWOT's implementation of grapheme clustering is relatively limited and only covers Emoji characters and combining characters. For more information, please see Tile format.
Accounts
Our World of Text does not require the usage of accounts to access and edit public worlds, and to use the chatrooms. To manage accounts, OWOT uses Uvias as its authentication system, which was introduced on August 27, 2019. The goal of Uvias is to allow for the sharing of accounts between Our World of Text, Our World of Pixels, and the upcoming project Spooks.
Accounts are required to own worlds and become a member of one. The exception to this is membership keys, which allows world owners to provide temporary membership to even unregistered users given a correct URL parameter.
Guest accounts are accounts starting with Guest- followed by a sequential number, and have a small number of limitations, such as not being able to own worlds. Guests can, however, be invited to a world as a member. Guest accounts are tied to your IP address, and may also expire after a certain period of time.
Since the introduction of the Uvias account system in 2019, users have now been able to do extra things such as changing their username, viewing their login sessions and their join date, and disabling their account.
Moderation
For the most part, Our World of Text is unmoderated with the exception of attacks on server infrastructure, illegal material (limited to CSAM), and malicious script usage. Both the main page and global chatrooms (via the chatbox) are subject to anti-spam control which may be imperfect. The main page has virtually no rules, with the exception of pornographic images done via full-color Unicode block characters (on or close to spawn, and illegal types), malicious script usage (to the point of inhibiting usage of the page), and link spamming (mainly done by replicator scripts). Vandalism on certain popular areas such as Pika City may be subject to reversion periodically. Content rules are generally lax.
Contributing to this Wiki
Only whitelisted users are allowed to edit this wiki. If you'd like to edit this wiki, feel free to let us know through any medium you want, which includes the following:
- OWOT chat or canvas (your request might not be seen)
- OWOT Discord server
- The developer's OWOT page (chat or public canvas area)
Be sure to include your OWOT Wiki username. Vandalism may result in loss of editing privileges.