ZWC

Zone Wide Chat, or 'ZWC' in short, was the general discussion area on the Microsoft Gaming Zone. It was closed in 2003 after the software which was used to moderate the chatroom leaked onto the internet and was hacked by a group of hackers called the Twisteds. This allowed normal users to have the same rights as moderators. Before closing down the room, Microsoft tried to stop the problems by instating a sort of "supermoderators" (actually employees from an external consulting firm). This did not sit well with the users, who in turn left in large numbers. Smaller and specific game related versions of the chatroom with no off-topic chat allowed, called "Lobbies" also existed. The last of these Lobbies were closed on June 19th 2006 as part of the transformation of Microsoft Gaming Zone to MSN Gaming.