The site was first registered in May 2000 with the beta phase ending in September of that year. The original name was to be "Cartooniverse", but it was changed because the copyright of that name was held by someone else. Cartoon Orbit was first built using parts of Communities.com's "Passport" software (not to be confused with the current Communities.com, which is unrelated). This software was a 2D avatar-based chat server where members could decorate their own spaces and it was used extensively in Orbit for displaying and editing cZones. Most of the chat functionality, however, did not become part of the finished product. To comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, Cartoon Orbit instead had a list of pre-written words and phrases that players could send in a chat box. Until the complete conversion to Flash in 2002, references could still be found in the HTML source code to passport "room servers", and links to technical documentation on Communities.com's web site. Also before the Flash transition were "Worlds" on Cartoon Orbit based on fictional cartoon locations, which came complete with a quote or quip from that world's characters, a poll, and links to "Spotlight" cZones.