Should have maybe said a bit more - basically, it's now 2008 and MSN / AIM is dead, so the action moves onto Facebook Facenook. For me, personally, I have far less of an attachment to Facebook as a social platform as it was around that time that I left the UK and Facebook wasn't really a part of my life anymore. That means it's impossible to replicate that Emily is Away punch, something that the 2nd game (as good as it was) also failed to replicate.
But, there's clearly a lot of love and attention to detail here, so i'd argue that even if, like me, there's less of a personal connection to the subject matter, it's still worth picking up and playing.
It's right at the top of my list of games to get once Noita releases it's hooks a bit. Like you, I have much more nostalgic connection to the whole Yahoo/MSN/IRC era than Facebook, but I'm really interested in seeing what they do with the things you can do on a platform that is aping Facebook over and above the chat clients.
I will happily go along for the ride, pick whichever character gets me emotionally invested and then hopefully receive my gut punch to the feels gratefully.
"Let me tell you, when yung Rouj had his Senna and Mansell Scalextric, Frank was the goddamn Professor X of F1."