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65 Comments
- mancat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4So... Make the server software freely available, or at least open the source for it. Some players will care enough to carry on.
- Fenster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Another good question is why can you still buy this game from Amazon.
Is the developer/publisher doing anything to make sure that this game is not going to be sold after 12/30? Has the business prepared for the end of games like this or is this buyer beware, tough luck.
I ask because my parents just bought a game for my daughter this Christmas that was an on-line interactive game that is no longer supported by its Developer. - Xopl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think it is incredibly interesting in the context of anthropology, sociology, political science, and economics (among surely other things) to watch virtual worlds. In real life, there are too many real consequences and too many roadblocks to make changes to how things work. There are very few experiments, and when things do change it takes a long time to see the result. In virtual worlds you can watch a political system develop from scratch. You can see the effects on an economy. You can watch a world die.
It's really cool. But I'm a geek. - Sirocco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just wait, in a few years we'll have WoW2!
- culebra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They should just open source the game. Let people host their own servers. Kinda like CS or something.
- Mechanized, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Sniper - a.k.a SubSpace a.k.a. Continuum is doing pretty well -
http://www.ssdownloads.com/
http://www.sscxalpha.com/
http://www.subspacechaos.com/
http://www.deathstarbattle.com/
Just to name a few - it has been going strong since 96 - waiwai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wow, the article is completely the opposite experience of the last dying MMO I was in (the original Neverwinter Nights AD&D gold box game that was on AOL back in the 90s). We were having quests with groups of players involved until the end. After the end even, since a lot of the GMs kept things going in a non-graphical chat room style roleplaying after the graphical version was killed.
Lots of fun battles at the end too. I hacked myself up an elven cloak and kickass longsword since I didn't care about being deleted and went and killed Drow PVPers under Red Larch and caused trouble at some popular Drocolich hunting areas, etc.. - CreepingDeath, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I tried AC2, but found the interface to be clunky and the world to not be that good looking. There was just nothing about this game that made it feel special. With both EQ1 and WoW, I almost immediatly was struck with how.. good the games felt to play. With AC2 I just felt frustrated over the controls/interface. Much like my opinion of SWG. I tried before and after the last "fix", and while they changed the gameplay totally, the horrid interface was still there.
Also why I never played FFXI for long. The game interface felt like CRAP. Like they just copied it off the console game without a single change. I swear sometimes it feels like the game designers don't bother to play what they create.
Oh well. I don't care much about this game but I do feel for the folks who played it. Having a virtual world vanish sucks. Espically when your not done with it yet ;) - FishyJoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This will be repeated in a year with SWG.
- Valiss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I never played it, but just curious, why did it die? Why is it dead and WoW (for example) is still around? Did they make one Big Mistake that drove away players or was it a bunch of smaller bad decisions?
- joeyjojo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"Maybe now the players will accomplish their New Years resolution and get a life."
Gotta love us geeks making fun of other geeks. Oh the irony... - digikill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Anarchy Online has a free play option. Maybe some refugees from AC would like it. No elves or orcs though, more like massive guns and nano combat.
http://www.anarchy-online.com/ - ConEEE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Picked up here: http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000637073123/
- bakerstreet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'd say it has more to do with Turbine putting their resources into D&D Online more than it is the death of this one.
- felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Really well-written article. Makes you wonder, what will happen to the WoW world 30 years from now? Will there be a descendant of it, or will there be a day when WoW just shuts down, instead?
- wthulhu, on 08/29/2009, -0/+0Interesting, the wikipedia article hasn't even been updated to reflect the fact that it's getting shut down. It really musn't have been very popular.
- darthmoridin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is a great read, but I wish it was much longer. It's a fascinating phenomenon. If I had a character I would make sure to be playing when they turn off the last server, just to experience the end of a universe.
- tolbs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ac1 isn't doing too well at the moment either. I bet that game is dead this time next year as well. And AFAIK they aren't opening up the server code.
The game had it's fun moments, the community was really good. I would also say the game had potential, but both Microsoft and Turbine dropped the ball trying to capitalize off of it. - procyon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Sad it is. I played AC1 for many years it was my first ever MMORPG. Every no and again I re up my account just to get in the game a relive some of the feeling s I used to get from playing it. That being said...I played the beta of AC2 and I never really got that sense of wonder that I got from AC1. It just didn't feel right. I had also moved on to Anarchy Online...which by the way is an excellent MMORPG...I don't pay for it anymore...I just use the free account, but I played for over 2 years and really enjoyed myself and made alot of good in game friends.
One last thing...
Playing these games are not a waste of time for the people who enjoy them....I cannot stand when someone just has to make a comment about someone getting a life. I have a life and MMOs are a part of it, but not all of it. I have spent considerable amounts of time playing them, but that does not preclude me from having a life...I just choose to lose myself in a virtual world for a few hours a day to relieve some of my real life stress. It's no different than you spending 20 hours trying to get the over clocking just right on your processor or designing a l33t web site. Just leave your ***** opinions to your self.
Peace - Sharky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It's really sad when something like this happenes. I remember Earth and Beyond :(
- Shova, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Playing MMOs is as much a waste of time as watching TV every night, participating in some dinner parties every night, or even to some extent reading a book everynight.
Also(well obvious), interesting about the game market for AC2 dying out. Yep, nothing on AC2 at http://www.bidera.com/auction_html/25/internet_games/index.htm , I would have imagined at least someone would have tried some last minute sales, not that there would be any buyers. - chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah, it's sad in a way. WolfwoodX, just because you don't play MMO games, doesn't mean that the people that do play have no lives. It's called a difference of opinion.
- hckynck20, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ac2 never took off because it sucked it you want real asherons call play ac1 its a hell of a lot better than ac2
- GTAcrimelord, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Never cared for any of the AC games, but at least the article was entertaining and well-written.
- Baloo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hmm I wonder how long EQ2 has? My experience there sounded like AC2... almost nobody around...
and considering EQ2 is already in the discount bins in games stores (Including the new expansion) you gotta wonder what life she has?
WoW on the other hand goes from strength to strength. - cfazzini, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Neat. I played AC for a long time, sad AC2 never took off.
- starman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Dugg.
I've been doing the same thing in EQ1 - taking screenshots of important places I've been to before I delete the character I've had for 6 years. It's interesting to see how my game progressed, from 640x480 to 800x600, and now 1920x1200.
I've seen a LOT of MMO "scrapbooks" on the net lately. - Enchirito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i've never played an MMORPG, but that was a very interesting read. dugg.
- goatfish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They won't give away the server software because it's Turbine's own IP. They still use the codebase on their current and upcoming MMO games.
- MindTrigger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah, I stopped playing SWG right when SOE really started to ruin it with the FIRST combat revamp. Haven't looked back since, although I had to hit the SWG message boards and feel for all the great people (ahem, Rangers) who had their professions destroyed/dumbed down. I'm always going to seek out the more complex games now that everything seems to be getting "dumbed down" for all the consoles and "NuGamers" out there. I'm considering trying WoW until LOTRO or Conan comes out, but I'm not really into "fantasy" games. I guess I should at least do the trial.
- jumjum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I can't wait for future console RPG games (hopefully similar to Dragon Quest 8) to go online, each world formed by actions of the players, a limited weapon/armor selection at shops due to -real people- building what there's a demand for (pay real world money for a store license, and get paid -real money- when you move your stuff) and due to what's bought & sold - a dynamic stock. Fight real humans if you (and they) want, but mainly level up by killing the monsters (Yesterday I killed a liquid metal slime for 12,000+ XP). This model may already exist, I only play about 1 RPG a year.
- Lexomatic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0From a broad player perspective, AC2 suffered from poor game design. Graphics were great at the time it came out, for sure. The just had too many fundamental design flaws.
Level advancement was just stupidly too easy. High level characters could level a low level up in a matter of days. Why? Because quests could be completed by a high level in a party without the low level having to move from a portal area.
The layout of the land was terrible. Mobs were just scattered around the place with no purpose. The game just became a safari shoot. Add to that the level-based layout of the continents meant that a new player could walk around the newbie area without seeing a single other player.
No NPC shopkeepers. Hell, no real NPCs. No real sense of immersion in a fantasy world. The whole world felt empty of anything except mobs that want to eat you.
AC2 just lacked the content that keeps the average MMOG player interest for anything longer than a few weeks. - chabuhi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's how I felt when Earth & Beyond evaporated. True, it took too long to get places (which makes me wonder how Eve survives - nothing against Eve), but E&B had such potential, imo.
- graemee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0So this is what happened on Reboot, those poor nulls.
- GTAcrimelord, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Yesterday I killed a liquid metal slime for 12,000+ XP"
Heh, all I have to say is...Metal king slime + Yangus Executioner = XP explosion. - galfridus73, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0monfoo: It's legit to /mourn/ the passing of a game that, within all expectations, was supposed to become THE gold standard for MMORPGs. It's just that AC2 continues to make the same mistakes that we keep harping on the developers for and, frankly, it wasn't a very interesting world. Thus, I don't think anyone is mourning AC2 but mourning the changes in the MMORPG arena that are endangering the genre.
As an FFXI player, I have to think that, eventually, there are two things that will kill the MMORPG or force it to evolve:
1) The pay-per-month model is an issue. My wife and I both play FFXI, but we haven't been on it in the past two months. That means we've spent $56 or $57 in the past two months paying for something we aren't currently using. We're close to canceling our accounts, but after spending all of those hours online building the characters, we aren't 100% positive. Personally, I would pay more for the game (upwards of $100) and an annual fee ($75 - $100 or so) for each account. That would be easy to budget for and, frankly, it would get the ***** who aren't serious about the game out of there pretty damn quick. Sure, the revenue stream wouldn't be as large for the developer, but the support costs would be less because they wouldn't have to support the same type of clueless twits that they do now.
2) New versions need to stop. If I can't bring my EQ character to EQ2, what reason do I have to move to EQ2? If the world is perpetual, why does the client software /need/ to be changed and the character left behind? The EQ or AC world should be the EQ or AC world, and then the client software can dictate what abilities the character has, where they can go, etc. - spectre_25gt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Very interesting. How cool would it be if they created some sort of disaster in the online world that summed everything up? Maybe they could borrow some of that code for the plague that ravaged the other game. Was it WOW?
- Xcaliburmyght, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I played EQ1 for 6 years, moved to FFXI and now im on WoW. Games like this let a person meet others they may not normaly get to. I have seen the downsides of these games too.
It is sad when somthing like this can happen, but it is just a fact of poor upkeep and shoddy design. Shame to hear it when a game dies, and the company won't release the Source, but then again, sometimes thats just for the best. - lostinthefire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0yeah.. such a depressing read
- DSource, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I played AC2 - loved it, but quit due to dwindling population about a year ago. I didn't think it would last this long, and I'm happy I sank my time somewhere else rather than watch the slow, sad death of AC2.
The game was BEAUTIFUL... and I didn't even make it to the final continent. - kingwalterii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i got a free subscription at school last semester...it doesnt sound that much different than when i played...it was always dead
- hax0r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It's very sad.. but one day it'll all be one huge MMORPG called the Matrix!
- jimmyM, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0fascinating article. i played ac1 for years, it was fun. sure, the other players were losers, but who isnt a loser? it sounds crazy, but i can see how people might be sad to see their little worlds go. the good news is that there is always some new alternate reality for us if we are dorks. bring on the metaverse.
- rapeandruin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0depressing...good article though.
- znxster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Interesting read..
- MrFisty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Like a few others, I think this is sad. Not sad because of the game getting pulled. Sad because of the people so grossly affected by it.
From the Wired article:
"It's really heart-wrenching. How will you connect with those people you spent every single day with? It's as though someone suddenly took away all e-mail," as one player who calls herself "Ellen Ripley" on line told me. "Suddenly they seem nameless and ethereal, where once they were as real and important as our families, co-workers and Earth-realm friends."
Earth-realm friends? I think this is what psychologists and one or two people in The Matrix refer to as The Real World.
Decades ago it was chess-club and the library, these days it's MMO's.
Maybe it's ironic coming from an RPG, but in SW KOTOR, there is a mini-mission where a woman grows attached (figuratively) to a droid, the droid is "kidnapped" (read: got the ***** outta there) and when you finally stumble across the droid, you are faced with a choice: send the robot back to the woman, or destroy it and force the woman to deal with the real world.
That's essentially what's happening here. And while I'd be bloody miffed if someone took KOTOR away from me for ever, I think it's necessary for people to be pulled out of these rituals. We're talking about people who primarily interact through alter-egos in a virtual environment. You don't need to be a shrink to know that's not healthy.
Pulling the plug will probably be the best thing for these people. - raindog469, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0When massive change becomes imminent in real life, there's a sudden frenzy of sex, drugs and (the contemporary equivalent of) rock'n'roll. c.f. the Westerners currently living in Afghanistan as the government shifts back to fundamentalism, Saigon in the early 70's, various places around the world where people thought the world was gonna end in 2000, etc. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.
I'm just not seeing the sex, drugs or rock'n'roll here. It may be anthropologically interesting just because it's so atypical of a "last days" situation. - Cander, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"but E&B had such potential, imo."
Yeah it did. But I think the whole flying on rails killed it for alot of people. At least for me it did. But other than that, it was a game that could have really kicked ass if it would have had more freedom. - afpunk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That was a fun game. I'll always have fond memories of it....I have a 150 screenshot gallery on my hard drive. Its a shame to see it go, but I saw this coming when I still played, and that was 2 and a half years ago.
- Neosithlord, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just resubbed to AC1 and have been playing that off and on for 6 years. So I had to digg this one. The big killer of AC2 was they did absolutly nothing to make it like the first game. Ac1 and Ac2 were apples and oranges. It was a fun game when I played it but few people ever did. AC1 was always the basterd child of MMOG's. Back then EQ and DoAC were the golden children. MS and Turbine tried to draw people away from those games by making AC2 into a clone. I hate to see it die but if it was a clone of AC1 I think it'd still be kicking. MS mismanaged the franchise and Turbine went along for the ride untill they bought it. In the process they pushed away their fan base and no one out side of that would have tried it because of MS ,and to a lesser extent, Turbines handling of hacks, macros and third party software. Once Turbine bought the games back from MS things got better but I guess it was to little to late and AC2 died a quite death. I'm just glad AC1 is still alive it may not be kicking to hard but it's still a great game.
-Neo Sithlord TD -
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