Please welcome Cassie, a guest contributor from Culture Coverage, with an article about what happens to multiplayer games when there is no one left playing them.
Games like World of Warcraft and Eve Online are popular MMOs that continue to have a long life, thanks to their loyal fan base. But for every hit multiplayer game, there are dozens that fail to capture the attention of gamers. While single player games can stick around for decades, no player base means no game. So what exactly happens to these abandoned multiplayer games?
Game Over?
Most MMOs or other multiplayer games have an endgame, but no specific end. They’re meant to ideally keep players entertained forever with the release of new content. Yet games with dwindling subscriber numbers will generally pull the plug due to the costs of maintaining servers and keeping personnel on staff to develop the game and deal with difficulties.
Many developers will provide an endgame experience so players can have one final send off before the game shutters for good. In Tabula Rosa, the developers provided an epic closing event where the players had to fight against The Bane. All players on the server managed to push back the threat during the Last Stand event for a triumphant victory before the servers went dark.
Most gamers move on to something else once the servers shut down, but there are a few preservationists and loyal fans who still want to play the game even after publishers pull the plug. Unfortunately, this means the multiplayer component becomes unplayable. In some cases even the single-player component become unplayable as well.
Fans of these games generally turn to private servers once the original support ends, but in 2015 the Entertainment Software Association and Library of Congress stated that connecting a defunct game to a third-party server was against the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. That being said, the LoC did grant that gamers are able to craft a workaround if they want to play a game offline on their computer. This law will go back up for review in 2018, at which point the Electronic Frontier Foundation seeks to modify the law so hackers can change the code and connect to third-party servers.
Despite this ruling, there are plenty of people who run their own private servers of defunct multiplayer games or versions of popular games before certain expansions. While these do have some security, it is still far less secure than accessing the real game through their servers. Most private server owners suggest going through a Virtual Private Network in order to keep information encrypted.
On Life Support
Yet not all developers and publishers turn off the lights. Whether it’s because they simply never get around to it or just want to provide a place for their loyal fans to gather (and potentially gain new ones), some never shut down the servers.
One of the longest running servers belongs to Active Worlds. Celebrating its 20th anniversary, the game is one of the first sandbox multiplayer platforms. It gained recognition back in 2015 when a streamer called Vinny explored the dead server only to run into another player who did his best to creep him out. This brought on a resurgence in interest in the game, with thousands of people attempting to download it during and after Vinny’s stream. Many old members also returned. Other games like Greed Monger have gone back to the development table after being abandoned for years.
These games tend to be outliers. The majority don’t get a second wind. The developers instead slowly pull their support from the game and eventually stop updating or fixing bugs. There may be a few stragglers who jump on every once in a while, but the world is for the most part empty save for the NPCs. This means any new players jumping on won’t really be able to have a full experience. These empty worlds might be great for interesting streams on occasion, but it doesn’t make for good long-term play. Still, there are people out there who enjoy the nostalgia vintage games offer.
For the most part, abandoned multiplayer games eventually shut down their servers due to the high cost of maintenance. While some may continue to keep the servers on for their fans, these worlds end up almost complete ghost towns, making it impossible to really experience the true form of the game.
Have you experienced an abandoned multiplayer game? Would you ever consider picking one up just to explore the world? Let us know in the comments below.
About the Author: Cassie is a freelance writer who covers technology and video games. She’s especially interested in how gamers handle the decline of their favorite online games and how technology keeps older games alive indefinitely.
