How players mourn their favourite online games when the servers go dark

[MurkyVoyager]

The Guardian has a genuinely touching piece out about how players mourn their favourite online games when the servers finally go dark, and its a side of gaming culture that doesnt get talked about nearly enough

Over twenty games have already shut their servers off this year alone, and the piece points out that the rise of online only live service games means more reliance on servers that cost real money to run and maintain, so when a game flops commercially the shutdown can come brutally fast, the recent example given is Highguard, where developer Wildlight Entertainment reportedly couldnt afford to keep the game online for more than a few months

Whats striking is how ritualized the mourning has become, players gather online before a shutdown specifically to pay homage and swap stories, one fan named Hagarty describes playing until 4am on shutdown night trading stories with other players about fifteen years of memories in that world, calling it a wholesome experience they wont forget

A UX and games researcher named Evan Conaway, who holds a PhD in anthropology, makes the point that people really hold on to the idea of place, and that even while a game like World of Warcraft technically stays accessible, players are often gradually mourning it anyway since they know the version they love is ephemeral by design and cant stay the same forever

Theres a lovely small detail about a Halo 3 fan named Jimi who hadnt played in years but logged back in specifically for the final day, and found himself in a match where his team was losing badly, but instead of playing it out competitively both teams just stood in the middle of the map looking at each other in a kind of unspoken shared goodbye

Its a genuinely moving piece about grief and impermanence in a medium a lot of people still dont take seriously as something that can hold real emotional weight, and it made me think about which of my own favourite games Ill eventually have to say goodbye to

The end of the world: how players mourn the death of their favourite online gameswww.theguardian.com