Fans bring new content to old online games – in thousands of hours of work
When the servers of an online game are shut down, it was that with the virtual worlds. Unless fans put a lot of work into keeping the game going. That’s what happened in an MMO.
An online game has to remain lucrative. That’s why studios are constantly releasing content to keep players engaged. In-game currencies and DLC should ensure a constant flow of income. However, it is not uncommon for support to be discontinued and servers to be switched off.
Even in the last few years there have been blockbuster games that were announced with full-bodied plans to run for many years – only to be meekly pulped. “Anthem”, for example, is such a game. The servers have not yet been turned off, but has Electronic Arts has already canceled major updates and a planned reboot. The game sold well when it was released. A multi-million dollar advertising campaign made sure of that. But the players dwindled continuously – and with them the income.
Online games, especially online role-playing games that are no longer supplied with new content, can quickly become ghost towns. If individual, non-dedicated servers keep a game alive, gamers can continue to visit the online worlds. Partly crude experience reports testify to deserted lands and partly downright eerie encounters.
It is different with the MMO “Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning”. The game from the studio Mythic Entertainment, distributed by Electronic Arts, was released in 2008, sold over a million copies and had 800,000 subscribers at weddings. However, these shrank rapidly to 300,000. The loss of players ultimately ensured that the servers were shut down in December 2013, just five years after publication.
Then the fans came into play. Or better: you stayed in the game. They seamlessly emulated “Warhammer Online” and let it live on on their own servers. Around 40 fan developers have been working for almost eight years to ensure that the game can still be experienced. What’s more, they even create new content – or finish what Mythic was never able to complete. In a trailer, the team now showed two cities that expand the world of “Warhammer Online”.
In one Forum posts go to the developers take a closer look at the two cities, explain their history and give a little insight into the work behind them. “We want to thank the volunteers who put (ten) thousands of hours into building the cities, including 3D modeling, concept art, world building, tool building and so much more,” it says. “Warhammer Online” is another game that can continue to exist despite the abandonment of the studio and the publisher, because fans invest a lot of time and work.
Because in a larger context, such projects are also about preserving video games. The medium of video games is volatile – especially when it does not exist on storage media but only digitally. When companies go bankrupt, games are not successful enough, servers are shut down or online stores are no longer accessible, thousands of games are lost forever. This also explains the concern when Sony recently announced that it would take the PS3 and Playstation Vita store offline – even if the outcry finally stopped them. There are some initiatives like Hidden Palace that are committed to preserving games. But in the end it is mostly up to the fans to protect their hobby from disappearing. At least until the big companies themselves see a benefit in preserving their games for posterity.
