Cult Text-Based Zombie MMO 'Urban Dead' Is Shutting Down After 20 Years (gamesradar.com) 36
The long-running text-based zombie MMO Urban Dead is shutting down on March 14, 2025, after nearly 20 years. The reason: compliance concerns with the UK's Online Safety Act. Games Radar+ reports: "The Online Safety Act comes into force later this month, applying to all social and gaming websites where users interact, and especially those without strong age restrictions," [writes Kevan Davis, the solo British developer behind the game]. "With the possibility of heavy corporate-sized fines even for solo web projects like this one, I've reluctantly concluded that it doesn't look feasible for Urban Dead to be able to continue operating."
"So a full 19 years, 8 months and 11 days after its quarantine began, Urban Dead will be shut down," Davis writes. "No grand finale. No final catastrophe. No helicopter evac. Make your peace or your final stand in whichever part of Malton you called home, and the game will be switched off at noon UTC on 14 March." The original website is still online if you want to play the game before its shutdown later this month.
"So a full 19 years, 8 months and 11 days after its quarantine began, Urban Dead will be shut down," Davis writes. "No grand finale. No final catastrophe. No helicopter evac. Make your peace or your final stand in whichever part of Malton you called home, and the game will be switched off at noon UTC on 14 March." The original website is still online if you want to play the game before its shutdown later this month.
I'll be that guy... (Score:5, Insightful)
Just move it to a server in the states or sell it to allow someone else to host it. Open source it. Github. I mean, there are far more options here instead of just shutting it down I would think.
These seems like the lazy way out.
Re:I'll be that guy... (Score:4, Interesting)
The website does say "If Urban Dead is ever revivified or spun off in any way in the future, it'll be announced on this website" so I guess they're leaving room for the possibility anyway.
it also says that it has 1632 Players active in the last day, so its quite a living and healthy community, maybe even more than slashdot.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Far more than here. I've been here sine the heyday and keep coming back. It never gets better, but I have a humiliation fetish, so it fills a need. :p
Re: (Score:3)
five digit UID from the heyday :D I can say it hasn't changed much, TBH.
Re: (Score:1)
Four digit reporting in!
Not much has changed, but it's kind of like a comfortable old shoe you don't want to part with.
Re: (Score:2)
OMFG you again. When will you just go away and do something with your pathetic and worthless life? You keep coming here to revive the good old days. Welp, they're gone, all because of how worthless and stupid you are. ...you're welcome ;)
Re: (Score:2)
> it also says that it has 1632 Players active in the last day
It's been many years since I've played it but 1,632 active players probably translates to like 400-ish actual people, maybe less. Part of the reason I stopped playing was some people would control a whole hoard of characters in concert and just ransack an entire area before actual players could react.
=Smidge=
Re: I'll be that guy... (Score:1)
"Horde", and why are you bottom signing?
Re: (Score:2)
Horde, hoard, whored...a homophone triple.
Re: (Score:2)
Look, I had a hoard of alts (almost all were Horde) when I played WoW. Why would this be any different?
Re: (Score:2)
easy to say when it's not you in reach of the long arm of the law
it's all ok tho, the zombies always win in the end
Re: (Score:2)
If he's a single person doing this for fun, I can understand that he does not want to take resources/risks to keep this project alive given the circumstances. But yes, it's sad to see it go - it really feels like the web of old is dying, those days.
Re: (Score:2)
How is it that THIS is how I learn about this (Score:5, Insightful)
Damn, this sounds really cool! I wish I;d learned about it before it was dying.
Re: How is it that THIS is how I learn about this (Score:4, Informative)
Re: How is it that THIS is how I learn about this (Score:2)
Problem with stupid games (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
I just said the same thing about democracy in the United States. Ba dum tish.
We would have had to have had democracy at some point for that. There was an attractive veneer, but it is like the faux wood siding [bbc.com] sticker on the side of a 70s station wagon — it was never real [ushistory.org], and it's failed almost completely. "Both sides" supported corporatism at every possible opportunity, and that leads naturally to fascism [wikipedia.org]. Faith in the capitalistic order and the invisible hand of the free market led to that hand picking all of our pockets and stealing our agency.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
I'll say the same thing to you that I said to the Trump voters who were crying 4 years ago.
The guy who got the most votes won. That is Democracy in action. Get over it.
LK
Re: (Score:2)
I just said the same thing about democracy in the United States. Ba dum tish.
I'll say the same thing to you that I said to the Trump voters who were crying 4 years ago.
The guy who got the most votes won. That is Democracy in action. Get over it.
His was funny and had a rimshot, yours was sad and challenging. I see two coping mechanisms for the same thing.
Re: (Score:2)
It's alright.
You have X action points that regenerate over time. Use those points to either move to a different building, break down a barricades, build up a barricades, search for supplies, or attack someone in the same building as you. Play as either a zombie or survivor, each has some unique mechanics (e.g. only survivors can build barricades). City is a big grid of buildings.
Kingdom of Loathing is a superior experience IMHO.
=Smidge=
Re: How is it that THIS is how I learn about this (Score:2)
Holy shit. Kingdom of loathing. I havent heard or thought of that site in over 25 years. It's more than just an idle RPG now?
Re: (Score:1)
In its day, it was quite fun. I went from playing every day to playing a few times a year but once my character had maxed all stats, it wasn't as much fun grinding anymore.
LK
KYC killing privacy (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Also we are giving 100 squidillion quid to The Ukraine
I do not like the amount of money my country is sending to the Ukraine either but a deal is a deal. The US, UK, France and several others pledged to defend Ukraine in exchange for them giving up their nuclear weapons.
LK
Re: (Score:2)
You forget that the US is nothing but a Russian asset now, working for Russia. They have no intention of maintaining any of their agreements unless it benefits Russia or themselves...which at this point still benefits Russia.
"The terms of the deal have changed. Pray I don't change them further."
Re: (Score:2)
The US is a no win situation, as usual. We get accused of being the world police when we involve ourselves in conflicts that don't directly affect us. But if we turn to Europe and suggest that Europe should defend itself against Russia's advances, then the US ends up being called a Russian asset. People are going to be pissed off no matter what the US does. NATO has not let Ukraine join and the US is only one member of NATO, so they're all "Russian assets" by that logic.
As for the actual topic, with all
Re: (Score:2)
Bullshit. The US has been suggesting that Europe needs to do more to defend itself against Russia for years, maybe decades. The accusations of being a Russian asset are from this year, and are based on having a president who openly admires Putin and wants to make a "deal" with Russia in negotiations which exclude all other parties and start by making vast concessi
Re: (Score:2)
I call bullshit on that. The "nothing in return" is actually preventing the needless loss of massive amounts of lives. While it's mostly academic for us here on the Internet to opine about this conflict, there in Ukraine and occasionally in Russia, lives are being lost. Lots of them. The new administration is clear that they want the loss of life to stop. What's the alternative? They keep fighting an endless war? Western nations have resisted letting Ukraine use our weapons to strike deep into Russia