The Daily Grind: What MMO would you like to see be brought back to life?

by Seraphina Brennan Nov 9th 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Business models, Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Today is a day where we should honor our fallen. Motor City Online. Tabula Rasa. Auto Assault. Asheron's Call 2. Earth and Beyond. Underlight. Shadowbane. Castle Infinity. The Matrix Online. The Sims Online. Seed. All of these games, and more, are MMOs that have launched, played, and then died.

Each of these games has a reason for why it was cancelled, but the outcome remains the same -- they aren't online today and their clients are nothing more than wasted code sitting on a disk. Some of these games were our introduction to the genre. Others were our favorite games -- the ones that could trump even the largest names in the MMO business.

So Massively readers, which dead MMO would you like to see be resurrected? Tell us some stories as to why you pick your game of choice, and drop them all in the comment box below. Mourn with others, we encourage it!

Tags: asherons-call-2, auto-assault, cancelled-mmos, castle-infinity, dead-mmos, earth-and-beyond, motor-city-online, opinion, seed, shadowbane, tabula-rasa, the-daily-grind, the-matrix-online, the-sims-online, underlight

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)

Vanvalen said on 8:05AM 11-09-2009

Ultima X Odyssey... damn that would have been an amazing game... Looked stunning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_X:_Odyssey

V

Grok said on 8:07AM 11-09-2009

My very first MMO was Earth & Beyond. I'd love to see that brought back from the dead by the developers who made it and took care of it during it's very short lifespan. I haven't played an MMO with a storyline that good since it shut down.

Skypp said on 8:37AM 11-09-2009

The reason I choose Earth and Beyond is because I do not think it got to really fulfill its potential. Most of the names on the list had a decent life cycle and support from the developers. Earth and Beyond was cut short way too fast.

That said, Tabula Rasa kind of seems the same way, so its got my 2nd vote.

ChromeBallz said on 10:22AM 11-09-2009

Even as an avid EVE supporter i'd like to see Earth and Beyond back. I only did a brief stint during it's late beta and early release, but i still haven't seen any game with EnB's charm.

claycmg said on 6:42PM 11-09-2009

Earth and Beyond has been back, resurrected by the fanbase and some clever home-brewed developers. I've played it in its current form, and while imperfect, it is definitely worth your time and exceeded my expectations.

Oh yeah and it is free. Google Earth and Beyond Emulator, or EnB Emu. The website is a bit confusing, but no joke, this game is legitimately online with hundreds of players. They just announced adding additional servers, it has quite a bit of support.

http://www.enb-emulator.com/

pufonthis said on 8:12AM 11-09-2009

I'd really love to get to play Asheron's Call II again. A lot of bad systems were in place in that game but correcting things or even giving it a whole new fresh start in regards to many of the games systems would be awesome. Not that this will ever happen.

The game had a wonderful world which was unique and not like the standard high fantasy stuff we always get. They designed it to not include anything that was already made. So no elves, dwarves, dragons, orcs, etc. The classes were also very unique and interesting.

So if I had one wish in the MMO universe I'd love to see Asheron's Call II developed again from the ground up, using more traditional MMO systems with the same world and classes.

dradiinmmo said on 8:14AM 11-09-2009

You forgot Dark Age of Camelot.

Wait thats not been cancelled just completely ignored by Websites like this and its developers.

Chad V. said on 9:55AM 11-09-2009

Would you like some cheese with your whine?

Bri said on 8:19AM 11-09-2009

Star Wars Galaxies.

I know, I know.. not really dead. More sorta .. Undead.

royale said on 8:28AM 11-09-2009

I came here to say this. Best game ever, would resubscribe tomorrow if it was brought back. Nothing else like it. etc etc

Proto said on 9:06AM 11-09-2009

Pre NGE SWG was the greatest experience of my MMO life, despite all the bugs and frustration. A true sandbox with imho the greatest resources/harvesting/crafting model ever seen in an MMORPG.

RIP :(

Sadius551 said on 9:43AM 11-09-2009

Star Wars Galaxies.

Couldn't agree with Proto more. Greatest MMO I've ever played. Pre-NGE was the most fun I've ever had in a game, period. What a sandbox.

Having a small house just outside of Theed on Naboo that acted as a small business, selling pimp costume sets. Mining on Tatooine for the mats to make Medium Naboo houses to sell so I could make a living and repair my vehicles. What a community, what a game, what an experience.

I would resub in a heartbeat. I would give a lot to go back to playing that game before they "fixed" it.

Chad V. said on 9:55AM 11-09-2009

I agree...pre-NGE it was awesome. Also, one of the few times I've seen a company admit, "We Screwed Up". Of course, they didn't try and bring it back...

argo747 said on 10:13AM 11-09-2009

Oh how I miss you SWG pre-NGE. I best crafting system ever in my opinion, and a wonderful player community. Props for Bria.

CCon99 said on 10:48AM 11-09-2009

Add me to the list wishing for SWG to return.

UltimateQ said on 10:59AM 11-09-2009

argo if you've never seen it in action, then you have no idea.

This game wasn't on the list, but I'd opt for it myself. Else I would be happy seeing ANY game in that last come back to life. If I absolutely had to, if I were being held at gunpoint (you're not threatening me, are you Massively?), I would probably pick Tabula Rasa.

argo747 said on 11:52AM 11-09-2009

@UltimateQ I'm not sure what you're talking about. I played SWG from launch to NGE and loved it in spite of playing a broken class (Smuggler). During that time I really enjoyed the resource gathering, weapon crafting, and splicing mechanics.

Despite what you may think the SWG player community was one of the best. Say what you will I stand by that comment.

Belkar said on 12:33PM 11-09-2009

Without hesitation, if pre-NGE SWG were to return, I'd be back there in a hearbeat, resurrecting my chef business and farming Krayt Dragons or Nightsister Elders until server shutdown at 4am each night. Organizing assaults on the the lab to build jetpacks and mandalorian armor pieces on weekends.

elfdarc said on 2:26PM 11-09-2009

http://www.swgemu.com/?module=Gettingstarted&action=Setup

'nuff said.

Faryon said on 2:58PM 11-09-2009

I totally agree! Pre-CU SWG was awesome and even though CU-pre-NGE was not as fun as the original I would still say that going back to that would be a million times better than the NGE..

I really wish SOE would hand SWG over to another dev team that would take it back to the glory days.. better yet if SWG was handed over to another developer since SOE has proven - in my mind at least - that they are completely uncapable.