> It doesn’t help NCsoft’s case that stores were still selling the game in stores, full price, the week it was closing. I remember hearing some very upset people in general chat.

Agreed. I’d like to hear details about what happened there. I like to hope that the retail stores had no idea and that NCSoft had no idea old boxes were being sold.

Does anyone know if there is a serious private server effort going on for Tabula Rasa?

I’d love to try out a private / pirate server for Tabula Rasa. I miss my Guardian and my Spy.

Oh, I so absolutely agree! I loved the base invasions and the fact that one or two people could help the npcs keep or take a base….I *did* spend hours defending and taking the bases. It was perfect self perpetuating fun. Until the revamps on healing(broken healing/repair tools) and aggro fiascos, you couldn’t pry me away from it.

It doesn’t help NCsoft’s case that stores were still selling the game in stores, full price, the week it was closing. I remember hearing some very upset people in general chat.

I was really hoping that the revived interest at the end would inspire them to to release server code for private servers or for LAN play… LAN play would be perfect. I’ve been looking for a new game to catch my interest all summer and then it hit me that what I really wanted to play was Tabula Rasa.

Also keep in mind that MUDs/MMORPGs and D&D are basically contemporaries rather than one having evolved from the other.

Dungeons and Dragons was first published by TSR in 1974.

MUD1 was released in 1978.

The only genre of game that has a definitive end is single-player RPGs. I have gone to great lengths to describe how I feel MMO’s are no longer really RPGs in the sense that there is no story base to the gameplay”

Got to argue on that point, the original old school rpg, ie table top dungeon’s and dragons is the only real rpg out there at all, anything on the pc is just a copy and is just what i would call story based linear play, thats not an rpg. An RPG has no definitive end to think of, its a group of friends “Role Playing” there characters, DnD, just creates the back drop, “You” as the player creates the story with your personal “Adventures with friends” thats a true RPG

I also agree that the subscription model is killing a lot of great games that could easily survive with a better business model.

As far as my opinion about why TR was ended, I did hear something about Garriott having a big fight with NcSoft. Though I think it was about revenue. The fan base was too small. Personally I think it was the subscriptions that was keeping the fan base down. With so many F2P MMOs out there it’s hard for any subscription game to compete. If they wanted revenue, they could have at least attempted a different strategy such as primium subcriptions or item shops. Who knows, that might have boosted the player community enough to keep it from shutting down.

If Tabula Rasa had ended after a storyline completion, that would have been different as well. Either we return and reclaim earth or our species is wiped out by the Bane.

But I agree, some kind of private server, single player, LAN, or something should exist. It doesn’t make sense to me for an entire type of entertainment to simply cease to exist. Imagine if we couldn’t get clips of old tv shows and movies any more?

…and should have an exit strategy for when the servers inevitably shut down. Like the private servers or single player offline.