Tabula Rasa at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

I've always thought of offline platform and PC games as "disposable" gaming.  Sure, there are the few games that we can play over and over again and they just never get old, but for the most part, offline games have a relatively short shelf life.  We play, we conquer, and then we move on.

This is the grand appeal of MMO gaming.  We invest our time, our money, and our effort and we get to enjoy the longevity of years (or even decades) of consistent gameplay.  It provokes us to build an emotional attachment to our avatars and a true bond with the community because we know that tomorrow, the game will still be there.  Unless the unthinkable happens.

Tabula Rasa, the ingenious creation brought to reality from the creative minds of Richard Garriott the NCsoft development team, closes it's servers on February 28th, 2009.  As the online gaming community watches the end draw closer for another "not so bad" MMORPG, I'm left with an odd feeling of remorse for not having done my part to keep this small shard of brilliance alive.  Obviously the player population is fairly low otherwise this sort of drastic action wouldn't even be a consideration, but for the few that do still play, I can't help but think that somehow they deserve better than the hand that has been dealt.

Like many, I played beta and that was about it.  I was turned off by the first person shooter feel and the interface controls that were awkward and unnatural to me.  Clearly I wasn't the only one that felt this way.  Tabula Rasa had a very liberal open beta and while many logged in to play for weeks and even months while it was free to do so, the shine wore off before the game even hit the shelves and the game had a rather bleak launch and from there, the numbers just kept falling.

I spent my weekend browsing various Tabula Rasa forums and playing in-game where the chatter seems unusually active for a game that is considered to be dead in the water.  There are those who are logging in for one last hurrah and a great many who are soaking in as much of the high paced adventure as possible, struggling to make peace with the end that is quickly coming.  The general consensus regarding the close of the game?  It just isn't fair.  The passion might be gone for the creators of Tabula Rasa, but for the fans it lives on and they are feeling the sting of rejection.

One player stated that the developers had "just given up" failing the populace by abandoning a game that had so much potential and so little attention from it's own creators putting the weight of failure 100% upon the shoulders of NCsoft and their clear disinterest in trying to regroup after a disappointing launch.

Bitter words fly about on the topic while one player pipes in wondering how big the costs could be for the few servers that still house the remaining populace and why Tabula Rasa couldn't simply change to a free-to-play business model similar to Guild Wars, another NCsoft title.  I didn't find many supporters of the game who actually thought closing the servers was a good idea but since no one wants to be the jilted boy/girlfriend, then that is likely to be expected.

As the talk in game goes back to idle chatter and comforting question and answers between veterans and new-comers I wonder, is this the future of MMO Gaming?  Is this genre doomed to the same disposable gameplay that so many offline games are subjected to?  With the cost and time involved in creating an online game I think we can safely assume that Tabula Rasa is the exception and not the rule.  While we know that NCsoft and companies like them will always make decisions based on the bottom line, we as a community hope beyond hope that when they do head into those board meetings to decide the fate of a game that they remember the fans, the people that not only make financial gain possible but who also take the dreams and ideas of developers and make them a living and breathing works of art.  The fans are what make any game successful and should always be the driving force behind any decision.

I encourage all who haven't yet tried Tabula Rasa, or maybe just gave up during beta like I did, to give it a try.  In the least, you can say that you were there when another one bit the dust or maybe you might even enjoy it and snag a month of free gameplay!  The servers are open until Feb. 28th and free to play until they close and you can get the links to download and direction on how to obtain a game key on the official Tabula Rasa website.