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.

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End of Beta Event, when hope still thrived.

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.

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Guild Wars: Breathing taking AND free to play.

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.