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To go completely off topic, whatever happened to free online games? It almost looks like one generation just stopped playing them and the other somehow decided

To go completely off topic, whatever happened to free online games? It almost looks like one generation just stopped playing them and the other somehow decided to go with expensive / adware smartphone games. Surely there must have been some people in between who wondered what the fuck was happening? Is this a flash generation gap?

bee_rider 5y ago
What kind? I remember free flash games. I wonder if flash dying, and then nothing quite replaced it, in terms of being 1) easy for the user to 'install' and 2) easy for the creator to make something. There was also stuff like Urban Dead and Nexus War, almost like MUDs for 2007 or so. Urban Dead is shambling along appropriately enough...
- dannyw 5y ago
  I miss games like Tribal War, that ancient Greece themed game, eRepublik, and of course Urban Dead. From what I gather all the growth, audience, and money moved into "social gaming" (fb farmville / Mafia wars) and mobile.
  - bee_rider 5y ago
    There was also a game -- "Battlemaster," essentially you played some noble lord in a low-ish-fantasy universe. Vaguely game-of-thronesy feeling (before the show, though). I didn't get very far (although someone was nice enough to give me a province, and I dutifully... paid taxes and tried to avoid screwing up whatever plans I thought they had going). Some players from Urban Dead (the spark more or less came from the ridleyband resistance front, I think) eventually made Nexus War, which had a similar feel to it, but better design (skill trees, etc) and a more interesting theme (angels vs humans vs demons). Eventually that shut down, and somebody from the community made a similar game called Nexus Clash. That's still running, although I guess the population is probably ever-dwindling. This sort of asynchronous mostly HTML based game seemed to be really good at fostering a community. Play the game a bit, find a faction of some sort, and then join their phpbb forum...
IggleSniggle 5y ago
Pretty sure all that flash-level content is in Roblox these days, but I’m not sure because I’m from the wrong generation and can afford to pay for my games.
causi 5y ago
Kids stopped using PCs.

bee_rider 5y ago

What kind? I remember free flash games. I wonder if flash dying, and then nothing quite replaced it, in terms of being 1) easy for the user to 'install' and 2) easy for the creator to make something. There was also stuff like Urban Dead and Nexus War, almost like MUDs for 2007 or so. Urban Dead is shambling along appropriately enough...

dannyw 5y ago
I miss games like Tribal War, that ancient Greece themed game, eRepublik, and of course Urban Dead. From what I gather all the growth, audience, and money moved into "social gaming" (fb farmville / Mafia wars) and mobile.
- bee_rider 5y ago
  There was also a game -- "Battlemaster," essentially you played some noble lord in a low-ish-fantasy universe. Vaguely game-of-thronesy feeling (before the show, though). I didn't get very far (although someone was nice enough to give me a province, and I dutifully... paid taxes and tried to avoid screwing up whatever plans I thought they had going). Some players from Urban Dead (the spark more or less came from the ridleyband resistance front, I think) eventually made Nexus War, which had a similar feel to it, but better design (skill trees, etc) and a more interesting theme (angels vs humans vs demons). Eventually that shut down, and somebody from the community made a similar game called Nexus Clash. That's still running, although I guess the population is probably ever-dwindling. This sort of asynchronous mostly HTML based game seemed to be really good at fostering a community. Play the game a bit, find a faction of some sort, and then join their phpbb forum...

IggleSniggle 5y ago

Pretty sure all that flash-level content is in Roblox these days, but I’m not sure because I’m from the wrong generation and can afford to pay for my games.

causi 5y ago

Kids stopped using PCs.