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What Happens at the End of the World? An MMOG’s Closure and Player Responses

Author(s)
Consalvo, Mia; Begy, Jason
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.

Alternative title
Virtual Pets and the End of the World: Studying an MMOG's Closure
Terms of use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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Abstract
On March 15, 2011 at 1:11 pm EST residents of the virtual world Faunasphere saw a network disconnect error message flash on their screens, suggesting that perhaps their Internet connections to the site had been lost. But the residents—known as Caretakers—knew better: Big Fish Games had pulled the plug on the casual MMOG they had launched less than two years prior. Shortly after the error message appeared, players gathered in self-created forums and a Facebook group (all set up in advance) to express their grief, share memories, and decide on what they would do next. Big Fish Games had given them a month’s notice of the world’s impending closure (or “sunset” as such closures are called in the game industry) and so players were able to gather, commiserate and plan their next steps.
Date issued
2012-01
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100258
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing
Journal
Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games
Citation
Consalvo, Mia, and Jason Begy. "Virtual Pets and the End of the World: Studying an MMOG's Closure." 6th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games (January 2012).
Version: Author's final manuscript

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