When MMORPGs are shut down by the operator, it’s often a disaster for players. However, not every shut down MMORPG is gone forever. We present to you 5 titles that you can continue to play on private servers.
Players invest a lot of time and sometimes quite a bit of money into an MMORPG. But it is not always worth it for the operator to keep the servers running. When player numbers and revenue decline, often the only difficult decision is to shut down the game. Left behind is a community that misses the title.
Sometimes fans can then set up private servers to keep the MMORPG running unofficially. We will show you 5 titles where this has occurred.
Attention! Such private servers are usually not authorized. They exist in a legal gray area.
The games no longer exist. Often they are referred to as “abandonware”, which has been “abandoned” by the developers and publishers.
Nevertheless, it is possible for the rights holders of the brand to intervene and have the servers shut down.
Among the 5 games presented here is also one of the MMORPGs that were supposed to defeat WoW. We discussed this extensively in the latest podcast of MeinMMO:
Asheron’s Call
Genre: MMORPG | Developer: Turbine | Release Date: November 2, 1999 | Shut Down Date: January 31, 2017 | Private Server Website: ACEmulator
What kind of game was it? Asheron’s Call was released in 1999 almost simultaneously with Everquest 1 and hit the same note. However, it offered a somewhat more unusual fantasy scenario with its own races. Elves, dwarves, and company were nowhere to be found.
Together with others, you could explore a huge world and battle monsters in quests. Asheron’s Call provided a very classic MMORPG gaming experience.
When was it shut down? After player numbers had declined, Asheron’s Call was in maintenance mode from 2014 to 2016 for two years. In December 2016, the developers announced that they would close the servers on January 31, 2017.
The fans tried to acquire the rights to the game so that they could continue to operate it themselves, but this did not succeed.
How can you continue to play it? There are several private servers, including the very popular ACEmulator. This is not just a server but also a toolset through which players can run their own servers.
However, the private server runs very well. Often, several hundred players are online at the same time.
