You'll Never Play on This Server Again! Quiz

Answer: Tabula Rasa

Richard Garriott has been making MMOs and RPGs in general since the early 1980s, mainly in his "Ultima" franchise, and as such he's become a major name in the role-playing genre. Not all of his creations have been hits, however; "Tabula Rasa" was highly anticipated in a time where most MMOs (including "World of Warcraft") were just getting firm footing.

When "Tabula Rasa" finally released in 2007, however, after six years of development, it somewhat flopped. NCSoft pushed Garriott (who was in outer space at the time...seriously) out of the project and closed the servers a year and a half later due to dwindling player totals.

The game, about aliens and gunfights, and Garriott's departure sparked a lawsuit in which NCSoft was forced to pay the producer for his ousting.

Answer: Uru

Although the best-selling "Myst" series saw great popularity in the 1990s and in its later sequels, rich with then-top-of-the-line graphics, ambient music, and hellishly difficult puzzles, "Myst Online: Uru Live" never picked up steam. Although the game had a fun single-player component, the game never really sustained itself for multiplayer play.

The servers closed after one year (in 2008) and, surprisingly, Cyan brought it back as a free-to-play title on new servers in later years (as "Uru: Live Again").

The game was well-praised, but some criticized it for being nothing more than a really pretty chat room. Maybe the puzzles were too hard?

Answer: City of Heroes

"City of Heroes" was one of the larger hits for NCSoft, who would go on to feature in the MMO genre with "Lineage", "Guild Wars", and "Aion". "City of Heroes" first launched in 2004 and it was followed by the companion game, "City of Villains", in 2005.

In the original game you played as a superhero setting out to rid Paragon City of the typical evil scum. As you leveled up you could improve upon your powers. The game lasted eight and a half years with frequent updates but was ultimately closed down (along with Paragon Studios, the developers) in late 2012 to fan protest.

The game was critically lauded.

Answer: The Sims Online

"The Sims Online" was a big ticket for Maxis-- they sought to make an online version of (what was then) the best-selling PC game ever created. What resulted was a little bit lackluster. Although players had the ability to build, create, live, and manage their Sims and their houses and, with online capabilities, share the experience with others. To help this go swimmingly (it didn't), EA created EA Land to manage a massive Simoleon-based economy, maintain the game as a whole, and allow for new content.

Unfortunately, EA Land faltered after a month, and the game went offline completely in under six years.

Answer: The Matrix Online

"The Matrix Online" was created by WB Games and Sony in an attempt to cash in on both the success of the "Matrix" film trilogy and the growing popularity of MMOs. Unfortunately it did not live up to the expectations. By the time the servers were shut down four years later, less than one thousand players were active on the game.

The final days of the game were to involve a highly climactic battle, but server issues proved too problematic, and players had this event squandered by lag and imbalances.

The other "Matrix" games released around the same time were only moderately-received.

Answer: Halo 2

"Halo 2", one of the top-selling games on the Xbox, ended up lasting almost six years on the PC-- during that time we also saw the release of "Halo 3", "Halo Wars", "Halo 3: ODST", "Halo Reach", and "Halo 4". Extremely popular, "Halo 2" was plagued by unfair advantages for tech-savvy players; what ensued was years of cheating, but it also allowed for perfection on later multiplayer games not only in the "Halo" series, but other FPS releases.

Funnily enough, "Halo 2" on the original Xbox played its last game in 2010, three years earlier, when the original Xbox Live shut down.

Answer: Lego Universe

"Lego Universe" was anticipated as an accessible MMO for all types of players, young and old, but despite the fact that the game was optionally free-to-play, Warner Bros. Entertainment pulled the servers down after only two years because not enough people bought it.

Although many of the "Lego" franchises (including those associated with movies like "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars") have been exceedingly popular across all platforms, the audience wasn't willing to purchase the game time necessary for upkeep.

Answer: Star Wars Galaxies

"Star Wars Galaxies" had a long history, lasting from 2003 to 2011 and bringing a lot of sci-fi RPG fans with it. Joint-released by Sony and Lucasarts it sent players through the planets of the "Star Wars" universe, completing missions and quests and finding familiar faces from the original trilogy.

It was popular enough to have expansions in development during beta phases in 2001. Although later updates were polarizing, the game had a strong run before being closed down, mainly to usher in the upcoming "Star Wars: The Old Republic" game in late 2011, created by BioWare. Fans were disappointed; "Galaxies" was a big deal.

Answer: Fury

While "Fury" had a couple of new gimmicks setting it apart from competitors like "World of Warcraft", "Guild Wars", and other fantasy-driven PC titles, its over-reliance on other players, ironically a selling-point for online gaming, partially doomed it. With a high urge for its players to compete PvP, a lacking PvE (player vs. environment) game, and too much dead weight, the game lasted a mere ten months before shutting down. Before it fell to pieces, most media outlets gave it scores below 50%.

Answer: Hellgate: London

"Hellgate: London" was indeed on players' radars for quite a while because it blended the high quality design promised by Blizzard developers and the interesting concept of dark fantasy in London. Despite high sales, the game was flawed from the get-go from a technical stand-point and player numbers dropped off.

When Flagship Studios went bankrupt in 2008, a year after the game's release, "Hellgate: London" went with it in early 2009 (only sustained by backing from Namco Bandai) and the servers were ultimately shut down. Due to strong fan backing and third-party funding, the game was redesigned by HanbitSoft in South Korea in an attempt to return it to the net.