Grandpa Plays Asheron's Call For 17 Years And Now Its Closing
Posted By:
GamerDating - January 11, 2017
On November 2, 1999, Microsoft and Turbine launched Asheron’s Call, a massively multiplayer online fantasy role-playing game that stood amongst the giants of the time, EverQuest and Ultima Online. Now 17 years later, on January 31, Asheron’s Call and its sequel are coming to an end.
The January 31 closure of Asheron’s Call was announced via the games’ forum:
It is with a heavy heart that we must announce the end of our support for Asheron’s Call and Asheron’s Call 2, and will close both services on January 31st, 2017.
This decision did not come easy, and we know this is disappointing for many of you. This game is a labor of love, and it’s not easy for us to bring it to an end.
We hae had a phenomenally long run; one of the longest in the world of MMORPGs, and that in and of itself is a spectacular feat. We are proud of our legacy, and the entire Asheron’s Call team has been honored to adventure with you for nearly twenty years. We thank you very much for being a part of it.
It’s been an amazing run. You’ve done Asheron Realaidain proud.
With the announced closure of Asherons Call sad fans are only now releasing that their 17 year old world is coming to an end.
While we all know that gaming is accessible to all ages having no limitations to our ever growing community it is heart warming to witness multiboxing 74 year old grandpa's talk about Asheron's Call Multiplayer Online experience. And we all know he's a gamer when he refers to other MMO's as "Crap compared to this game" <3.
His grand-children posted a video of him trying to play the game, while they pestered him about the game ;)
Grandpa Julien, has been playing AC straight for the past 17 years. I don't think it's getting enough attention in the gaming community that the servers are coming to a close.
When I consider how many of his friends still play consistently, my heart breaks. There are retirees, seniors, veterans, mothers and fathers - what an incredibly dedicated group of players. I would have been 8 in 1999 when I started playing AC with him on Leafcull. Back then he used to use his home phone and call everyone long distance when they were questing. Geez some things have changed! Now I imagine everyone on AC on January 31 2017. It's going to be difficult. I figure this hasn't hit him yet.
It's going to be tough on a lot of people. I can't imagine how many senior players will be upgrading their PC's so they can play and learn a newer game? Also not sure if newer players who just found AC realize how many people over 65 they are playing with? Haha, it's an interesting thought.
It is beautiful to see the further posts, comments and shared memories pour in from the community, sharing stories of 70 year old guild leaders playing endless characters and multiboxing, talking the lingo and showing us that gamers... can be anyone.
