Ending Secondhand Lands

[BobbyThurman]

I have some not so great news. Due to a few reasons, I have decided to start the process of sunsetting Secondhand Lands.

Secondhand Lands was released April 1st, in 2008. Back then there weren't a lot of other online games. Myself and the others involved really enjoyed on making a game that by all reasonable logic should not have been makeable by so few people. In that way, Secondhand Lands is a bit of a miracle. It's a lot harder to make a game without Unity or Unreal. 🙂

While I have been kicking around the idea of making a new version in Unreal, I have to be honest with myself. Secondhand Lands took me two years of working 8-10 hours a day on every day of the week. I remember happily coding on Christmas, Halloween, and other times. With me getting older, I'm at a time in my life where I'd rather sit back and watch the scenery drift by.

Secondhand Lands will be taken down on November 6th, 2021. I have already patched the client to no longer allow for micro transactions.

Finally, I'd really like to thank the wonderful GMs who worked on Secondhand Lands for years. They know whom they are.

[AnputVT]

Why will it be taken down though? Does server space cost that much?

[Mrs. Brisby]

Originally posted by 𓂀Anput𓂀:

Why will it be taken down though? Does server space cost that much?

I don't think it makes sense anymore to keep it running.

[BobbyThurman]

It's not just the price of the server. It's also, the yearly LLC tax filings, the yearly code signing renewal fees, the secure website fees, and a few other things I'm sure I've forgotten. Also, the technology behind 2hl is pretty old. 2hl was made long before things like Unity and Unreal were made, so the entire game was made mostly from scratch. A lot of people have no conception on how difficult that use to be. However, it was fun making it, and I hope it brought some measure of happiness to its player base.

[KITTY OPHANIM]

share serverfiles :)

[DePhoegon]

Originally posted by BobbyThurman:

It's not just the price of the server. It's also, the yearly LLC tax filings, the yearly code signing renewal fees, the secure website fees, and a few other things I'm sure I've forgotten. Also, the technology behind 2hl is pretty old. 2hl was made long before things like Unity and Unreal were made, so the entire game was made mostly from scratch. A lot of people have no conception on how difficult that use to be. However, it was fun making it, and I hope it brought some measure of happiness to its player base.

Would there be any chance at ya know.. maybe just self-containing it as a stand alone experience.
--- yes i know asking for a stand alone, solo MMO... but honestly maybe better than .... it not existing.

I know I'm a wee bit late, but I kinda really hate that I missed out on getting to experience this game when it was life.

Can't say I blame ya, but I'd love to get to play a stand alone experience.. or maybe even a local server (a LONG stretch for sure).

I'm kinda of sick of the really wild, and perhaps 'so campy bad, it's enjoyable' games vanishing while bs like loa being kept alive.

[[P*D]Murder Inc. (88)]

Aw :( we can haz server files pls??

[Zorro]

Aww. After watching the funny review of this game from Josh Strife Hayes, I wanted to see this for myself. And now it's gone.

[OneMore]

Hello Bobby! I run a website and YouTube channel called CD-ROM Fossil.

I was told by some friends about Secondhand Lands. I occasionally explore virtual worlds and do videos on them or maybe just stream them. I was hype to check this out and I saw I'm just barely late!

Reach out to me if you'd like to talk/interview about this game and it's legacy. And if you have any sceenshots or videos or ANYTHING let me know so I can archive them.

I hate I missed out on exploring this world but I'd love to hear about it and see what I can through whatever stuff you got left!

[Pandemon]

I take it there is no way to play the game anymore? I really wanted to roam around the land one more time after so many years... I mean, I remember playing it and not understanding even one word in English (or at least it seemed that way) xD Oh, and also losing my OG character after the Pixel Mine (or so it was called) died out. Anyhoo, I don't think Bobby is going to see this, so maybe anyone else knows if there is any way to "break in"?

[Kenionatus]

Sadge. Saw Josh Strive Hayes video about it and thought I'd maybe check it out for a bit. Looks like it was a wonderful ♥♥♥♥-post of a game. o7

[GiraffeFlavoredCondoms]

Obviously it's not just as easy as handing it down to any random Joe Shmoe on the street, but any kind of game that's been around *this* long and has had a loving community for *this* long I don't think deserves to just.. die. Finding who to take it on might be a pain, but there is a community of people fully willing to carry on this legacy

[gamer]

Even if this game was a total trashfire, which I guess is a subjective thing to say... One thing that really busts me up about MMOs is that no company ever leaves behind a way to enjoy it personally, whether it be a solo experience with some debug features to get past the weird stuff, or setting up the framework to start up personal servers to play on.

I've watched a lot of MMOs die that I've personally played, and I tend to hang onto the client files. It doesn't do anything for me or anyone else, but I have them. I was there when the thing existed. Sometimes we get lucky and all the game information is in the client files and you can figure out what it was about. Sometimes that disappears with the server. I always find the end of an MMO, whether or not I felt it to be any good, to be a bitter memory, and a loss from a software preservation point of view on top of that.

Regardless of what you might think of a game, I don't think any of them deserve to be forgotten entirely.

[O_Goncho]

maaan. sad to see it go. this was my first mmo. ya it was weird af and had its quirks but it was fun. thanks for that thurman (even though you wer afk alot) if anyone wants to add me i used to be "Whisper". idk if anyone will even see this. was years ago.

[Xyrn]

I remember playing the original Secondhand Lands back in 2011-2012 as a kid and being disappointed about the original sunset. I can't believe I missed the reboot which lasted several years and only recently ended.

Although it is unlikely that 2hl will ever be released again in any form (I doubt the developer would be open to private servers), I still have fond memories of exploring the peculiar fairy tale setting.

[Koshka]

Noooo! :,(