The UK Online Safety Act passed into law in 2023, and it properly comes into effect in 2025 with the threats of millions of pounds in fines. For Kevan Davis, the solo British dev behind the text-based zombie MMO Urban Dead, the risks presented by this legislation are too great, and his browser game is set to shut down on March 14, 2025.
"The Online Safety Act comes into force later this month, applying to all social and gaming websites where users interact, and especially those without strong age restrictions," Davis writes in the announcement. "With the possibility of heavy corporate-sized fines even for solo web projects like this one, I've reluctantly concluded that it doesn't look feasible for Urban Dead to be able to continue operating."
This legislation is billed as a way of protecting individuals - especially children - from harmful content on social media platforms, requiring content providers to "take robust action against illegal content and activity." The effort has been widely criticized not just by the major tech companies that it would most directly affect, but by security experts who feel that the proposed efforts would undermine privacy.
Nonetheless, the official timetable for the Online Safety Act is continuing to progress. "So a full 19 years, 8 months and 11 days after its quarantine began, Urban Dead will be shut down," Davis writes. "No grand finale. No final catastrophe. No helicopter evac. Make your peace or your final stand in whichever part of Malton you called home, and the game will be switched off at noon UTC on 14 March."
If you want to play Urban Dead ahead of its shutdown later this month, the original website is still online. The game puts you in the role of a survivor of a zombie outbreak or one of the shambling undead, working to either keep yourself alive or chow down on some brains. Through a text-based interface, you explore the city of Malton, choosing as you go whether to ally with or work against other players. You get a limited number of action points every real-life day, so you have to make the most of your resources every time you play.
Urban Dead largely seems to be remembered by nostalgic fans who played it in the late '00s, but it still has active players online to this day. Here's hoping those players can make the most of the game's final weeks.
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