GAME FOR THE PAST

Though their golden age is over, 2000s-era games are making big moves to mark major anniversaries

- Teo Kai Xiang

For those who grew up as the internet entered the mainstream, their memories of that era are intertwined with a handful of iconic video games.

For Mr Wesley Teo, 24, those games were MapleStory and Club Penguin, two massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) launched in the early 2000s.

“I remember pretending to be sick in primary school and requesting to leave school early, just so I could play a Club Penguin seasonal event,” he says.

“When I finally got home, I realised that the event's start date was in US time and it would be out only the next day. I was so heartbroken.”

These moments are among the fondest memories of his primary school days. Mr Teo says: “I found my close friends in school through these games. We would always gather to share what we did with our characters.”

MapleStory (2003) is a South Korean side-scrolling fantasy adventure game known for its colourful 2D graphics, while Club Penguin (2005) let users play as cartoon penguin avatars in an Antarctic-themed virtual world.

Club Penguin was discontinued in 2017 and lives on only through fans' unofficial private servers.

Today, it is part of the digital ephemera that constitutes that early phase of the internet, alongside other games popular with Singaporeans that have become largely inactive - such as Gunbound (2002), Ragnarok Online (2002) and Audition Online (2004).

Mr Imtiaj Alom, a 31-year-old civil servant, says: “I remember staying up late trying to master the Boomer tank in Gunbound. I used to switch off my room light and mute my PC so my parents wouldn't realise I was staying up playing video games.

“These games used to be such a big part of my life, and so many of them have faded away. Thinking about it today makes me realise how temporary all of this digital stuff can be.”

Yet, not all games from that era have disappeared.