Requiem for a server: SMR beta server is officially dead

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Holti
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Posts: 399
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2011 3:30 pm

Requiem for a server: SMR beta server is officially dead

Post by Holti »

Spock informed me today that the Beta server's hardware failure was ultimately fatal. The server is approximately 11 years old and no longer worth repairing.
Beta was the original SMR server when Spock recoded Shareplay's Space Merchant game.

I felt in light of this news, it would be nice to have a memorial of sorts. Please post your memories of when you first started Space Merchants (Shareplay) or Space Merchants Realms (SMR)

I started playing Shareplay's Space Merchants in 1999, around the time I found Shareplay's Monarchy. I was a graduate student who liked to play browser games while I waited while my research was being amplified (back then, DNA amplification took several hours). I was a solo trader in Space Merchants off and on until Shareplay attempted to merge with GameLoft; a merger that didn't go through and resulted in Shareplay imploding. Space Merchants reappeared briefly later, when Marta Manton uploaded the game on her own site. But after a few months, Space Merchants once again disappeared and I was directed towards Space Merchants Realms. I played SMR off and on for a good long time, always a solo trader, in large part because I wasn't comfortable talking to people I didn't know. I certainly wouldn't have asked someone about joining an alliance - that seemed so... presumptuous. I really didn't get to know anyone in SMR until 2009 or so when I was invited to join an alliance. I've been mostly in SMR alliances since that time.
Why did I stick with a simple text based browser game for so long? For one thing, the game was free, which was great for a graduate student who made $18,000 a year being a graduate teaching assistant in Washington DC. Another, I enjoyed trying to figure out how to stay alive while trading. Yeah, I would get frustrated and leave for awhile. But I always came back, and on one of those returns, Kouga taught me some hunter tricks so I could better learn how to survive (after podded me, of course). I have pretty much played SMR every round since.
Aendar
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Re: Requiem for a server: SMR beta server is officially dea

Post by Aendar »

I played briefly between the age of 15-16, which should be around 98 to 99. It was on dial-up. Man, I hated the beginnings of the month when the phone bill came in and my mom started nagging about how much the bill was again due to my playing. IT has been so long I don't even remember where I played it nor what my nick name as at that time. (I'ld like to find it again though...)

The thing i can remember is, I used to play with a sheet of paper to draw out the galaxy and noted down every level of port and what goods they sold/bought.
This year, for some reason, i typed in space Merchant and found this. I started playing again and started drawing the maps again :lol:

Glad i don't need to do that anymore :D
XDemonX
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Re: Requiem for a server: SMR beta server is officially dea

Post by XDemonX »

This is a fun thread Holti!

I started SMR 14+ years ago when SMR started. Ghengis got me into it. It was pretty difficult because I then had dial up internet for another 7+ years after that and as everyone upgraded to cable people were flying circles around me.

My first alliance was Imperial Dreams. I remember Ghengis introduced me to Izzanods who took me under his wing. This is back when AOL was popular so we used Instant Messenger to chat. Izzanods had to pretty much beg Ender Wiggens to let me in. Getting involved in such a high level alliance right off the bat helped me A LOT. This was all before MGU/SMC was around so for routes and locations I had everything hand written down in binders. Was pretty fun time staying up late writing down all these locations and routes. I remember my first kill too. My first kill was on Remlak which at the time, he was one of the best traders so a newbie like me killing one of the best traders was a big deal :)
This is a beat, you just can't touch.....
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Holti
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Re: Requiem for a server: SMR beta server is officially dea

Post by Holti »

I miss Ender Wiggen, one of the more eccentric players we've had here. I wonder if he finally married his young girlfriend. They were engaged the last I heard (last year).
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