When most people think of social games, the stuff you find on Facebook immediately comes to mind. Though to a certain extent, World of Warcraft offers the same basic idea of social interaction among gamers, even though it's significantly different from FarmVille and the like, to say the least.
Still, the fundamentals, which is about becoming pals with other players… and also ganging up on others… is certainly all there. But was WoW the first to forge such territory. Of course not. So what did? EverQuest, another MMO, definitely helped to forge that path. Yet so did another game that you may not have heard of: SiSSYFiGHT 2000.
Launched in the late 90s, around the same time as the first EverQuest, it was one of the first multiplayer games that featured real-time chat in a browser. The concept was simple: you created an avatar, which was basically girl on some schoolyard and you either became friends or enemies (or frenemies) with other players.
During its time, SiSSYFiGHT 2000 managed to amass a very loyal, as well as sizable userbase, especially given that it was an entirely indie production, without the benefit of a major publisher or advertising. At its apex of popularity, there were a good couple hundred thousand players, and what makes that number most impressive is when considers web standards during that time as well. 56K anyone?
And the game managed to hang in there, for about ten years, existing as many people's little secret, their guilty pleasure. But as is often the case, the plug was pulled due to circumstances that was out of the game maker's control. But they're looking to bring it back, plus infuse it with some improvements, to bring it up to 2013 standards:
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this particular attempt at crowd sourcing the game is how the final product will be open source. Meaning, anyone will be able to create their own version of SiSSYFiGHT 2000, essentially.
And once again, given how the very core of the game is the basis of many social games, there's a lot that can be done. The overall goal, according to Team SiSSYFiGHT:
"We’re not only bringing back an important piece of Internet culture and game history – we’re making a really fun game available for everyone to play, use, and remix into whatever they want."
To make it happen, $20,000 is being asked. And thus far the Kickstarter is at just a little over the $4,000 mark, though it also literally just started, so things are looking mighty promising thus far.
