It only ends once

"It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress."

After six long years, it's finally over. You've reached the end of it all. Most of the characters are dead, you're sick to death of the setting, and the lore retcons make you weep. But you don't even care anymore. You're tired of the whole ordeal. You don't want to think or talk about it. You don't want closure -- you just want an ending, any ending. You just "need it to be over."

Am I talking about LOST or an MMO? Yes. TV shows -- even more than movies -- have a lot more in common with MMOs than you might think. A lot of them get canceled before they even start. Plenty of terrible ones last far longer than they deserve. And the ones that do make it to an "endgame" without being abruptly and unceremoniously canceled are nearly always a disappointment, somehow, even if you loved them along the way. No matter how amazing and revolutionary they are, there's always something you wish they'd done differently to make that experience perfect. And sometimes, you're just happy they're over -- so you can go on to the next big thing and feel that excitement and wonder all over again.

So, as we say aloha to the LOST phenomenon, let's consider how it relates to MMO endings. What do you think were the best and worst MMO endings, inside the game and out? Did you quit the game, or did the game quit you? Did it end in triumph, tragedy, or blessed relief?

TH