A game with an expiration date

A university project that snowballed into a videogame might just be the most interesting or weird concept you have ever heard of. The Flock is a multiplayer game, that will shut down forever after a certain number of people have died.

The game itself is a hunter vs hunted formula where everyone starts as a member of a mysterious species known as the flock. Extremely mobile, these players must obtain a light hidden in the game at which point that player becomes the hunted, but isn’t defenseless.

The light can be used to kill other hunters, unless they choose to stand still when it shines on them. The gameplay however isn’t the only thing that is interesting as the game quite literally has an expiration date. In order to provide a more meaningful experience with an interesting “climax” the developers will permanently shut down the game’s servers and remove it from Steam once a certain number of player deaths occur.

Now, this being a multiplayer game, that is going to happen quite often, so I don’t believe that number will be lower than a few million, however I do see the logic in how it might make players approach the game with more intent every time they play.

That being said, the other side of the coin is that people might not want to buy a game with such an “expiration date” but the more likely problem would be unruly online players hell bent on dying as often as possible in order to shut the game down even faster. All in all, the game feels more like a social experiment. I am definitely on the hype-train and will still be when the game launches at an unannounced date later this year.