I was introduced to Glitch, a beautiful MMO, a few weeks before it was announced that it would close.  Glitch was a lovely game with a fantastic user experience.  Tiny Speck, the company behind Glitch, got all of the details right.  The in-world experience was truly unique, imaginative, and beautiful.  And they did a great job with its interactivity, and even got keyboard interaction right.  Their visual language was gorgeous.  They did the best job that I’ve ever seen of integrating music into the experience.  But the game was also unsustainable: built on Flash, which brought even my brand-new MacBook Pro to a standstill sometimes, it just couldn’t deal with the number of players that it needed to be sustainable.

And when they announced that they were closing, they again got all of the details right.  They offered options to those who subscribed: refund, let the company keep it, or donate to charity.  They continued to introduce new elements of gameplay, including new areas of the world.  They introduced what was possibly my favorite type of animal, the helikitty.  There were quests that led up to the end of the world.  And in the last few hours of the game, they wrapped up everything very nicely, giving the staff and the players a nice way to say goodbye.

Also importantly, they allowed the artists who contributed to the game to continue to grow on their art and let it out in the world.  Art director Brent Kobayashi sells handmade Glitch pouches and art prints on Etsy.  Two Indiegogo projects appeared quickly: one for the music of Glitch, another for the art of Glitch.  Both hit their goals in under two hours.

As PCWorld says, it was a graceful exit.  I’m sad to see it go, but glad that I got to experience it.  Goodbye, Glitch.