>>37848545The website is pretty much everything, the merch was fringe and very little of the fanbase bought it. It was really revolutionary and unprecedented for a video game, to the point where I'm tempted to say it's as innovative as the first FPS or JRPG was. It's hard to describe, but you can think about it as a virtual collection of unrelated features (PvP, Stock Market, Flash Game Arcade, Shopkeeping, Pet Raising, Competitions, an official weekly newspaper with fan contributions, Grimdark Arks about villains taking over the world and fugging murdering people, etc) all tied together by the common thread of lore and a common currency which could be earned, lost, or spent. It's weird how it's completely ignored by video game culture at large, and has failed to influence other games despite its success.
