One Shots: Dearly departed

Today's One Shots will be a more somber one, as we strive to honor two MMOs that are passing into history. First up is the dearly departed City of Heroes, which Reader Michelle apparently loved quite a bit. She sent us in several screenshots, including one of her supergroup, Part Time Heroes.

"Here's a group of my friends during the Mortimer Kal Strike Force," Michelle writes. "My character is Astral Black, a Warshade who should be my last level 50. She's the one in the purple and black crop top."

Head onward for more personal dedications, but be warned: You may be misty-eyed by the end.

Our editor-in-chief Bree also wanted to send in a final tribute to City of Heroes. While the game is now shut down, I don't think it'll be that easy to turn off the passion and memories that fans have had for the world's first superhero MMO.

Bree explains the meaning behind this picture: "It's a a character I rolled in honor of the 33 instances of Atlas Park created on the first day of the Virtue rally after the sunset was announced. To the bitter end, players kept Atlas 33 alive, raising torches to the memory of a game killed long before its time."

Moving on to the sad tale of Glitch, Reader Anca sent in this picture of her character trying to catch the subway. Didn't know there was a subway in Glitch? Huh, neither did I. It certainly was a highly unusual game, and perhaps as the creators themselves said, it was too foreign for the mainstream crowd to get.

You could snap screenshots in Glitch all day long and constantly be coming up with pictures that were quite unique in this industry. Reader Daniel sent in the following, saying that it showed him how special this game was to him.

"The seasonal and other odd quests are some of the most emotionally satisfying experiences I've ever had in a video game," Daniel said, "and this final scene from An Autumn Day has the most punch of any of them."

Of course, the other picture he sent was his character traversing the digestive tract of a large worm, so don't assume everything in Glitch was a Hallmark moment.

That's it for today! As always, keep the great screenshots and stories rolling in because you are the driving force behind this column!

Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots!