Only 30 Players in 18 Months – Why My Online Game Failed?

Hello everyone! Now I will tell you my story of failure. A year and a half ago, I, a JavaScript developer, decided to fulfill a long-standing dream - to create my own game. Not just a game, but a browser MMORPG. In January 2024, I dove into work head first and created an entire world in 10 days. I was a scriptwriter, an artist, and a programmer. I did everything from scratch: Plot and Dialogue: Wrote a story that can keep you engaged for hours. Code: Full stack on Node.js, React and MongoDB. Design: I drew and cut all the graphics myself. UI/UX: Developed my own UI kit with custom buttons, windows and animations. Mechanics: I thought out a combat system with magic and swords, quests and localization. The result made me incredibly happy. The game turned out beautiful and alive. But creating a project is only half the battle. As it turned out, the hardest part was yet to come. Loud startup... in complete silence I had no idea how to promote games. My first step? I sent a link to a small Telegram chat with a hundred people. Ten of them saw the message, came in, played a little, and... left. That was it. I didn't give up. In February 2024, I edited the video and uploaded it to YouTube. In the first two days, there was a surge of hope! 450 views! I thought, here it is, the chance, now the algorithms will pick it up and... But the miracle didn't happen. The views froze. In a year and a half, this video got only 555 views. The next two videos showed even more modest results - 276 and 47. I bought a domain, posted the game. Time passed. And here are the results for a year and a half: 30 players. You will say: “How little!” And I will answer: “As many as thirty living people!” Thirty people found time and devoted it to what I created with such love alone. A real victory The game has a board with statistics of all players. And do you know what I saw there? Three people completed my game completely . Can you imagine? Three people I don't know spent 2-3 hours of their lives on my world. So they were interested! I saw them communicating in the game chat, visiting several times a day. And one of them even wrote me a huge letter to the mail with detailed feedback and ideas for improvement. It was priceless. What did I learn? Promotion is important. But it’s even more important not to lose sight of what you started for. My greatest reward was not the numbers in the statistics, but the emotions of the few I was able to reach. Do what you love, put your soul into it. And even if your product is appreciated not by thousands, but by a few, the joy from this will be real. In the following articles I will tell you more about the creation, subscribe! I'll be glad to see you in the world I created! You can play here: https://jobless.jsvar.com YouTube video: https://youtu.be/JEf3tUeT-gc

Jun 8, 2025 - 23:50

Only 30 Players in 18 Months – Why My Online Game Failed?

Hello everyone! Now I will tell you my story of failure. A year and a half ago, I, a JavaScript developer, decided to fulfill a long-standing dream - to create my own game. Not just a game, but a browser MMORPG. In January 2024, I dove into work head first and created an entire world in 10 days.

I was a scriptwriter, an artist, and a programmer. I did everything from scratch:
Plot and Dialogue: Wrote a story that can keep you engaged for hours.
Code: Full stack on Node.js, React and MongoDB.
Design: I drew and cut all the graphics myself.
UI/UX: Developed my own UI kit with custom buttons, windows and animations.
Mechanics: I thought out a combat system with magic and swords, quests and localization.

The result made me incredibly happy. The game turned out beautiful and alive. But creating a project is only half the battle. As it turned out, the hardest part was yet to come.

Loud startup... in complete silence

I had no idea how to promote games. My first step? I sent a link to a small Telegram chat with a hundred people. Ten of them saw the message, came in, played a little, and... left. That was it.

I didn't give up. In February 2024, I edited the video and uploaded it to YouTube. In the first two days, there was a surge of hope! 450 views! I thought, here it is, the chance, now the algorithms will pick it up and... But the miracle didn't happen. The views froze. In a year and a half, this video got only 555 views. The next two videos showed even more modest results - 276 and 47.

I bought a domain, posted the game. Time passed. And here are the results for a year and a half: 30 players.

You will say: “How little!”

And I will answer: “As many as thirty living people!” Thirty people found time and devoted it to what I created with such love alone.

A real victory
The game has a board with statistics of all players. And do you know what I saw there? Three people completed my game completely . Can you imagine? Three people I don't know spent 2-3 hours of their lives on my world. So they were interested!

I saw them communicating in the game chat, visiting several times a day. And one of them even wrote me a huge letter to the mail with detailed feedback and ideas for improvement. It was priceless.
What did I learn? Promotion is important. But it’s even more important not to lose sight of what you started for. My greatest reward was not the numbers in the statistics, but the emotions of the few I was able to reach.

Do what you love, put your soul into it. And even if your product is appreciated not by thousands, but by a few, the joy from this will be real. In the following articles I will tell you more about the creation, subscribe!

I'll be glad to see you in the world I created! You can play here: https://jobless.jsvar.com

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/JEf3tUeT-gc