Notice: A version of this post was originally available on one of my other blogs, back on December 30, 2020. I accidentally posted it there instead of here, and I then subsequently deleted it before I realized just how much a mistake I made. However, I had intended on updating that post anyway, so here is the new version.
Last week, Songpop 2 was taken down from Facebook due to the phasing out of the Adobe Flash software that the game ran on. While the game exists on other platforms, my access to it is now gone. In the last few days running up to its leaving, I tried to get as much playing time from it as possible. I had already done many of the things I wanted to do, but I wanted to get as much done before saying goodbye. I had already blown my last chance at getting the only in-game achievement I hadn't gotten, playing fifty matches against the same opponent in one week. Too many of my former opponents had already left, possibly having updated their browsers to ones that already discontinued Flash. I tried to challenge one of my Facebook friends to a match just before the notice of the game's ending was made. They never accepted the match. Soon after, all my Facebook friends vanished from my list of possible opponents. Never figured out why it happened, but that was another goal that I couldn't reach. One goal I could reach was mastering all of the categories that I chose for myself, as opposed to free ones that I got through the game. I was picking those categories exclusively whenever they were randomly selected. I almost didn't get to to that though, until I realized that there was a practice mode. For the cost of just one game coin, I could challenge the computer and get the same amount of experience that I would get from an actual match. This might explain how some of my opponents could wind up almost mastering a new category on the day of its release. I also used some of my coins to finally upgrade my game badges. Why hold anything back? I would be leaving the game soon, so why not enjoy it as much as I could. I tried to put up messages for my opponents to see I would be leaving, but I never could find the feature. I used it a few times, but it may have gotten disabled along the way. I had one last thing I wanted to do. I was going to use up as much of my coins and power-ups as possible, so I could leave the game as empty-handed as I could. I chose to play the party mode, where I would be challenging four other players to guess ten songs in a row, as opposed to one opponent and five songs. This would use up the final game feature, tickets, as well. For much of that Thursday afternoon as I could spare, I was playing two different party mode categories. One game would end in the early afternoon and the other that evening. I could barely hold my own in the former, but I was acing the latter. At the time I stopped playing that afternoon, I had some work to do that day after all, I was in the top five, with a good chance of finishing in the top three. I would have gotten great rewards, even if I wouldn't be seeing them for long. I was going to finish that night, after dinner. As soon as I could, I went back online to finish my last session of playing. However, as soon as I clicked the icon to start the game, a message came up saying that the game had already left Facebook! I still had over four hours to go! I guess when the game said they would be leaving Facebook on the thirty-first, they meant their time, not necessarily mine. I had long suspected the game company was based in Europe, what with categories of chart topping songs, ones I never heard of. The game probably left Facebook an hour or so after I logged off. I admit, I started to cry a bit when I realized I messed up. It wasn't fair. Now, I will never know how I faired in that last competition. I never got to say farewell to my long standing opponents. Not even the one I suspected was just a computer. I was going to delete the games anyway, but still. I could take the game leaving, but I wanted to do it on my terms. Until I can get a mobile device, I'm SOL for ever going back. I can recover my account through Facebook if that ever happens, if it doesn't take too long before I can do so. I doubt it though. It still hurts, every time I log on and see the icon. I will miss it.
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