In the MUDding world, specifically the Iron Realms brand of MUD, two games (Imperian, Starmourn) have been put into “legacy mode” by the company, which means that a lot of the more useful, grabby, and/or addictive features typically found in IRE games will be unsupported going forward, as well as disabling the ability for characters to retire INTO Starmourn or Imperian, while retiring OUT of them is still doable. Everyone’s expecting mass exodus. Vitally, entering legacy mode means that the administration of these games will no longer be paid by IRE, so if they intend to stay and keep the games going they’ll be doing so out of the goodness of their hearts - it can’t be their job anymore, so their time will by necessity be focused elsewhere, at least a fair amount of the time.
Starmourn’s population in particular is panicky, as it’s very new in comparison to other IRE games and has a dedicated playerbase. Among other things like the literal end of the world looming on the Starmourn horizon, rumors abound that entering legacy mode will mean Starmourn, which already has a problem with over-indulgence in PK, to become fully “open PK,” because if the administration isn’t present then there will be no one to enforce the rules. The administration has countered this claim, but the panic continues.
Meanwhile, on more popular IRE games with ostensibly less tOxIc playerbases, people are dreading an influx of undesirables from Imperian. I guess people don’t like those guys.