Microsoft Ants
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Microsoft Ants was a
Gameplay
The objective of the game was to obtain the most points by the end of the game. Points could be obtained by eating or stealing food from other players, often by making use of the various power-ups available. Each player began at a nest with a pre-programmed number of ants. The ants were to move around the game-field and bring back pieces of food to their home nest, such as candy, cookies,
History
Microsoft Ants was created in 1996 as a proprietary game for Microsoft's MSN service. At this time, MSN was the online service that was integrated into Microsoft Windows and could be accessed by selecting the MSN icon on the desktop.
After newer versions were released on
Spike's World featured games such as Scrawl, a popular game-show type game, and Ants. Microsoft Ants premiered in early 1997 as a real-time strategy game. Ants was an attempt to display Microsoft's technological ability, and it was paired for download along with DirectX 3.
During this time, Steve Murch, a then-employee of
In the late summer of 1998, the
Ants soon became popular on the Internet Gaming Zone, or as it would become colloquially known - "The Zone". This was due in part, from several fans following the game from its movement from Spike's World. As The Zone was still largely within its infancy, the majority of players wished for an accessible game. Ants largely met these criteria, as a game could take less than twelve minutes, was generally accessible and easy to understand for children whilst still having strategic elements that could further entertain an adult audience.
Status
In 2000, Microsoft Ants was the target of several hackers, who attempted to breach the Microsoft Gaming Zone servers. Ants was often used as a testing ground for these hackers, due to its outdated code.[citation needed]
In early 2004 Joshua Howard announced that Microsoft Ants would eventually be taken off Microsoft Gaming Zone servers, and not released to anyone else or the general public. This led to attempts by the Ants fanbase to create a spinoff, titled "Ants 2". Microsoft would later threaten lawsuits over copyright, leading the project to be abandoned.[citation needed]
Microsoft moved Ants to a different section of the Microsoft Gaming Zone[when?]. Until January 2006, Ants still remained on Microsoft servers. It could be found once signed into a .NET Passport.[1]
Due to users being booted offline, lagged, hung up, frozen, or attacked, many Ants players left to find other sites to spend their time on; or migrated to other games on Microsoft Zone with less frequent interruptions from
Many users also had issues when using internet routers with Microsoft Ants. Since the game was not designed nor coded for the new wave of cable and DSL connections with people sharing their connection, the actual computer name instead of the signed-on MSN/Passport name would appear in the game's start screen. In most cases, players were unable to connect to each other while using a router, even after trying to connect with open router ports. This further lead to a decline in players.[citation needed]
On January 31, 2006, Microsoft's Zone retired Ants due to a lack of players.
References
- ^ "MSN games". MSN games. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011.
2. MSN Community Microsoft Ants Games Community Answers on October 5, 2021