Greyspell (OP) — May 21, 2045:
Europans, I’m sure you’re familiar with the Questdeaths legend, but for those few who’re late to the party, a short history (borrowing from Wikipedia, cuz I can’t be bothered to do my own write-up and I don’t think many have seen this bit in the article on Matt-kun, which is pretty different from his room on Wikinomena, by the way):
"Questdepths was the working title of a purported demo of the Adventure Framework, the early VRMMORPG engine developed by Boldworks under the direction of Matthew Cunningham, later a lead designer at Mimmisoft. Although the framework itself was well into beta development by the time work on the demo is supposed to have begun, Questdepths would never see the light of day beyond a few promotional announcements, teaser screenshots and trailers, and a tranche of concept art attached to a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter that did not reach its goal. Although commentators across the web were favorable towards what was shown of the game, noting that it seemed to mesh the expansive sandbox feel expected of a VRMMO with a deep RPG system and immersive storytelling, the working title was deemed “unpronounceable” by critics.[1] This alongside the Kickstarter campaign’s ambitious promises fueled a wave of ridicule, embodied in the Questeps[2] meme that fans would direct at Cunningham in response to announcements and development updates on the Adventure Framework. The game was never finished, although the Framework would be released to developers officially in May of 2035, with the first genuine VRMMO, Knights of the Realm (developed by Rarify) following close by with a summer of 2036 release. The tamer scope of Knights led many fans to wonder about what could have been with Questdepths, a first-party game that they speculated would have taken full advantage of the engine.
"Mimmisoft purchased Boldworks in 2038, following a troubled development cycle on their own engine, and put the studio to work on an Adventure Framework 2.0, incorporating their own innovations with some of Cunningham’s ideas that were unachievable for the initial version. It is believed that they thereby acquired all of the assets retained of Questdepths, but these were not adapted or included in their flagship Framework 2.0 game, Wildlands, much to the dismay of fans who had held out hope for the game’s resumed development under Mimmisoft."
Bet you didn’t know Questeps was actually ever in development, maybe ‘cause there’s no longer an article on Wikipedia about the game itself, and this is pretty buried in Matt-kun’s page. Most people assume that Rarify was in cahoots with Boldworks working on KotR since AF was in beta, anyway. And the Kickstarter is long gone (unless anyone has screenshots lying around?). And, last point here, there’s no mention whatsoever of the Questdeaths rumor on Matt-kun’s page, or in any room in Wikinomena.
But on the urban legends article also on Wikipedia, there is a small entry on “The Questdeaths Hoax,” which it says was “a series of alleged deaths surrounding a legendary beta test of Boldworks’ unfinished first game, Questdepths. Testers are said to have had their brains fried by their Kaleidoscopes due to a catastrophic glitch.”
Now, there’ve been a few threads about Questdeaths on here, and they almost always devolve into LARPing and shitposting, but the best way I can sum up the full legend is this: there was supposed to be a beta test that top donors to the Kickstarter for Questdepths would get access to, and officially this never happened, but people think some donors were in fact given access to a beta test server. It’s here they would’ve encountered the fatal glitch. If you ask me, given the first model of the Kaleidoscope had only been out for a few years and Questdepths was in development before all the kinks of AF had been ironed out, it’s not that far-fetched.
Or so I thought. And, Europans, I was unfortunately right. I have new evidence to share, if there’s interest, that proves Questdeaths is more than a myth. I doubt this thread will stay up for long after I post what I’ve got, so gather round, friends, before the fire’s lit, and hear me out.
BrrrrrImCold:
What kind of bait is this? Fuck off.
Scorsezzy76:
Questeps
IckyInsanius:
OP won’t deliver. Cool creepypasta tho
Peppercorn:
Maybe you meant this for the media essay crowd on Youme? These kinds of threads are what make people think Europa is a cesspool . . . good to keep out newebbers actually so keep it up OP. Let the shitposting begin
NYbeast62 (replying to Scorsezzy76):
Questeps
Questeps
QueenMisty (replying to Peppercorn):
Maybe you meant this for the video essay crowd? . . .
Hahaha yes and newbs don’t even have the attention span for a creepypasta dump so theyll take one look at this and go back to their virtual claw machines. Thx op <3
DaLegendary111:
OP, ignore the shitposters, theyre probably CIA. I wanna see what you got especially since Matt-kuns anniversary post was so fucking weird lol. He looked like he was being held hostage but all the softurds said he was being sooo hecking wholesome. Maybe its the divorce but i wouldnt be surprised if Matthew “ Action Figure Conioseur” Cunningham had some more skeletons in his closet
_Sphericality_:
Ahem
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Questeps
Pleurodonny:
Let’s see it, OP. I’ve been following this story since I was a teenager and have actually always enjoyed these threads—they’re like an ARG with a slow trickle of clues at best, and at worst they can yield some funny shitposts (does anyone remember the Questeps Koolaid Early Bird Bonus?), so I’m here for whatever.
Peppercorn (replying to Pleurodonny):
Let’s see it, OP. I’ve been following this story . . .
Yannowhat, I actually agree. It’s a Europan tradition that’s spawned more memes probably than even Pangeagate. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder than when GuyFox sent the Questeps Promotional Koolaid tub he made to that streamer. And the Questeps KotR guild ended up winning the grail so many times in a row that everyone still calls it the Koolaid Cup and Rarify had to put limits on guild participation for the event. Fucking hilarious
(replying to DaLegendary111):
OP, ignore the shitposters, theyre probably CIA. . . .
I bet Matty’s in thread right now typing up a post begging OP not to expose his failed kickstarter hentai game. Paid probably half of his Mimmisoft buyout bonus to scrub the internet
Longhorner (MOD):
I’m listening. Questepspammers will face the hammer
Greyspell (OP):
Figured you guys wouldn’t take me seriously, but I’m glad to see there are at least a few paying attention. I expect the thread will get a lot more traffic soon, so your presence is appreciated, Longhorner. Now, I’d like to present a timeline that’ll make more sense as you read it. Much of what I reference is linked to or attached.
2034 -
(January) The Questdepths Kickstarter is launched on the 1st.
(October) It’s said that by mid-year it’d garnered half of its million-dollar first milestone, before donations plateaued. According to an article in the summer edition of Game Chronicler (a print magazine that shut down that year, pic below), “The highest donation tiers, God-King ($10,000+) and Deepwalker ($3,000+) sold out of slots within 48 hours, almost certainly due to their promise that ‘donors in [either] tier would be the first to experience Questdepths—the first inhabitants of a true VRMMO.’ The subsequent creation of a replacement tier, Deepwanderer ($3,000+), made vaguer promises of launch-day bonuses, likely fueling backlash about the campaign’s limited beta tester slots that led to a stagnation in donors. No former God-King or Deepwalker donors have been outspoken about receiving or failing to receive a refund.” A supposed Deepwalker donor, Hecubator07, tweets (screenshot below), “Just got the newsletter: November 1st!!!!!!!! It’s happening!!!”
(November) A blood moon occurs on the 14-15th. Several VRM servers face outages.
(December) The inaugural Questeps thread appears on Europa. Matt-kun is inundated with Questepsposting during the Adventure Framework Christmas Q&A livestream event; he ends the stream prematurely without answering any questions about the game. He grows increasingly bitter towards trolls from this point.
2035 -
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
(February) On the 16th, an obituary for a 20-year-old Cassidy Thorne-Davis, of Queens, New York, is reposted to social media by a family member (whose name I’ve blurred, but pic below), with the following statement: “Sweetie, you fought like hell since November, but now you can rest.” Cassidy’s past social media posts indicate she was an avid gamer, and although we don’t know her donor status, she reposted multiple articles about Questdepths, once commenting, “Omg. I’ve been waiting for this all my life. I’m preordering groceries for months after release lmao.” Her last posts are from early November.
(May) Adventure Framework 1.0 released to developers. Questdepths is revealed to have been canceled, with donors receiving a slow rollout of refunds and, later, through a deal between Boldworks and Rarify, free trial passes for KotR.
(August) An obituary in an Arkansas local paper (pic below) says that a Stephen Hutcherson, 25, died of a head injury after spending over a year in a comatose state. “He died doing what he loved.” On the 21st, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announces the arrests of the key members of Morgulhost hacker group, who were responsible for mass ransomware attacks that “severely impacted hospitals and long-term-care facilities across the country, causing several deaths.” (The Associated Press, article here.)
2036 - (July) Knights of the Realm is released, with many original Questdepths donors, hundreds of whom were Europa users (see this thread: Questeps Miscarriage Brigade) dominating the new player base on launch with their free passes.
2037 - (November) The Virtual Reality Subsidies Act passes with bipartisan support in Congress.
2038 -
(February) Boldworks is acquired by Mimmisoft, who simultaneously acquires Watson-Brown Media Group, the conglomerate to which the Game Chronicler belonged. Rumors circulate about work on Questdepths resuming under Mimmisoft since they have the assets.
(April) In Questeps Miscarriage Brigade Thread #2: Retaking the Motherland, Europans plot with newebber comrades from KotR to petition for Questdepths to be released in some form. You can see the statement drafted by former moderator ChristopherWalking there, even though the change.org petition no longer exists. “After a long-overdue rollout of refunds and a petty consolation prize in the form of three-month trial passes for Knights, we Questeppers at least deserve to see some more of the game that never was and would like to express our wish that it be finished under the new leadership at Mimmisoft.” This petition received an incendiary response from Matt-kun—the origin of the famous “Europan scum can go bathe in their own smegma for all I fucking care” copypasta—who subsequently left all microblogging platforms and made a post on his personal blog (which you can find here) entitled “Stepping Away.” He details his experiences with Questepper trolls, including “receiving death threats daily since [the Kickstarter controversy],” and apologizes for lashing out at genuine supporters. At the end of the post, he says, “Overall—I’ll be honest—I’ve had to deal with some serious shit as head of the company, and I don’t think I’ll ever recover from the stress. For a long time, I saw Boldworks solely as a standalone, independent company, but this challenging period allowed me to see the virtues of partnering with an industry veteran like Mimmisoft. I think fans will be happy to see what the Boldworks family can do with our new tools.”
2039 -
(January) Mimmisoft teases a VRMMO project with a brief trailer, but the artstyle and gameplay, focused around the collecting of mounts and familiars, look unlike anything shown of Questdepths.
(June) Wildlands is announced with a full trailer, crushing any remaining hopes of the original AF game’s resurrection.
2040 -
Clint Hope, a former designer at Boldworks, alludes in an interview to suffering from severe mental health problems between 2034-2035: “There was a lot going on, y’know, at the company—we were in a crunch, and I think seasonal depression hit a lot of us hard. By the time AF 1 came out, Boldworks had probably spent all of its manpower. That’s why Matt sold, I think; not ‘cause he ever wanted to sell, but because we were all so burnt out that our work might as well’ve been taken up by fresh blood. And I agreed. Boldworks was comatose . . .” (Warning—interview is only available to newbs: httpq://wwm.you.me/play?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ)
2041 - (June) Wildlands is released alongside AF 2.0. Interest in Questdepths and recollection of much of the controversy beyond the memes has declined on Europa, but the remaining Europan players of KotR boycott Wildlands, “a game for the softurds” (Wildlands Denouncement Megathread).
(November) While it’s impossible to say when the Questdeaths rumor began to circulate, this thread (The Wildlands Apologist Corner) references what may be the first Questdeaths discussion on Europa, from November 14th:
"Tiramissyou:
Yesterday [the 14th] there was some schizo posting about Questeps trolls getting lobotomized by their Kaleidoscopes. The thread got taken down late last night, but it was quite the spectacle: OP was calling Matt-kun a murderer who sold his soul to Mimmisoft for blood money. He posted a whole plan detailing how he was gonna break into headquarters with a sledgehammer. Apparently Kaleidoscopes have a built-in kill switch! And a sledgehammer is enough to take down security bots. The KotR and Wildlands guilds were both trying to recruit him for his 'unmatched fighting spirit,' to channel his 'berserker rage' on the battlefield. Berserker, if you’re lurking, we still have a spot reserved!"
2043 - (March) Knights of the Realm: Elysium, an add-on update utilizing AF 2.0, is released, to the acclaim of long-time fans of the game.
2045 - (May) A Mimmisoft Milestones video airs in which Matt-kun commemorates the ten-year anniversary of the original adventure framework’s launch. The video is obviously still up—notice how Matt tears up while Hashiguchi talks about the evolution of the Framework. At 15:34, Hashiguchi says that 1.0 had some “very serious bugs,” and he and Matt laugh nervously. At 17:10, Matt wipes sweat from his forehead with a rag, looking very pale. And around 19 minutes in, when Hashiguchi thanks “everyone who made this technical achievement possible: the developers, the taxpayers, and, of course, you the players,” Matt breaks into tears.
gamechronicler.png hectweet.png ctd20.png sh25.png
MayflyBoy:
tl;dr
xNebuchadnezzarIIx:
Questep
ShinjiIkarii:
Tomb-raiding obituaries to make your creepypasta more immersive? You’ve been playing too much horror media, OP.
Pleurodonny:
Alright, as I see it, OP has made some interesting, if invalid, connections. Questeps seems like a misdirection campaign? And the timing of the Watson-Brown and Boldworks acquisitions is odd. But I don’t get the obituary cherry-picking either. That’s related to the ransomware I guess? But OP, you do realize that there are 9 billion people in the world and they’re dying all the time, right? Lol
DaLegendary111:
I still dont know if I believe even the hunk a junk Kaleidoscope 1 could electrocute you. Does seem like there was a beta and the testers got muzzled tho. Howd you piece this stuff together anyway? the magazine and paper clippings are kinda unhinged
Clementlime (replying to DaLegendary111):
I still dont know if I believe even the hunk . . .
The Consumer Product Safety Commision wouldn’t allow it. Stupidest part of Questdeaths IMO
Longhorner (MOD):
This might be too suggestive of violence, OP. Still trying to piece together what you’re getting at.
ObjectNull (replying to Pleurodonny):
Alright, as I see it, OP has made some interesting . . .
Bingo on the misdirection campaign. Mimmisoft knows how to steer the narrative and Matt Cunningham is an able scapegoat. I don’t know who OP’s source is, but they should have given the full dossier of obituaries; that constellation more clearly illustrates what happened than this corkboard mess.
(replying to Greyspell):
Figured you guys wouldn’t take me seriously . . .
Who are you?
Greyspell (OP) (replying to ObjectNull):
Bingo on the misdirection campaign. . . .
Uh, who are you? Post more if you have more, LARPer. And trust my source or don’t—I won't squeal.
(replying to DaLegendary111):
I still don’t know if I believe even the . . .
But it could sure hold a person hostage. Just ask the newbie hikikomori who’ve never touched the Old Web let alone grass.
(replying to Longhorner):
This might be too suggestive of violence . . .
Uh, what? That’s not what I’m going for at all. I think trolling Matt-kun has always been a distraction, anyway, if that’s what you mean. Europans have solved goddamned missing persons cases federal investigators couldn’t solve, so I’m hoping this is enough to get us on the trail to the truth.
ObjectNull:
I’ll just tell you the truth. I was there.
IckyInsanius:
Nani!???
BrrrrrImCold:
He was there! Guys, guys, he was- wait where’s that?
Silliana (replying to BrrrrrImCold):
He was there! Guys, guys, he was . . .
Questeps
Greyspell (OP):
There?
Tiramissyou:
Damn, I jump into a new Questdeaths thread and lo and behold I’m being quoted! This is getting good
ObjectNull:
I was there. As in, I survived all ten months of Questdepths.
Andouillener (replying to ObjectNull):
I was there. As in, I played Questdepths . . .
Bull shit. Questeps never made it out of alpha you little larper
~Cloud~:
Ooooo, the plot thickens! OwO
4W0K3N:
Doing what he loved in a coma?
ObjectNull:
Development never ceased. I can confirm that every God-King and Deepwalker got to participate in the beta test.
Greyspell (OP):
Confirm with pics, you roleplayer. What’s the Morgulhost connection?
Philofolio:
Does anyone remember when KotR got hacked in 2036? I read that servers were down for a few days, and Nazgul Group got UMs, Socials, payment info from it.
(replying to ObjectNull):
Development never ceased. I can confirm . . .
As in the beta test is ongoing? Are you the real deal?
ObjectNull:
Any day now they’ll announce it. But the beta ended a long time ago.
Greyspell (OP) (replying to ObjectNull):
Any day now they’ll announce it. . . .
DM me, please.
SirPrize:
Europan scum can go bathe in their own smegma for all I fucking care. Every goddamned day you fatass ingrates are on my every feed with your questeps bullshit. You know what? Why don't you code your own fucking AI-powered engine to code your own fucking game where you can all bathe in the virtual shit of your dreams. Or aren't you all too busy hunched over your slime-encrusted keyboards in your little low-tech slums retyping the past because nobody in any modern medium will accept your stench? You contribute nothing to humanity. You demand precious power and water that would be better spent on even the most grotesque IRL menials. Parasites. Today I am rinsing my hands of your filth. Get gone, begone with the rest of the runoff of the past, because the future is coming, I am very much personally arranging for its arrival, and none of you low-life neo-luddite mancavemen jerkoffs are invited.
Longhorner (MOD):
‘Kay, I’m locking this thread. The shitposting is getting out of control and it’s not worth Europa getting blamed for more death threats. Site’s hanging on by a thread as is. Please refrain from creating new Questdeaths threads.