ChatGPT Employee's AI-Made MMO Shut Down in 3 Days

Ever heard of an MMO that lived for only three days? Normally, a game shutting down that fast would be a sad story, but this one comes with a twist: it was an AI-generated ripoff of Old School RuneScape, and it got a legal smackdown.

The game was called Elderwood, and it was "created" by a ChatGPT employee. We use quotes around "created" because the whole thing was vibecoded—basically, the developer leaned on AI to generate the game rather than building it from scratch. That's a new level of lazy, and it didn't take long for the folks at Jagex, the company behind Old School RuneScape, to notice.

Elderwood went live and was almost immediately hit with a legal takedown. The game survived for just three days before it was forced offline. That might be a record for the shortest lifespan of an MMO, and honestly, it's hard to feel bad about it. This wasn't a passion project from a small indie team; it was AI-generated slop that copied someone else's work.

The fact that a ChatGPT employee was behind this makes it even more embarrassing. You'd think someone working at an AI company would know better than to rip off a beloved game like Old School RuneScape. But here we are. The takedown was swift, and Elderwood is already gone.

For fans of Old School RuneScape, this is probably satisfying to see. Jagex has a long history of protecting its intellectual property, and they didn't waste any time going after this one. It's a reminder that AI can't just copy whatever it wants—there are still laws and companies willing to enforce them.

So what's the takeaway here? AI might make it easier to churn out games, but it doesn't make you immune to copyright law. If you're going to build something, maybe actually build it instead of letting a machine do the work and hoping no one notices. Elderwood is a cautionary tale for anyone thinking they can shortcut their way to an MMO.

What do you think? Should AI-generated games be allowed to exist if they're clearly ripping off another title? Or is this exactly the kind of thing that needs to be shut down? Let us know in the comments.