R.I.P. Flappy Bird

On February 8, 2014 Dong Nguyen, the creator of the newly popular app “Flappy Bird,” announced over Twitter that he would be taking the game down for good. Nguyen had been on social media throughout the day explaining his decision and what would be happening in the next 24 hours. His reasoning was bizarre but respectable. He explained, “I can call ‘Flappy Bird’ is a success of mine. But it also ruins my simple life. So now I hate it.” 

There was immediate outrage and support for Nguyen, seen through the 45,000 followers he gained following his tweet about the shutdown; however, many people, including myself, are still reeling from this quick decision.

I downloaded this game a couple of weeks ago when it began gaining fame. Since then I have experienced my fair share of the addictive aspects of the game. My roommates and I have been in a constant battle to see who can navigate the warped pipe maze to achieve the highest possible score before nose-diving to failure.

I can empathize with Nguyen who became addicted to his own game, losing sleep and socialization. But contrary to this negative, it is estimated that he was making over $50,000 a day. It takes a lot of guts to shut down a moneymaker like that, but he did it.

For those of you who have downloaded the game, keep on flapping. For the many who may never experience it, you are the lucky ones… Or are you?

Flappy Bird, you lived a good life. You may have brought disappointments, but you also brought triumphs. Thank you for the distractions from work and school and also for bringing us together and giving us goals, as worthless as they may be.

We will never forget you.

5/24/13 – 2/9/14