Ryzom, also known as The Saga of Ryzom, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) will commit suicide on 09.22.12.

From the Ryzom forums:

This late summer will mark a major turning point for Ryzom. It has been 8 years since Ryzom’s launch and since then we have always kept all three worlds and every character. This represents today over 500,000 players.

Unfortunately, with the current market and financial enviroment, we have had to make a difficult, but necessary decision, for the continuation of the game of Ryzom: Saturday 22 September, we will regroup and merge the communities and servers to form one single community, with one server. This will clear and reset all characters. Your account (login, password, etc.) will remain unchanged. Attention: the names of new characters will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis, so do not wait to recreate your character if you wish a particular name.

We know that you have spent a lot of time on your current characters. It is you that has helped keep this game running as long as it has. You are an unbelievable community that other MMO games and players envy. We would not have made this decision if there was an alternative, and we realise that many of you will be dissapointed. We ask for your support to make this transition as painless as possible.

Changes in the new world

Outposts will no longer give experience catalyzers.

All subscribed accounts will earn twice the XP of non-susbscribed accounts.

Adjustments of the prices of NPC vendors.

The WebIog has been improved to allow the easy addition of new applications (which could be encoded by players).

New achievement system.

Advantages of a new beginning

All players will be in the same universe and therefore you will have a more alive, interactive world.

The price asjustments and reset will restore the value of the dapper and trade.

You will be able to create multi-national guilds for advantages in online presence.

You can discover or rediscover Silan and Atys with your (new) friends.

With everyone starting again from scratch, you will be able to show others what you are capable of and who are the stronger and more skilled Homins of the New Ryzom.

More Customer Support available during the day and more frequent events.

Source: Ryzom forums