Thank You Kevan

Thank You Kevan
A collection of messages from the community to Kevan Davis, the creator of Urban Dead.

A Message to the Community
As Urban Dead reaches the end of its service, this page is dedicated to preserving the voices of its players. Whether you want to share your fondest memories, express gratitude, or leave a message for Kevan, this is the place to do it. We invite everyone—survivors, zombies, and those who once roamed Malton—to add their open letters below.

How to Submit a Letter
To add your own open letter, edit this page, and create a subsection for your message at the bottom of the page == Your Name or Alias == (Write your letter here) or click here

Thank You!

Soup/Loke

Thank you for making Urban Dead, Kevan! My go to game for killing some time and zombies when I was in a boring meeting or waiting for someone. Just log in on my phone and do my actions. I made myself a home in this strange browser game which I maintained for many years, even when it seemed to be forgotten by most. I've made friends I don't know anything about other than their characters name and that we shared a common house in Yagoton. I was very glad to be a part of the reunion where I met many new friends and got to explore even more of Malton and its history with them before the end. My first alt is almost 19 years now, so I can safely say Urban Dead has been there for a good chunk of my adult life. Sad to see it end, but that's the way the world crumbles.

Haifinnesoup

Bane Croooow

What a cool thing you did, Kevan. Thank you.

Axe Hack

Dear Kevan :

I first want to start by saying Urban Dead was what got me through my high school years. During my years in high school, I was always that weird nerdy kid. From anime, manga, and video games, I had always had a fascination with the zombie genre. The 2000's was a really good decade for the zombie genre, what with series like Highschool of the Dead, Resident Evil and Shaun of the Dead becoming instant cult classics. I first discovered Urban Dead after finding your zombie infection simulator. Man, I must have spent hours watching those dots move around, simulating a zombie outbreak.

Urban Dead was probably my first MMO, and probably many other's first MMO. The internet was still young, we were all on Windows XP, and the concept of a MMO really hasn't taken off yet. This was probably one of the earliest examples of a community forming around a game. A game where you could play together with other people. A game where you could do almost anything with a bit of imagination and the theater of mind. It was a cheap game that ran well on most PCs from the time, and as a kid in high school, all we had are cheap office PCs that our parents probably did their taxes on.

The community was so great that I practically lived on this wiki when I was in high school, helping out where I could. My time on the wiki's sysops team was probably my greatest achievement back then (high school me set that bar pretty low). I remember some concerns I had that I had emailed you about, about some players impersonating one of my toons - you didn't have to do anything to address those concerns, but you did anyway, changing the font of the game to make zeros and O's more distinguishable from each other. It's such a minor issue looking back at it now, but it showed you really cared about your players.

There was a chat I had with another player a very long time ago...They've asked me, "How long do you expect to play Urban Dead for?", and I answered, "Until the game dies." Ironic, how after thinking I probably wouldn't be keeping that promise since retiring almost 10 years ago, that I would be pulled back in by another player trying to get a reunion together, right in time to play until the game dies...

Urban Dead, in my opinion, will always be about it's community. While the game itself may be going away, so long as that community continues to exist, Urban Dead will never cease to exist. On behalf of the community, thank you for Urban Dead. You created a game that had a lasting impact on so many people. While often times it might seem like you're not involved with the community as much, you've managed to create one of the greatest communities on the internet.

Thank you, Kevan, for everything that you have given us.

--Axe Hack Talk 03:32, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

Enoch the Watcher/Quinn Inuit

Dear Kevan :

Thanks for creating this and keeping it going for all of these years. I had a great time, met some great people, and learned a lot about life and friendship. This started out as a game, developed a community, and is now an internet legend. Congratulations on nearly two decades of being awesome.

To all of the other players out there, thanks for the good times, the lunacy, and even the headshots. I hope I added as much to your enjoyment of the game as you added to mine.

--Enoch the Watcher/Quinn Inuit Talk 03:54, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

SenisterDenister/Welsfred

Kevan,

Had loads of fun over the years. Almost made it to 20 years with you, been playing since '05. Wish you all the best. Shame it had to end this way. Not good with words. Sorry for getting emotional.

Regards,

-- SenisterDenister

Natick

I first found Urban Dead in the halcyon days of 2005. I wasn't early enough for my character to have arrived "during the early outbreaks," but twenty years is twenty years. I was there for the construction of the Lexicon on the wiki - a worldbuilding exercise that still evokes fond memories. In retrospect, it's crazy that a simple browser game inspired that many people who were so invested in this collection of squares that they created an origin story for it.

Twenty years is a long time, and as life dragged me around my country, my participation dropped off from time to time. But I came back again and again, and here I am now, at the end of all things. It's kind of a shame that you couldn't hold out until the 3rd of July - the twenty-year anniversary. But politics is politics.

Sometimes I wonder why you let this game exist for so long. It must be costing you money. I've watched the player base drop; I've watched suburbs go functionally dead. But somehow, there are still survivor enclaves, and zombie hordes that occasionally clean us out, and somehow the Yagoton Revivification Clinic is always there to make us whole again. Your little game survived from the wild and free internet of the 2000s even into the commercialized, commodified internet of today, and somehow there are people giving you their fifty clicks per visit like nothing has changed.

By the way, I also enjoyed "Escape from the SS Borgarís." I'd get ya that freeze-dried coffee if I could, but the way things are going in my country, Malton looks tranquil by comparison, and my situation isn't exactly secure.

--X1M43 Talk 04:01, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

Dislycan

I'm not great with words, but thank you for the two decades of fun. I hope Urban Dead exceeded your wildest hopes and dreams. I'll always cherish the memories I made here, and the community I was able to be a part of. Dislycan (talk) 04:10, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

DDTNM/IBDead2U/CuthbertTwillie/Bluden G Utts/DoktorRev

Kevan, thank you for maintaining this fun game for as long as you have. It has been a blast playing for all these years, and I've enjoyed sharing the game with members of my hordes and survivor groups (though I stopped playing the survivors years ago). Zangz bar arr zah habbah z!hmz, brazzar! TommyVee (talk) 04:15, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

Dijon Sanders

Hey Kevan,

This game has brought me so much joy over the years. I first started playing as an angsty teenager in high school, and now, in my 30s with graying hair, I’m still here - time really does fly.

I’ve met so many great people and made memories I’ll cherish for the rest of my days. A part of me always thought UD would last forever, but I suppose all good things must come to an end. I can’t thank you enough for everything.

As for the UD-shaped hole in my heart… maybe I’ll fill it with booze and bad decisions (JK - probably just Candy Crush or something). Either way, when the time comes to pull the plug, you can count on me to pour out the finest malt liquor in UD's honor. See y’all at the crossroads. --Dijon Sanders Talk 02:43, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

AndyMatthews

Just wanted to put out a short message saying thanks for keeping the game up over the years. It's one of the oldest browser games I still play (others I lost interest in or they ended up getting shuttered as well). I've had a great time with it. AndyMatthews (talk) 06:14, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

Richard of Earth

It has been a great ride. It is a wonderful thing that you created a fun environment for the players to create more fun and boy did they create. Thanks for giving us this opportunity to be citizens of Malton. Richard of Earth (talk) 06:19, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

Hagnat

I believe the wiki and you, kevan, knows how much i loved playing urban dead, and how much dedication i showed towards the wiki in the early days.
What a lot of people dont know is that by doing so made me a better person than i was before.

I was an OP from 2006 to 2009, and i only stopped because i had to focus on my university thesis, BS in Computer Sciences.
By improving the tools in the wiki, I managed to hone my web development skills here, and make a living out of that IRL.
I am now a Backend Software Engineer (don't deal with frontend anymore), and my journey as a software engineer begun here on this wiki.

Interacting with so many cultures in a single game allowed me to open my eyes to the world with a connection to their people, not just nice pictures on magazines.
It ingrained in me the yearn to meet those cultures personally, not just to visit them but to live them.
I moved to Sao Paulo and Amsterdam, two extremelly diverse cosmopolitan cities.
I got to meet and interact with those cultures i only got to interact virtually before.
I managed to understand more about my country and the world because of this

This game and community left an extremelly postive impact in my life,
and for that i will be extremelly thankful.

So long, and thank you... --hagnat 13:00, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

Tarkenton

Thank you Kevan for providing so many people with such an incredibly fun sandbox to play in.

Many of us have spent thousands upon thousands of hours playing UD over the best part of two decades, building online communities and creating life long friendships with folks from all over the world. UD has had a profound impact on all of us. It has been a very special game and one that we'll always remember and talk about. Thank you for giving us that gift. Be proud of your accomplishment.

All the best to you and your loved ones and again, from the heart, thank you.

Tarkenton [Knights Templar]

Eerongal

Thanks for a great game! I'm sad to see it go, but I spent many hours with this game back in the day.

While I haven't really played in quite some time, I would occasionally log back in to see how things were going here and there. I had a lot of fun times hanging out in Tikhon Medical and reviving patients, barricading and protecting the people in the building, and coordinating said defense.

Eerongal

GhostKillah-FPDF Sinonfyre-RRF

Kevan,

Thank you for the many wonderful years with your game. I had always hoped you would be able to modernize it and continue the game I have spent years on and donated to in order to continue its existence. To make it 20 years is no small feat! Be proud of what you were able to do with this game! Please save the source code and consider to sell to an independent developer so it can come back online in the future. I would be thoroughly pleased to be able to play this game once again. This game and its community have been a large part of my life and I have made several incredible friends through your game. For all the great times and amazing sieges this game has provided, I raise my glass to you sir!

My gracious thank you, GhostKillah/Sinonfyre

Pedentic

I love reading all the stories that occurred in Malton, and was astonished to discover that I could participate in those stories! Urban Dead was a lot of fun when I played in high school, and the wiki skills I picked up here helped get me a job in college so that's neat. It's been real, y'all. Or at least as real as a fictional zombie apocalypse simulator can be. Thanks for the good memories, Kevan. --Pedentic 16:29, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

Bodici22

I can't begin to describe how important this game is to me. Your game has given me friendship. My pub mates in the Dalley Library in Peppardville have been my friends for longer than most of my real life friends. As a teenager in high school in 2006 until now being an adult in my 30s, checking UD has been part of my life. I wrote and drew fanart for this game on high school. I wrote a paper about this game in college. I'm absolutely crushed that we don't get to make it to 20 years. Thank you. Thank you so much. In 2009 I bought an urban Dead shirt, and I am buying a new one to carry the memories with me. I will never stop appreciating everything this game did for me. ~ with love from Bodici22, with the blue hair and the cake vodka, slapping everyone with her newspaper.

Deathbymoshpit

Back in 2005, this game gave me my first real experience with an online community. I joined the Ridleybank Resistance Front, and for years, that group and its message board felt like home. Few online games have ever matched that sense of connection for me. For 20 years I've been roaming this city, and there's nothing else like this.

Kevan, you truly made something remarkable here, and want you to know how impactful this game has been for so many of us. Best of luck in whatever you do in the future

Riffmongous/Warnie/TAKA

Thanks for keeping the game up for as long as you did, and thank you UD for all the memories.

To all my old comrades in the SoC, CDF, IG646, thanks for all the fun times down through the years,the strikes, the forums, the camaraderie.

Fred Dullard

Dear Kevan:

I have been having fun here since 2005, and I will always be grateful for the game and the community here. I wish you well. The RRF was not my first online community, but it has absolutely been my favorite, and your game was the framework it has lived in. Thank you for your work keeping this going for so long.

Rib15/Slambammam/Barnabus Collins/Blarney Stoner

Dear Kevan,

This game has given me many hours of fun and community since 2007. Thanks for keeping it going for so long. It was one of the small things I did each day during Covid that kept me going--and thanks to the great people in FoD, the Scourge, the Brain Curators, and GHOST. I played solo for a long time, and if I had it to do over I'd join a group right away. I will miss it. Best of luck in all your future ventures. - Ron

Mercinus3

At the end of 2005, I had been invited to join the game during the heights of one of the greatest sieges in the game's history. While this game had not been my first rodeo at an MMO, nor will it be the last, but this was the first to show me the means of having communities, with The Warseers being the first. It wasn't until I had joined The Fortress that I had found my home in the game. While it is sad to see this game go, I am glad to say that this game has been a part of my life and have met many wonderful people that have come from the game (both online and in person). And those memories are all thanks to you, Kevan, and the game that is Urban Dead. May you have all the successes in the future.

To my comrades in The Fortress, thank you for the memories. Hope that there will be a chance in the future to ride out once more.

-- Mercinus3 18:55, 05 March 2025

Crabe

Thanks, Kevan, wow! What a ride. I was here in 2010, lost the game for a while, found it again during Covid.

There are great people here, you and others and I am glad to know them.

Crabe 19:36, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

DirtMan

Thank you Kevan, for 20 great, brain munching, years.

-- DirtMan

Baraga | Johnny Twotoes/Threefingers

Hi Kevan

I'm not sure you realize how much your game has changed my life. It got me through some of the loneliest years of my young adult life, and it gave me friends I will cherish forever.

Not half bad, for a low tech game released in 2005 :)

I'll miss coordinating with local groups throughout Malton, I'll miss visiting Blackmore, the Burch, the Malls, the Powe Arms, the Forts, the Mansions and all those other silly little squares in the slightly bigger squares we called suburbs in the giant square you called Malton. All of which you probably never expected to hold so much meaning for so many of us.

Thank you for building this playground. Thank you for not making a giant cashgrab out of it. Thank you for keeping the lights on for almost 20 years.

Thank you.

PB&J 21:13, 5 March 2025 (UTC)

Gwrrty/Rad Dio

I've been on this game for the majority of my life. Feels like a friend I won't see again. Thanks for the memories, Kevan.

Numbfoot

Kevan, thank you for the years of entertainment you have provided us. It's hard to believe that I've been on this game since I became a dad in 2007, and that it's just going to go dark next week. Malton will always have a special place in my heart. It's passing will go down as another marker on the path of how the Internet was stolen from the people and given to the corporations and the lawmakers. This was a special place and the world will be slightly worse with its passing.

Numbfoot 2007-2025

DanceDanceRevolution

While it’s probably the right time for this to end, it still feels strange that the ride is finally over.

I started in 2008 because my friends at high school were all playing, and stayed on long after we’d graduated and grown out of the game. I learned a lot interacting with people over those years, and I feel like my persona evolved and grew as I grew up in real life.

I made some great friends, a few nemeses, and learned a lot about structures, governance and management through the work I put into the wiki. Who would have thought.


I don’t know the exact time and cost that’s been required from you over the past 18 years to keep the game and wiki running, but I know it was more than we deserved with the size of the playerbase over the past decade. For that, I thank you.

It’s been a privilege to do my part in helping out where I can and even though it's the right time, I’ll still miss having this place around. DANCEDANCEREVOLUTION 00:07, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Van

UD hosted some of my best memories from a multiplayer game, and it was in such a deceptively simple browser MMO. Thanks for everything, Kevan. Malton may be dead at last but it will live on in all of us (undead, you might say).

To any other members of THEM out there, take care! May we meet again someday. - YS

Parham/VragNaroda/Blake Foley/Zalim Carnek

I'd be lying if I said I was happy about this - I've been playing this game for half my life after all - but I understand that all good things must end, and I appreciate you keeping it up for 20 years. I'm proud to say I've been playing from the first month the game came online, and I intend to stay logged in until the second it goes offline.

I'd be ecstatic if if there were some way to keep it going, but I've very much enjoyed your silly little zombie game and will never forget it, or the people I've met here. It was a remnant of a simpler time of MMOs, an amazing sandbox to play in with friends. No one did it better and I doubt anyone will.

Barhah and best wishes,

Parham (The Flowers of Decay)
VragNaroda (LUE)
Blake Foley (The Scourge)
Zalim Carnek (none)

TheBardofOld

Like many others, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but I think I always knew this was coming. All things end, at some point. That said, thank you for everything. Seriously. It's been a wild ride. I've met a lot of amazing people, new friends, and learned a lot along the way.

Derek Sutherland (Owsleybank Beautification Committee)
Juliette Reau (ЯHR/Dual Nature)
Anthony Griff (none)

Elingold

I had so much fun with this game over the years. This char was born in Griggs and made a group called Edmund General United Edmund General United (https://wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Edmund_General_United) So it's just me hanging out in almost the furthest pace from a mall out in Griggs .. waiting for the end.

But this cracks me up I remember I was working for a tuna boat and actually paid for an advert

https://www.theoceanharvest.com/zombie-resistant-albacore-tuna

back in the day (it was near Halloween) and we got some sales from your users .. with the idea being you could launch tuna cans against zombies and then also eat the tuna afterward. Canned tuna is a great dual use food. Not only can our tuna and crab can stay fresh for years as you are hold up in a local PD or Junkyard barricading like a maniac to hold off the horde, but yes you can use them as a weapon.

It was pretty funny I thought and it worked!

I'm going to miss this one.. but I've got a fat OHV server in Canada that could probably host this thing if you want .. just saying

Thank you from Alice Morgan

To Kevan Davis:

Thank you so much for keeping this game alive for as long as you have. I've only been here since 2021, but Urban Dead was my first MMO and I'll never forget it. It's going to be weird when it's gone. Have a good one, Kevan.

Here's to the memories! Good luck out there, everybody.

User:Alice Morgan (talk)

Thank you from EasyDinner

Thank you Kevan for keeping the game running for as long as you could, I met many wonderful players and made lots of good memories. This game and the people that played it have gotten me through some tough times in the past. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours.

Thanks from Walter Krenshaw

Thank you Kevan for all the memories. I started in 2009 and never really stopped. I will forever have an Urban Dead shaped hole in my bookmarks (and my heart).

And thanks to everyone else for creating such a vibrant community. I've been running solo for almost 16 years, but I'll always remember fondly my fellow like-minded hermits who found themselves drawn to Nation Library.

User:WalterKrenshaw (talk)

Spiderzed

I've joined in 2009 because of a blog post by Jeff Rients promising mayhem galore playing a zombie. I've stayed because of the qualities that were getting more and more sparse on the internet with every passing year. Urban Dead was a product from a different era, of personal Geocities homepages, of Gamefaqs TXT guides, of amateurish flash animutations. A more raw and unflitered time, where you might run into neo-nazis, creeps and trolls (and all those three things also existed in UD), but where people also created and shared content for the sheer joy of it (and there was and is also a lot of that in UD, as seen on this wiki!)

UD was a holdover from an older, better internet, staying around steady and unaltered, as the world around it changed into a hyper-monetized, enshittified and hyper-commercialized parody of itself. Even as the player numbers dwindled, UD was always a comforting rock to return to, a brief 10 minute respite in an internet that isn't anymore made for the user or by the user.

It will always be sorely missed.

-- Spiderzed▋ 21:38, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Yo Ris

Seems I started playing later than the most, in 2014; but still, 10.5 years is quite something!

Kevan, thanks a lot for building this game! I enjoyed it a lot over these years, and I hope you can put a revivification syringe to it in due time!

Yo Ris (talk) 12:36, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

Aichon

Hey Kevan. I hope it comes as no surprise that we all have personal stories about how this project of yours had a disproportionate and unexpected impact on our lives. I've got my in-game stories too, of course, but I'll let others share those.

When I started with UD, I was a Computer Science grad student living on a stipend, spending 5-6 days/week in a cramped office with three other grad students. Tinkering on the wiki, writing userscripts, and running the math to figure out AP management best practices during my downtime were not only ways to pass the time while waiting for my research to finish processing: they were oftentimes some of the happiest parts of my day. By the time I entered the "real world", I didn't have much I was excited to show from my graduate program, but I was able to use those wiki pages and userscripts in my portfolio. And yes, I actually got a job offer after talking about UD during an interview ("Oh! You were the guy that sent in the wiki links and userscripts? We've been wanting to talk about that ever since we saw it!").

And, as it turns out, people are people, whether they're in "real life" or a game, so when you created a platform for people to play together, what you actually created was a platform for speed learning all of the important life lessons on "soft" topics.

I learned that effective communication takes effort. I learned to keep my cool when others are getting heated. I learned how to provide others with extrinsic motivation and how I can help them find their intrinsic motivation. I learned to lead by example. I learned conflict resolution. I learned to remain objective. I learned to nurture talent in others. I learned what it means to grow a healthy organizational culture. I learned that we need different people in different roles and the value each brings. I learned the importance of identifying and understanding my own priorities so that I know when something is a good fit...and when it's not. I learned the importance of throwing myself into the things I say "yes" to. I learned to say "no" to good things because they aren't the most important thing. I learned how to work with what I've got. I learned what it takes to organize and market events for hundreds of people. I learned how to organize focused "strike teams" of capable individuals and how best to make use of hundreds of disorganized "volunteers". I learned the value of peer and mentor relationships. I learned that not all good things last.

And while I still have more learning to do, these are all lessons I've been applying ever since.

Over the last 15 years, I've trained dozens—if not hundreds—of volunteers and have been leading teams every step along the way. Depending on the day, it can look an awful lot like leading a strike team or horde. And my day job has had me doing "project rescue" work for multi-billion dollar companies that can feel a lot like dropping into a ruined suburb with a group of survivors: scout the situation, triage what needs done, and make rapid advancements to turn things around, all while facing opposition from people who prefer the status quo. More broadly, as my career has shifted from a technical track to a management/leadership track over the last 15 years, I've seen the "soft" lessons I learned in UD come up nearly every day. People need motivation. People need communication. People need to understand priorities. I got to cut my teeth on those in UD.

I'm sure you know you made something special, but I imagine it's still hard for you to wrap your brain around the idea that your zombie game has been changing lives for two decades now. And yet, here we are. You can dismiss it as luck or "right time, right place" if you want, but that doesn't change the impact your work has had on thousands of peoples' lives. Intentional or not, you created this. Thank you.

So while it's sad that this is the end, UD also prepared me to accept and move on when a good thing ends. Just one more way that it's prepared us for life.

Thanks, cheers, and BARHAH!

—Aichon— 20:32, 7 March 2025 (UTC)

Laszlo the 5th

Joined in 2022 and played on and off. Sorry I was late to the party, I can tell lots of good times were had, lots of friends were made. I guess I'm not the most qualified to say this out of everyone else, but.. uhh.. thanks for everything, Kevan. I mean it. I had a blast, even if I never fully understood the intrinsics. Love what you do.