EBay cracked down on sales of phones with Flappy Bird like NBC sidelined Bob Costas at the Sochi Olympics. It didn't take someone with pink eye to see why eBay banned Flappy Bird bidding wars, which reached $99,000 before eBay intervened.
According to the terms and conditions, which eBay kindly reminded naughty sellers via email, phone and tablets must be restored to factory settings before being auctioned. In other words, all apps must be cleared. That didn't stop some entrepreneurs from eluding the rules like a flappy bird navigating obstructive plumbing.
Ebay sellers continue to auction SD cards containing Flappy Bird while others sell their "services", i.e. the winner ships his or her device to the seller, who installs Flappy Bird and ships it back. Many fans flocked to Craigslist, which has no apparent block on selling phones with apps, where one lucky buyer could trade "a brand new car" or $1,000,000 for a phone with Flappy Bird.
While free flash websites exist to Flappy Bird online, some unfortunate souls downloaded fake Flappy Bird apps infected with malware. Originating in Russia and Vietnam, these versions appear identical to the real Flappy Bird but require text message verification upon installation.
Vietnamese creator Dong Nguyen removed the game from Google Play and Apple app stores on Feb. 8 after he deemed it too addictive. But being the world's self-appointed Flappy Bird interventionist may not have been the only reason he threw in the owl (Can't resist a good bird pun.).
Flappy Bird downloads exceeded 50 million from May 2013 to February 2014 with ad revenue reaching $50,000 per day. According to Nguyen's Twitter history, it was around this time he was inundated by criticism that his art ripped off Super Mario Brothers. In the peak of its popularity, Nguyen tweeted the game ruined his simple life.
Soon, he turned on his own game, calling its success "overrated" and released an update on Feb. 8 with new art to quiet critics. Later that same day, Nguyen announced he would remove the app.
If the past week seemed rough for him, the coming hours would be equal to playing Flappy Bird Level 25 with caffeine jitters. Fans harassed him with death threats, suicide threats, and wrongfully claimed he ended his own life in what may be the first death hoax for an indie game developer.
Since that fateful day in February, Nguyen reminded fans that he still makes games. His Super Ball Juggling and Shuriken Block creations are available for download as long as fans don't stress out the creator.
Paleontologists argue dinosaurs evolved from birds. So what happens after extinct flappy birds? "Life will find a way." Said Dr. Ian Malcom of Jurassic Park. Maybe there's hope flappy bird fans will find a life.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
