The thing with ancient civilizations “mysteriously [dying] out” is often less spectacular - it’s not a singular event, but more that maybe crops fail for a couple years, while some sort of pandemic devastates cities and collapses more centralized economies, so people gradually spread out.
Like, it’s almost a process with multiple factors. Not usually just “whoops! time to officially end Mayan Civilization™”
If you generalize the term “civilization” to be any sufficiently large group of people who have some sense of shared purpose or identity you could include gaming communities or even forums too
Things usually don’t just explode all at once though ofc sometimes there is abrupt change that causes a community to decay rapidly
The thing with ancient civilizations “mysteriously [dying] out” is often less spectacular - it’s not a singular event, but more that maybe crops fail for a couple years, while some sort of pandemic devastates cities and collapses more centralized economies, so people gradually spread out.
Like, it’s almost a process with multiple factors. Not usually just “whoops! time to officially end Mayan Civilization™”
Just look at the history of social media platforms.
If you generalize the term “civilization” to be any sufficiently large group of people who have some sense of shared purpose or identity you could include gaming communities or even forums too
Things usually don’t just explode all at once though ofc sometimes there is abrupt change that causes a community to decay rapidly