Tibia was much smaller, we are talking about a time when level 20-30 was a medium level and level 30-40 considered high level. Powergaming for levels was frowned upon and limited by the huge respawn times and limited spawns.
The general atmosphere was relaxed and hunting was considered much less important than nowadays.
Roleplaying existed, because the leveling opportunities where limited.
We built big fortresses out of parcels. We built zoos with a lot of parcels and summoned animals. We had manasitters who were professional rune sellers, just waiting for mana all day. They used their time chatting with other players and advertising their service.
We played soccer games where we used dead bears as football.
We had players who organised a tavern and sold drinks to thirsty adventurers.
I will never forget the intensity of the PVP fights. Every single death was meaningful due to impact.
We were able to keep our opponents in PZ and were able to hunt to gain money which was impossible for our opponents. We started to win battles, our coordination got better and we were bleeding them out financially.
The second Tibian world war was “Alliance” versus “Darkside”. It is fair to make a comparison that Alliance vs. LAH was like WW1 and Alliance vs. Darkside was like WW2.
The use of auto-aiming tools, macro-SD-attacks and bot-leveling of characters by darkside made the war hard to win. They unlocked Pandoras box, opened the lid wide and never looked back.
The Alliance vs. Darkside war resulted in a clear divide in the community. There was the shrinking RPG-side and the botters, auto-aimers and cheaters on the other side. If the second war layed the foundation to the destruction of the old community, the third one finally washed it all away.
You, the players, have an impact on the game and its development. You are a part of the Tibian community and your behaviour impacts everyone else. I plead you, be interested in the old stories, learn from them, try to live your own story and involve yourself in the community. Leveling alone has no virtue, because it carries no emotional impact.
My advice to you is, play the “hard mode”. Don’t cheat, don’t scam, don’t be a dick. Good behaviour is harder in the short term, but you will have a more rewarding experience in the long term.
I would like to repeat again that Tibia is built on player interaction. If you destroy such interaction by leaving no competition for you, you will kill Tibia in the longterm.
It can be only a community effort to improve our community standards.
