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The "Good Old Days" of MMORPGs won't EVER come back: Mystery is Dead, and We Killed It.

<center>![thumb.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmSJKrQ5v5PGwAKTaBJrLHv5bqBb8A8v2tqF9e3fxX41Hu/thumb.png)</center>

<center> *Source: [OldSchool Runescape](https://apkpure.com/br/old-school-runescape/com.jagex.oldscape.android)* </center>

<center>![_divisoria-classica](https://i.imgur.com/4ghvHRp.png)</center>

## **The Good Old Days!**

If you're a gamer since the 1990's or early 2000's, you probably already played a lot of the classic, old MMORPGs like **Runescape, Tibia, Lineage II, Everquest, Ultima Online, and World of Warcraft**.

And I'm sure that you have lots of **great memories from those times**! Those were the days, weren't them? **Mysteries being discovered, locations being explored, secrets being revealed**.

You probably remember **adventuring around the world** together with a group of friends that you made in-game, all newbies like yourself. **No one knew exactly what was going on**, but together, at least, you were stronger and were able to stand your ground against the PKs or against some boss you would end up encountering by sheer luck!

<center>![ever.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmcoLtpHZ3iDJBUkjX9kF4fZgUcdzFCc985cYm4xe5H19r/ever.png)</center>

<center> *Source: [Everquest](http://mmorpgbr.com.br/everquest-mmorpg-classico-pode-ser-jogado-gratuitamente-ate-8-de-maio-inclusive-em-servidores-premium/)* </center>

You probably remember **hearing some rumor**, either in the "World Chat" or in one of the dozens of forums that existed back then: a powerful item was a  rare drop from that monster! A secret quest could be done in a newly launched area! A fancy title that was unlocked when you did something crazy and stupid!

**And there you went!** Only with your courage and your newbie sword, you adventured to discover more about the dangerous yet magical world of the MMORPG you liked.

**But nowadays? Pfffff. Just crap!**

All games are easy, everything is too simple and streamlined, and nothing is fun and engaging anymore. The new generations doesn't know what a good MMORPG is!

"**Nobody knows how to make games anymore these days**" you think.

"**Back in the old days, everything was better**".

<center>**But... is this really true?**</center>


<center>![_divisoria-classica](https://i.imgur.com/4ghvHRp.png)</center>

## **Games Didn't Changed: The Whole Internet Changed**

The truth is that the games didn't changed. What changed was the whole internet.

Back in the 1990's or 2000's, the internet was still "a new frontier": no one actually knew what was going on.

<center>![ragnbarok.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmQNctWyBNQF6vmRwJNWDhg2Hc4hmSC69xjW9MjNNQtoi8/ragnbarok.png)</center>

<center> *Source: [Ragnarok](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_5gGWH8RtM)* </center>

At those times, all MMORPGs had mysteries and rumours because **EVERYTHING** was difficult to find. Everyone had slow computers with horrible, unstable internet connections (the majority of people had dial-up internet!). Things were so bad that people was afraid of alt-tabbing the game to open an internet browser, because this usually crashed everything and borked the computer.

We also didn't had smartphones or other devices in order to **Google all our questions**. Search engines themselves were bad and took long time to index websites.

And, even if we searched on the internet for answers, we usually weren't able to find any: fan sites, forums and wikis were amateur-ish or just incomplete. **No one was a "professional gamer" back them**: people maintained those websites as a hobby, not as a job. There wasn't anyone creating content, doing all the calculations, creating in-depth guides, then putting everything online for everyone else to read.

**Because of these circumstances, rumours, secrets and mysteries floured across all MMORPGs.**

I've been a Tibia player for a long time. In **Tibia**, people said that the "**Wolf Tooth Chain**" (a necklace without any in-game properties) gave bad luck to the player, reducing the drop chances of any kind of loot. Similarly, the "**Crystal Necklace**" (another necklace without any utility) gave good luck. Both items were just cosmetic and didn't had any effect whatsoever, but EVERYONE was afraid of the Wolf Tooth Chain!! People went as far as threwing them in the water in order to remove them from the game!

And all other games also had similar myths and mysteries.

In **Ragnarök Online**, there was a rumour that the Porings (the weakest creature in-game that didn't even attacked the players) had a ultra-small chance of dropping the most expensive item of the game.

<center>![image.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmS1qQmiTiPwzbaCfjdfopMM5RMyjP43m1uUDgbr49P9u3/image.png)</center>

<center> *Source: [Ragnarok](https://ragnarok.fandom.com/wiki/Poring)* </center>

In **RF Online**, there was an end-game class called "Driver" that was able to control huge mechanoids... people said that these players could one-shot anything in the game!

But, after all these years, the internet is not the crazy wild west that it was before.

**The technology improved**: computers got stronger, internet connections got faster and more reliable.

**The content improved**: the small fan-made communities were replaced by professionals that make their living creating gaming content. Youtubers, Streamers, Gaming Portals.

Now, you can easily find anything about your favourite game just by searching on Google. **The information is always correct**: people already checked everything, made the maths and statistical analysis. You know exactly what's wrong and what's right.

You can easily find out the "**meta**" of the game: which class is the best for PvE, which class is the best for PvP, which area is the most optimized for exp/hour and which monsters you should be hunting to get the best gold/hour.

You can easily look the Poring's loot table, that was data-mined from some leaked files of Ragnarok, and discover that, in fact, they don't drop that ultra-rare item. They just drop newbie items, as expected.

You can easily watch a streamer playing as a Bellato Driver and see that, in fact, he can't one-shot enemies. He's not actually invincible, as you thought in the past.

<center>![ultima.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmWcQ8yW4NFKdeSN7mxh1fZbfoU7VC1TMGjZ7kNTWyPLcx/ultima.png)</center>

<center> *Source: [Ultima Online](http://recantoadormecido.com.br/2015/10/07/um-dos-primeiros-mmorpgs-do-mundo-ultima-online-e-parabenizado-pelos-seus-18-anos/)* </center>

You can easily look around and find out that, in fact, the Wolf Tooth Chain doesn't give bad luck on loots... in fact, you find out that, in Tibia, loots are pre-determined when the monster spawns, so anyone killing a specific would have the exactly same loot. How people found out about this? A retired Game Master leaked the information, or an ex-developer said in an interview.

<center>![_divisoria-classica](https://i.imgur.com/4ghvHRp.png)</center>

## **Is this Good, or is this Bad?**

**Individually speaking, this is good**! If a player asks a question or has any doubt about about the game (mechanics, enemies, loot, quests, etc), **he should have access to truthful, reliable information**.

Otherwise, he would become **frustrated** with the game and end up leaving sooner rather than later: no one wants to spend a month playing a character just to find out that it's not what he actually wanted. 

But, **collectively speaking**, knowing about everything **kills one of the pillars of the MMORPGs: the exploration, the mystery**. When you don't need to do things by yourself to find out what's good and what's bad, **you're not exploring the game, you're just repeting whatever the community is saying**.

You're not playing the class you want: you're playing the class that everyone else said it's good.

You're not killing the monster you want: you're killing the monster everyone else said it's the best (for leveling, for making money, etc.)

You're not doing the quests you're interested: you're doing the quests that gives the best, most expensive rewards.

<center>![rf_online.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmcH83Qoeidjf2SEip2fLX5VYpPGAUtDX56Ssu1tGo1rth/rf_online.png)</center>

<center> *Source: [RF Online](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ytdoc)* </center>

<center>**"But I'll keep playing as in the old days! I won't look up for information and just do things on my own!"**</center>

The problem is: it's impossible to avoid this kind of content.

You're playing a MMORPG because you like being part of a community. And the community is sharing and talking about this kind of content (guides, tips, how-to, meta).

In-game chat. Guild chat. Forums. Wikis. Social Media. Subreddit.

**If you're avoiding all these channels, you're also avoid all the community of the game.** And that's very shitty: you're playing a roleplaying game in which you can't interact the other players.

Also, unfortunately, nowdays **games are being developed assuming that you, the player, is reading this kind of content**. If you're actively avoiding accessing any kind of guide/tips/meta content, you're also shooting yourself in the foot and hindering your progress; in the end, the game becomes very boring and grindy: things that other players are doing in 1 hour you're taking 5. When everyone's in Area 10, you're still (alone) in Area 2. When everyone's trading equipments for Level 90, you're still on Level 30.

<center>![_divisoria-classica](https://i.imgur.com/4ghvHRp.png)</center>

## **We Can't Go Back in Time**

Unfortunately, we can't go back in time. Technology will keep progressing and, with it, the internet and the gaming communities.

<center>![image.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmWQH34KruEQNH2eiXEywYxfgke7zePVLtGJCm1g7XHNZk/image.png)</center>

<center> *Source: [Wordpress](https://shriyakakkar.wordpress.com/2019/06/02/can-i-go-back-in-time/)* </center>

Thus, we are not able to go back to the "good old times" of the MMORPGs, in which misteries and secrets were still around, waiting for you to discover. For better of for worse, we (the community) find out all those things WAY TO QUICK after any release (a new game, a new patch, a new expansion).

In just a few hours, everyone already knows about the new monsters, the new strategies, the new equipments, and how to combo everything together to become uber-strong.

There are lots of companies that are **trying to profit over this nostalgia sentiment, releasing "classic" versions of their games**: Runescape Old School, Classic World of Warcraft, Aion Classic...

But the truth is that the problem is NOT the game. It's the whole ecossystem around the game. We can play the EXACT same game as we had in 1999, but everything else will be different.

There won't be mysteries and explorations anymore.

There won't be newbies anymore.

Everyone is already an experienced MMORPG player that already know all the tricks on the books to level up fast, to loot the best equipments, to speedrun the most difficult dungeons.

<center>**Mystery is dead, and we killed it.**</center>

<center>![_divisoria-classica](https://i.imgur.com/4ghvHRp.png)</center>

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Thanks for reading this post, and until next time!

If you enjoyed the post, feel free to **follow me** as I'm routinely writing about **Gaming**, **Investment**, **Fitness** and **Writing**, and other random fun subjects like **Travel** and **Metal Detecting**!

<center>![_divisoria-classica](https://i.imgur.com/4ghvHRp.png) </center>

> *Unless stated otherwise, all images are created and owned by me, or from the game depicted on this post. Also, believe it or not, I'm not actually a squirrel! This handsome rodent in my profile picture is a character from 'Conker: Live & Reloaded'. [Here's Real Life me](https://ecency.com/introduceyourself/@luizeba/my-introduction-to-the-hive-community)!*
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