The 24-year-old MMORPG Tibia has banned several hundred accounts in recent days. This includes individual accounts valued over €3,000. We at MeinMMO are looking into the situation and summarizing it.
Why is Tibia banning accounts? An old problem has been troubling the Tibia community for some time now. It involves the bot software Xabi, which allows users to automate certain game mechanics.
The developers from Regensburg have now managed to develop a reliable method to track down this program. The consequences have been enormous, and hundreds of accounts are now inaccessible.
Some accounts had several years of playtime and even reached levels over 1,200. For such an account, one would pay about €3,000. Some of the accounts had already shown a considerable lifespan. A list of banned characters was published by the site Tibiaring.com. However, the site only shows accounts starting from a certain level.
Why is this interesting? The software Xabi is not like many MMORPG bots that play the game automatically for you. Instead, it offered a way to record your own scripts and then play them back at the push of a button. Many users used the software without any malicious intent, as no one had been banned for a very long time.
On reddit, user Messiah1934 writes that a character was banned after he played in this way for four years. However, the character was sold for $15,000 just before the ban, according to the user.
So not only the “classic, evil hackers” were banned, but also users who considered the use of the tool legal. Of course, Tibia has prohibited any use of programs to automate processes. Nevertheless, if someone can use this tool for four years without any issues, one does not necessarily expect that there could be such consequences.
According to Tibiaring, there are still numerous accounts that are using the software Xabi. The bot developer advises these people to format their hard drives before logging into the game again. (via reddit)
This is what the community says about the ban wave
What do the players think? You would think the players are happy when the developer removes cheaters from the game. However, the community of Tibia mostly reacts to the ban wave with disbelief. Even sympathy for the banned bot users is often expressed.
There is also a debate about a streamer whose character was also banned, although he seemingly only used the software to exchange his equipment and otherwise played the game normally.
- In addition, user dulove writes (via reddit): ‘I really wonder why he was banned. You could see in his streams that he was moving the mouse normally and not using loot macros. I watched him run Soul War [a dungeon] and it didn’t look like automatic fighting.’
- User BoybeBave says (via reddit): ‘It’s sad to see how most players from Team Noctera are leaving the game, and now even their characters are being deleted.’
- User Katavlok complains about his now much emptier server and writes (via reddit): ‘On my server, the ban wave hit like a cursed snap from Thanos.’
It is still unclear which script exactly triggered the bans or if it was the program itself. Especially the script for automatic looting is widely used by Tibia players, and accordingly, some are worried about their accounts.
What does the other side say? Of course, there are also people who are glad that the users of the software are no longer in the game:
- User vicflea writes (via reddit): ‘I am proud to be bad at the game, but at least without cheats. You deserved it.’
- User QuintX adds (via reddit): ‘One player had 8 characters banned. I’m laughing my ass off, what an idiot.’
What do you think about the ban wave and the reasons for it? The Tibia community always provides exciting stories, as there is now a boss in the game that only appears twice a year, and the players love him.
This is Tibia Online
What kind of game is this? Tibia is an old-school MMORPG from Regensburg. The game has been around since 1997 and still has an active player base. You fight your way through various boss battles and dungeons in a 2D view. The graphics look quite good considering the 24-year-old game.
The game remains very popular to this day, especially due to its secrets and hidden features. Players have even found a boss in the game after 12 years.
Here is a video where we see some gameplay from the game:
Where is Tibia relevant? If you have never heard of Tibia, that is no shame, as the game has never been particularly big in Germany. Most of the currently active community comes from Venezuela, Poland, and Brazil, where the game is extremely successful, experiencing boom after boom.
Interest in Tibia seems particularly strong in South America. The largest communities are in Brazil, but also in Poland, where the Tibia Bazaar, an external trading community for the game, is gaining more and more attention.
Have you ever played Tibia? What do you think of the 24-year-old game? And are you happy about the ban wave? Feel free to let us know in the comments.
We have an interview with the developer of Tibia, who says: ‘In the beginning, we were laughed at.’
