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Tibia is one of the oldest, longest-running graphical online computer role-playing games (MMORPGs).
Started as a non-commercial programming experiment by three German computer science students running on a university computer system in 1997, with many of its graphics borrowed from the classical single-player game Ultima VI and heavily relying on volunteers for game administration, creation of game art and level design, it has since become a professional commercial endeavour.
Changes have been incremental rather than radical over the years. However, Tibia's 2D, faux-isometric sprite graphics that seem quaint by today's standards and the lack of sound effects have had no detrimental effect on the steady growth rate of concurrent players the game is still experiencing. Such shortcomings are offset by the resulting small download size and modest system requirements.
A lot of its success can also be attributed to the fact that a large portion of the game, which can be downloaded from the official website, is still playable free of charge. This is in contrast to larger, more recent MMORPGs, which must be bought at a store and only provide short trial periods.
For a monthly fee players can upgrade to a premium account, unlocking some additional game features and areas. These players also have priority login rights on the often congested game servers.
Currently, such servers are located in the United States, Germany, and Brazil.
Two knights killing a Giant Spider Players mostly spend their online time training their characters' skill levels, hunting a large population of monsters with numerous different weapons and magical spells and scouring the vast continent for treasures and fortune. They interact with other players for conversation, to trade various objects or form parties to take on even stronger foes.
On most of the game's servers, players are also allowed to attack and kill each other, although there is a reputation system in place to keep hostile actions under control.
However, some servers do not allow such player versus player combat at all, while some others place no restrictions on it whatsoever, indeed practically encouraging it.
After learning the basics of the game on an introductory island reserved for new players called Rookgaard, players may chose one of four classical roleplaying vocations: The Knight, excelling in close combat, the Paladin, mainly a distance fighter, the Druid, specializing in healing spells or the Sorcerer, a more agressive spellcaster.
Monsters players will encounter range from non-aggressive dogs and deer to easy to kill rats, dangerous orcs and fierceful dragons and demons.
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