The MMORPG Tibia was created in 1995 in Regensburg. Because the developers have always gone their own way, there are very strange stories from the online role-playing game. One of the most exciting stories came about in 2005: the people from Regensburg put a door in their MMORPG that nobody would open for 11 years.
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Developers build a door in their MMORPG through which no one is allowed to go for 11 years
What was that door? In 2005, the developers built a door into their MMORPG that read: “You see a gate of expertise for level 999. Only the worthy may pass.”
The developers said in an interview with Vice that it was actually just a gag and for a long time there was nothing behind this door.
Because level 999 was completely illusory in 2005. Nobody would achieve that for 10 years, everyone knew. Especially since you can even lose experience points and levels in Tibia if you die.
But after 2005, Tibia continued to grow, the game kept getting bigger, players kept leveling up, and by 2016, the time had come.
Player becomes a star by being the first to reach level 999
One player, Kharsek, had been leveling like a maniac for 9 years, had become the star of the game that everyone knew. Now Kharsek was approaching magic level 999. One was certain: he would soon reveal the secret of the magic door.
That was a big thing back then. The site 3dJuegos writes that there were two groups of players:
Player reveals secret but just doesn’t tell anyone
The opening was like this: Eventually, the player reached level 999 in August 2016, and Tibia players were excited to finally find out what was behind the door.
A user on reddit wrote at the time:
I’ve never heard of the game in my life, but the most important thing in my life right now is for that stupid bastard to open the stupid door.
Back in 2016, there were things like Twitch and YouTube, and everyone expected to either be there live or within hours as the big mystery was revealed.
So Kharsek opened the door, saw what was behind it, then logged out, just stayed offline and didn’t tell a soul what was behind the door. Even when he returned to Tibia later, he didn’t say a word about the door.
The community was beside itself. You had waited 11 years and you still didn’t hear anything. There were then many theories as to what would be behind the door: treasure chests, NPCs, maybe levers and secret stuff.
But Kharsek was silent, the developers never said anything anyway and it remained a secret.
A year later, a Twitch streamer says: I’ll open the door if you buy me a holiday
And what was really behind the door now? It takes almost a year until June 2017 when the next player reached level 999. He now wanted to fully enjoy the moment, started a twitch stream and said: He only opens the door when the viewers pay for his vacation to Morocco: he wanted to take $ 500, but that much money didn’t come together. He crossed the portal with just $33.
Ultimately, the player went through the door and found a portal to a tropical island with some nice items and a gold cup that read “Congratulations on reaching level 999.”
It would have been cooler if the door had remained a secret forever.
Nothing would have been able to fulfill the expectations that had been built up over 12 years.
By the way, level 999 is long gone in Tibia:
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