Have you ever wondered what happens to all characters or data when a Ragnarok Online server shuts down or is deleted? Of course, those who have played since the dawn of the game would know the answer. It goes back to the rule of "data." The typical knowledge of "data" can have many meanings and many ways it can be destroyed. So what happens to "data" most of the time?
Well, metaphorically speaking, I can safely tell you that it is in "a dark lonely corner."
Ragnarok Online has always been a classic to me-a game I would come back to just relive memories and see how much has evolved overall. Just like a plant, the care given is the care that makes it grow. Sure many players would say that it is a "dying game" or "a lost cause" due to lack of updates, but to me, it is still a treasure.
I was a huge Steam player. When Ragnarok Online came onto Steam, I was excited. I could share this game with everyone on my friend's list and tell them about how much fun they could have. Of course, the result was either not playing, or just playing for a short while. I couldn't blame them-as the server just...didn't have the charm.
The server was turned into an "easy mode" MMORPG just like today's one. The Eden Group, the board quests for leveling, the free equipment...it didn't feel like an accomplishment anymore. The cash shop didn't make the game more promising either-with many powerful healing items for sale and refine tools.
The longer I played, the less inspired I got. Everyone was ahead, everyone was max level, everyone was on their final class, and everyone just had their slave priests, dancers...you name it.
So with that, the game has been put on my "shelf" of games...for now. I had better things to do and better games to play than play this...linear path of an MMORPG.
Months later, I heard an announcement from the game. They were creating a new server for the game and they labeled it as "Ragnarok: Re:Start." Reading through the notes, I was stoked. It was just like the traditional Ragnarok Online! The old Morroc, the traditional job change quests, and the most important on my list: No Eden Group.
Once the server launched, I spammed the login in order to get in as soon as possible and create my character. It was a purple long-haired female named Milecia. Yes, it seemed silly, as I always create the same character over and over on many different servers and start over-after decades. It was a tradition to me, and it was the same process: the goal of being a support priest.
So it was the same classic process-spawn on an island, walk across the bridge, and go in the castle to gain some novice equips. After finally heading outside, I walked to the other side of the map and entered the quiz room. I was so excited to finally just get in the game with other players who were looking forward to this! I knew the quiz from heart, as I took it many times to become an acolyte.
Finding a party was always a challenge for me in Ragnarok Online servers. Either the exp rate was high enough, everyone else had their slave acolyte or priest, or it was just a language barrier. So as usual when I start new, I head to the Payon Cave's first floor, and pray I don't come across any Familiars (thank goodness for free Flywings). After healing undead, I was leveling up steadily. It was long and tedious but I finally gained enough levels to melee Spores easily and quickly in east of Payon. I figured I could gain some Strawberries so I could quickly level up more and go deeper in the Payon Cave. Everyone was minding their own business and killing Spores and other monsters around, just like me.
It was tedious and repetitive, but I had plenty of strawberries to move on. Before I left, a female acolyte asked for buffs. Now, this was unexpected. I always thought the first rule of thumb of being an acolyte-whether going offensive or support-was to level up Increase AGI and Blessing to the max. She thanked me and asked me if I was in a party. Of course, I was on my own, but I could use the company. We then headed out to a stronger map.
Her name was Sweetheart. She told me she came back after a while and heard about Ragnarok:Re:Start and had to jump in to join the party, no pun intended. I asked her why she didn't go for the buffs first. She then told me she wanted to get her offensive skills up since she was going to be a monk. I was about to disagree with what she was doing, but after inviting me to party with her and killing monsters quickly, there was really no reason to complain or be picky; though if she found some other people, I didn't think they would respect her character building kindly.
We talked in-between SP regening and while she was killing monsters. It was fun and got to know her a bit better-and it even made the leveling quicker. We had a good time and were able to make good progress. Once the exp gain slowed again, we were both tired and called it a night. I added her to my friendslist in-game and shared my Discord with them. See you tomorrow, and with that phrase, the day ended.
The next day, I got a message from Sweetheart when she came online, and we decided to meet up outside of the Toy Factory dungeon to finish our leveling up to job changing. Grabbing a coffee, some soda, and snacks, we grinded until we reached job level 50 on both characters, and we both went separate ways to do our quests to ascend to the next job class. After messaging her that I was done, I was tired and asked if we could do some more leveling the next day. She obliged and we both called it a day.
Weeks passed and it ended up that it was almost two months since Sweetheart logged on. I was getting worried about her. It was strange not getting a message or some sort of notification-I would have understood if the explanation was "I was just busy." Slowly overtime, I lost inspiration of playing to the point I was only playing maybe once a week at most. Each week I left a message for her, but then no response after each time. I just assumed something bad happened, or she moved on to better things.
I found others who needed an active priest to support or needed help, but those moments were short-lived and forgotten. Nothing special-just like passing by a stranger and holding open a door for them on the street.
After another month or two, I quit playing the game and went back to my usual achievement hunting on Steam. Time passed and many things happened outside of my online life-family, job hunting, gigs...but sometimes I look back and remember fondly of my gal pal on Ragnarok Online. I did always take moments like those for granted and always felt ashamed that I could have been better or made more of it. But one day, I received a message from Discord.
Looking at my past messages, it was my concerns addressed to her about once a week. My shock turned into happiness and glee-it was Sweetheart! She apologized wholeheartedly and even said she understood if she didn't want to talk to me. Of course I did! We talked a bit of what was going on and what we did out of Ragnarok Online. I even shared some "irony" posts from the forums from the bickering players. We chatted for hours and looking back, I suggested if she wanted to get on the Ragnarok Online server-for old time's sake.
I was a bit ahead, but that didn't matter to me. I was willing to help her level even if I wouldn't be able to get experience points. While selecting the Ragnarok:Re:Start on the list of my Steam games before installing, my happiness quickly went to dread after looking at the news feed. After all the time passed, after all the progress turning to waste, the Ragnarok:Re:Start server was closed.
I was distraught, and so was my friend. While a person who played for years would be understandably be angry, it was the high hopes that shut me and Sweetheart down. Something that my friend and I met through and worked together on was gone and never to be accessed again.
Ragnarok:Re:Start was the only chance I had to play normal again and finding someone to party with, while the other server was none of the above. Sure there are "different servers" but I wanted to play it as authentic as I could. I felt the potential of that game was just tossed in the trash.
We talked to each other here and there overtime, then we drifted apart. We both went about our daily lives and compilations; and I was back to achievement hunting on Steam. One day, I was browsing my Twitter feed and heard an announcement about another Ragnarok Online opening up soon called "Ragnarok:Transcendence." It was a long time since I played and was looking for something to play to take away the stress of achievement hunting away, but that was not the only reason. The game promised skill balances, traditional gameplay, more pets, and more descriptions of item specifics. I could not believe what I was seeing.
I know it was a while, and it did seem selfish, but I shared the news to Sweetheart on Discord. By the way she was typing, it seemed like she wasn't excited as I was. She still felt down after what happened with Ragnarok:Re:Start and I couldn't blame her. I've gotten used to starting over all the time on Ragnarok Online, but it was because of the fun that kept me playing. I understood her and couldn't force her to play with me, so it was another absence of talking to her.
It was the same procedure-the novice grounds, quiz, job change to acolyte, job change to priest, and leveling up. It was getting harder to make the game currency, to the point where I had to break my tradition: creating a Rogue to farm for items. With that, I went through the same process again, only this time going for thief then rogue.
I had to admit, this was a fun class, and I played it even more than my priest. It was the stealing, the high damage, and luck of the items that just kept me going. It got to the point where I was even at a higher level than my priest! I considered all my rare items as "trophies" and just held on to them. Checking the market pricing, I noticed that the Kobold Card was in high demand and not many people were getting it. Looking at it closely, the stats would be perfect for my Rogue, and with the current gear I had, I could handle the map.
Rachel, the original area where you can find the Kobolds in the field, was not implemented yet. I heard from a few players that the original Kobold map in the Geffen fields was still there. Without further ado, I grabbed some potions and flywings and made my way to the map. After passing those annoying Sky Petites and Floras, I was in the correct map to finally kill some Kobolds and have lady luck on my side.
When I entered the map, the music stopped playing after a split second, and I could only hear the ambience of the field. It was an old glitch I remembered and haven't seen in a while. I figured it was normal. My focus now was to find some Kobolds and just kill them for some items and hope for a card. After walking to the other side of the map on the east, something did not seem right.
This map normally has enough Kobolds spawning, and by then I would have at least found more than one. However, minutes of wandering turned into an hour, and the northeast and southeast side was completely empty of monsters. The silence of the music and ambient sounds of the map got boring and irritating, so I quickly opened up settings and toggled the music on and off, waiting for it to come on.
Nothing. It was still pure silence and ambience. I toggled it on and off again and the result was the same. If anything, an error would have popped up that they couldn't find that cheerful, happy BGM that accompanies the map.
I ignored it for a bit and realized I wouldn't be in this map forever, so I just headed west. I figured some player was doing a prank and just lured all the monsters on the west side. It was typical trolling behavior if you ask me. To my shock again, there were no monsters at all, and it was just the same ambience of the forest and soon the water I approached.
I started asking myself if this was a bug of some sort. Of course, Ragnarok Online always had its bugs when it releases something new, like a server. I figured I'd do one turn around before I called it quits and send a ticket. I wanted to confirm if the music was bugged too, so I decided to toggle it on and off a few times.
Finally, something played, but it wasn't what I expected.
The music that played was the music that normally plays in the Destructed Morroc map. This was definitely out of place. I wasn't even in the Morroc field areas! No monsters, not the right music...what was with this map? A part of me is saying that this is typical, since there are always a lot of bugs when WarpPortal releases a new server. However, another part of me is on guard as I never encountered a bug like this before...well unless you count the Christmas versions of the towns after patching or downloading a new client.
Back at the entrance of the map, I logged off to report my findings with WarpPortal. I submitted a ticket about the weird bgm and the fact that there were no monsters in the map. Despite what people normally say about their customer support, they always came through with me. I decided to take a break and sit outside to get some sunshine. After about an hour of relaxing, I came back in and got a notification on my e-mail. It was customer support...and a typical response.
"Greetings,
We appreciate your time and effort in sending us your ticket.
First, we would like to ask you to do the following:
1. Completely uninstall Ragnarok Online. Check all directories and files after removing the program to make sure no traces were left behind.
2. Download the latest client at
http://www.playragnarok.com/ 3. Make sure you run the patcher as administrator and have no errors while patching. If you have any trouble, please respond to the ticket with the issues you are having.
Regards,
WarpPortal Support Team"
Of course the typical cheap troubleshooting answer, but I went through the steps to prove that I did the following and that the same problem showed up. After taking breaks during steps, I was finished. Was the problem fixed? Judging that walking around with the map being empty and the same BGM glitch, the answer was no.
I contacted the support team again, and even included possibilities. When I came back after dinner, I received another response from customer support.
"Greetings,
We apologize for the issue you are having.
We would like you to send a replay to see the issue you are experiencing.
If you are not sure how to record and save a replay, here are the following steps:
1. When logging into your character, click on Replay(camera icon) located to the left.
2. A small rectangular recorder will appear. Click on the arrow button pointing down (the left-most button) to name your replay and start recording.
3. Once you stop the recording, your recording will be saved in your RO folder\Replay.
4. Please attach the recording to the ticket so we can investigate it further.
Regards,
WarpPortal Support Team"
I wasn't sure about the point of this. I was ready to drop the ticket since it wasn't worth pestering the team for, but I figured I'd at least get a recording in to send them; then just go about my business and do other things-maybe level my priest after even.
I logged in and used the replay feature to record, and named my file GefKoboldBug. I used my own software as well. As usual, I walked around in the top and headed east. Not too long after, I came across a character that was familiar to me. It was a female acolyte...and not just any one...
It was Sweetheart.
I was shocked and confused at the same time. First off, what the hell was an acolyte doing on this high-level map? Second, why is she playing? I was pretty sure it was clear to me that she didn't want to play anymore. I approached her and as I was typing a message, my monitor started glitching out and the audio was so unbearable on my headphones, I tossed it on the floor.
My computer bluescreened and restarted. I know what it looks like when a graphics card glitches and stops working, but this was not just a regular glitch. It took a while to boot up, but once I did, my desktop no longer showed my Ragnarok game. It was gone. I went into the main directory to look and all of my Ragnarok Online files were deleted…except for one: the replay I recorded.
I did not want to deal with this, but I didn’t want to lose the file either. I uploaded the file, even the raw video, to another website. I posted a thread on the WarpPortal forums about what happened. Of course, no one believed me and I was ridiculed. I was hoping at least to get a moderator to look at it or any of the WarpPortal staff.
But after an hour, my thread was gone with no explanation. I posted again because I figured it was a mistake. However, after a few minutes, my thread was gone again. I had a notification on my messages in the forums, and as I clicked the one with no subject:
“Don’t post that again. You know too much.”
There was no user, no profile, and not even a default avatar. I needed answers-I wanted answers. I searched on a certain site that was banned for linking on WarpPortal. I registered an account and posted my findings. I told my whole story-short summary of my friend, the bug, the anomaly, every single detail.
I waited for a response. Of course, it would probably be like the WarpPortal site, but I have nothing to lose. After an hour, I received two posts on the forum. One said they came across almost the same thing on one of the Morroc Fields. Another said they only had a simple map bug. Nothing drastic.
There was one direct message I received from a different person. He had a screenshot and video as well, but requested me not to show it. He was close to getting admitted to a Mental Hospital because of it. I looked at his post, reading carefully on his story:
“I’m glad I’m not the only one who went through this. It happened when I started playing after Ragnarok Online came out of beta. Everyone started fresh, even me. I was levelling my thief south of Payon and came across many different novices. Their graphics and names were glitched. They weren’t moving and they didn’t respond when I tried talking to them. I figured it was due to the lag because of the server opening. Once I headed to the other side of the map, all the glitched novices I came across were there.
They were all standing in a circle. After each minute, another one appeared. It wasn’t like they used a Fly Wing and a warp effect. They just appeared like that. After sharing the names, some people recognized them. I was told some used to play before the wipe, but they said they quit after they heard about it. I sent the issue and screenshots to support, but they always said they would investigate.
After that, each time I opened the game and played, a plain file was created on my desktop. The filename was one of the novice’s names. I deleted it, but then it came back on desktop. More files were created. They were arranged on my desktop spelling “HELP.” I still tried deleting them as fast as I could, but then the upper-left area of my screen ended up being completely red. The other corner half was showing a gameplay and one of the novices walking. After a few minutes, the novice kept dying and reviving with the “curse” sound effect playing each time.
The same thing happened each time I started up my computer again. It was done for and I threw it away, even when the technicians said there was nothing wrong with my computer. I was angry and livid that no one believed what I saw. My parents were leaning towards that I may have schizophrenia. I didn’t want to separate from them, so I just dropped the story.”
Reading this story from him, I can see that being possible. The glitched screen I’ve been through was similar to it. More importantly, I had to consider myself lucky. I could have gone through the same thing he did.
I opened the video one last time to review it, just to see if it was worth it.
The video ran normally, as if none of that ever happened.