Yaaay!! Introduce yourself!
Hi, I’m Araluxie, I was also known as GM Araluxie and/or GM Kahzregi
How long ago did you start playing tibia?
Araluxie: I started playing Tibia in 2004
How did you start your GM career?
Araluxie: When I started playing, I saw that Tibia was a very organized game with many rules, which caught my attention. I didn’t know much English at that time, however, I managed to read and study the necessary materials to pass the Tutor Test (before there was a test to be a tutor) and I passed it the first time…
Some time after this, CipSoft introduces the position of Senior Tutor, which had more powers, and which I automatically got for having good conduct and doing what they considered a good job. I eventually became the oldest Senior Tutor in Tibia, either because others had been removed, or a few promoted to GM.
A fellow GM saw my work as a Senior Tutor and my in-game behavior and thought I would be candidate for the GM position, which she let it known internally (without me knowing). From there, I was interviewed by some people from CipSoft a couple of times, and after that, they gave me the status as Gamemaster.
What were the requirements to be a GM?
Araluxie: I think the main requirement was to understand that the rules were there for a reason. That sometimes they seemed strange but each one of them had a meaning. It’s very, very different from today’s situation, where many of these old rules have been thrown away just for quick monetary gain. At that time it was perceived that the CipSoft team saw the game as a love project, rather than a business. And that was reflected in the rules, if you knew how to read them carefully…
What were the functions of a GM?
Araluxie: Mainly it was to attend to the reports of violation of the rules of the game that we received via the interface. This was accessed by the players, if I remember correctly, by pressing Ctrl + R. This would open a little window, where you could send your reports and they would be read by a GM, or a Counselor (they were like the assistants of the GMs although long before I was, and they had some powers too)
But we could also patrol and look for people who were playing without respecting the rules. However, this, at least I didn’t like to do. It was more efficient and useful to attend to player reports, since they often included the offender’s name, and you could use that to get to the scene faster
What privileges did a GM have?
Araluxie: Actually, not many. We had a premium account for free, as part of the job. One of the things we were given when our powers were removed, apart from the GM dolls and some rare items, was a two-year premium account. It was very nice as a thank you, despite the context.
As for the day-to-day tasks, well, the game characters did not suffer any changes, and your GM characters were a bit useless to play, since they had no capacity (Cap: 0). They couldn’t carry anything, ever. You could go to some places on the map, and go check the information from the reports by going to those involved, but nothing more.
Oh well, and the red text, which was used to send messages to the entire server, but had to be used wisely.
What can you tell us about the myth of creating/duping items?
Araluxie: That people have way too much imagination and that if they used it for useful things we would already have people on Mars and on the Moon. xD That myth is completely false. GMs could only ban players and teleport and stuff like that, but everything was oriented at facilitating the task of banning people. And the bans weren’t something you could do easily, you had to justify them with evidence (sometimes it was super difficult, in fact I almost got a ban reversed once… Almost xD)
Were you involved in any problems with players?
Araluxie: As a GM not that I know of, as a player I tried not to have problems with anyone either. In fact, I was always a neutral person on my server. I tried to listen to everyone, in both roles, and always tried to form my objective version of things.
Did you know any GM involved in influence or helping specific players/guilds?
Araluxie: Not that I know of. I understand that over the years there have been many rumors of this, but there is nothing that I have seen on my own. I would really say that it is not something that can be very effective, because every ban had to be justified. Obviously every system is susceptible to failures, but the “Corrupt GM” who wanted to take advantage of them would find it quite difficult, for a benefit that perhaps wasn’t worth it, for the amount of work it represented… Well, at least I see it that way…
Did you receive any kind of motivation for being a GM?
Araluxie: It was an honor position. You received recognition in the community, sometimes you were invited to test servers (which also happened with Tutors and Seniors), and of course, the free premium account (which was only for GMs and I think it was more oriented, again, so that you could ban people without worrying about anything else). And on top of that, I guess the satisfaction of being able to help players who were playing fair
What prize besides the GM Doll, did you select?
Araluxie: Solar Axe, but I sold it almost immediately after. Not with the GM doll, that one is still with me. 😀
Here you will find the list of what other ex-gms received courtesy of TibiaWiki
What is your honest opinion, about the elimination of the Volunteer Gms?
Araluxie: Look, this decision corresponds to a change of course by CipSoft in which I feel that the soul of the game has been uprooted. If you look, all the decisions they’ve made lately have been aimed at maximizing profits from a player base that’s not growing.
A GM, more than being a machine to ban people, was an inspiration. I know this, because when I was playing, the first time I saw a GM, I was inspired to be one of them. Even if you weren’t inspired to be a GM, you were inspired to play fair, or to play better. The character of a GM is so different from a normal player, that it stood out on the screen, just like the red letters of GMs and counselors, or the orange letters of tutors.
I think CipSoft’s decisions have been strategically designed to squeeze as much out of the game as possible, and well, okay, that will be their business strategy, but from the point of view of someone who loves the Tibia community and has been a part of it for so long, I was always against it. It wasn’t even because of “losing your powers” because really you as a player did very little with that, but I think it took away a fundamental part of the “mystery” or “essence” of the game. I don’t know if I make myself clear but I hope so.
Here you will find the information and open letter to ex-gms from Tibia.
What is your honest opinion about the removal of Tutors?
Araluxie: it’s like one of the final blows to what Tibia once represented. Many ex-GM remained as Tutors. Let’s see, I’ll focus on the Tutor position. If you are in the Help channel as a new player asking for help, it is super helpful that you have someone with different letters than yours guiding you. You know or can intuit that the advice you are being given is trustworthy advice.
By removing the tutors you fulfill the double of not only removing the inspiration and magic (the step of removing the GMs) but also you remove any hope of “real” assistance so to speak. Obviously there are players who still use the help channel but… no, there aren’t really any, it’s like a desert xD. I have recently checked and no one uses Help. But no one uses English Chat either. Advertising is used only for spam but not even that anymore, because Tibia has become more of a solo game (unless you hunt things together).
That sense of integration into a magical world where your actions mattered beyond your character has ended, and it has ended in a way expressly designed by CipSoft. There is no ingress of new players. And the few things that are done that could attract new people, like adding sound to Tibia, really get drowned in a sea of meaningless decisions.
Just look at the case of the Senator, a completely honorary position, with no effect on the game, and “nerfed” because it didn’t even appear on the forums anymore. They also removed it. They don’t want to have anything to do with everything that made Tibia a different game, and that’s really sad.
When do you think the Tibia downfall started for you?
Araluxie: Anyone might think that this started when the position of the volunteer GMs was removed, but it is enough to know the not so recent history of Tibia to realize that the disaster (yes, disaster) started much earlier.
What’s happening? That the game was balanced in two stages of play. An active stage, which is what we all know, where you went hunting with your party: knight, mages, paladin. But there is something that is not remembered much now, and it is the calm or passive experience of Tibia, which was necessary when you were not hunting, because it served as a preparation.
This stage could be boring, however, many people made it part of their daily routine. What did they do? A knight trained, beating summoned monsters (ghoul or monk) from a mage. Sometimes you could also include a paladin training. But the mage, to make up for the “skills” that he wasn’t gaining, ate, and made runes. Which he could then sell, to very expensive price, and use to level up.
The interesting thing about this way of playing is that “connections” were created, sometimes with many players, who by design and also for pleasure, sat down to train together, to share, to talk about things beyond the game. THAT was truly what the Tibia community was constituting, that people could sit in front of a house, train, listen to music, watch videos while talking about whatever.
What were the soul points? An attempt by CipSoft to counter the botters (because obviously there were botters that made runes alone and people who trained with bots etc) but in the wrong way. Instead of forbidding bot use (by detecting it or whatever), they basically made it impossible to spend that much time making runes, which almost immediately destroyed that dynamic of training with more people. I would say that this particular event is what begins to mark the change of direction that Tibia has had in recent years.
Do you want to say something to end this interview?
Araluxie: To everyone who is playing Tibia now, first of all, I say that you are playing with a piece of history. Which I hope they show more appreciation to it, more than the game developers themselves have done. That they always try to play fair, and that if its possible, try to find the spirit in the old rules. Those that were aimed at making a closer, calmer, more satisfying gaming experience.
If at least one group of players manages to do this, Tibia will be far from dead, because what makes this game what it was for a long time is each one of its players. And from them, they are still.. (maybe, we are still xD) some remaining..
See you in Tibia!
Disclaimer:
No ex-gm was attacked (or perhaps) just to answer these questions, the answers given by the interviewee are solely and exclusively his responsibility, we only dedicate ourselves to informing.
