n February, we celebrate Valentine's Day. To be exact, February 14 is the day associated with deep friendship and romantic love in many countries around the world.
On that day, some see it as a tradition for lovers or for good friends to express their feelings for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, or simply by sending greeting cards, for instance.
Also in Tibia it is possible to celebrate Valentine's Day, and to send a special gift to your loved one. Since 2008, NPC Valentina has been appearing in Greenshore on that day to sell Valentine items like cards, heart cakes, flower bouquets and presents. Since 2010, she is also offering the much loved heart backpacks, however, her stock is limited so you can only buy one each year.
By the way, we community managers have a real life heart backpack hanging on our office wall. We received this hand-made gift from the Henceforth Family in 2011.
If the rumours around the Tibian world are true, Valentina will offer a couple of new love-goods this year. A poem was found that was - allegedly - written by her. It obviously contains some advertising ideas for her valentine business:
Words to express your love are sometimes hard to find
words to describe this feeling often don't come to your mind.
A ring could help you symbolise quite clearly how you feel,
however, the seriousness it conveys might not really be an appeal.
Flowers then are a lighter choice,
they might help you find your inner voice.
Given as single, combined to a few, or as a bouquet,
the only problem: they tend to fade away.
Nevertheless, roses are a wonderful gift,
however, they still have a very romantic drift.
If both choices are way too daring for you,
something cuter might be the clue.
What about a sweet teddy, hugging a heart.
Some women will find this a wonderful piece of art.
They will understand what you are trying to say,
and will be reminded of you even when you're away.
As usual, Valentine will only be there for Valentine's day. So if you are desperately in need for a gift for your beloved one, or simply curious to see whether the rumours are true, you really need to keep this date in mind and cannot be late.
This day is not only about expressing your love for somebody, though. It is about love and harmony in general, about connections to people around the world. Since Tibia is the most obvious thing that connects all of us, community members and CipSoft members, we have asked around in the office what people love about Tibia. Several colleagues have answered this question, and we would like to share the responses with you. At the same time, we want to invite you to share with us what you love about Tibia, too.
Here is what some of our colleagues stated:
Lyxoph (Graphic Artist): I love the excitement of fighting a strong monster I've never fought before for the first time. I love that after so many years, I still keep discovering new mysterious places in the world. And I love how this microcosm is kept alive through all the players inhabiting it, the legends they built and the adventures they experienced.
Evonary (Game Designer): I deeply love Tibia's very unique style - games of this kind are rare nowadays. In this huge gameworld I can choose what I do, but anything comes with a possible consequence, for example how I possibly risk my very own death in every corner I explore. Everytime I play the game it's a different experience and every time I log in I can choose something different to do. Oh and of course I really love some good self-made Tibian cookies <3
Cedeko (Programmer): The many surprises that could be laying in wait in just about every unexplored nook and corner of Tibia's world. Whenever I venture out of town, I could come upon a beautiful land formation, a species of monsters I've never seen before, or even just a book telling obscure details about Tibia's past. Few games these days have this sort of depth when it comes to free exploration.
Tjured (Community Manager): I love Tibia because it offers you an almost endless variety how to spend your time. You can either work on your level progress, explore the unknown, do quests, fight other players, or just chat with others and thereby get in touch with people from all over the world. In short you can kill, die, flee, cry, laugh, win, lose, talk, run, stand, and maybe someday, even sit. :)
Teyrata (Game Content Designer): I love the sense of adventure in Tibia: the wide world to explore, full of jungles, deserts, plains and mountains; the thrill of not exactly knowing if behind the next corner there is a fight, a monster, or something unexpected happening - I always step out being on my guard and ready for adventure. Bring it on!
Rejana (Community Manager): I love the possibilities Tibia offers to be creative. There is so much freedom to do whatever you want besides levelling: decorating houses, buidling things like "parcel castles", outlining a soccerfield with gold coins to play in, role play, etc. There are just so many ways to have fun. And even though I've never reached very high levels, I also really appreciate the fact that there is no end. No matter how long it takes, you will grow stronger and bigger with every hunt you go on.
Lionet (Game Content Designer): I like Tibia because it offers me a considerable amount of freedom as a player. Especially the sandbox elements of the world are what I am always looking for in an RPG in general. I also like that it doesn't hold your hand at every step while still containing a large amount of quests and story experiences. It's a very difficult game at times but you always feel you really achieved something when you reach the end of a quest, kill a boss or find valuable treasure. The worth of items, the sense of achievement and feeling of accomplishment is often a weakness in modern games, so for me Tibia is one of the few remaining safe havens in terms of old school gameplay and content.
So - what about you? What do you love about Tibia?
Happy Valentine's Day!
Your Community Managers