[ Participating in the Nexon PEAK Post Challenge ]

https://peak.nexon.com/post/1887

Games today and the ones we remember so fondly... what has really changed the most?

Back then, there was a game called ‘Arpia’ that was hosted on Yahoo.

You could learn all sorts of magic with attributes like ice and earth, take on quests, and hunt monsters as well.

By today’s standards, the graphics were simple and the overall scale of the content was modest, but at the time, just wandering around the school and spending time with friends was more than enough to make it memorable.

I still remember the Kobold Underground Cave, especially.

I cannot remember the exact moment all that clearly, but I do remember running around quite seriously to pick up the loaves of bread the kobolds dropped.

Even when I was out hunting, if a friend logged in, I would go meet them and start fooling around instead, completely forgetting whatever I had originally planned to do.

Looking back, Arpia was a rather unusual game.

It definitely had RPG elements, but leveling up and hunting were never the only point.

Walking through the school and town, talking with characters, and simply spending time there together was content in itself.

As the years pass, what I remember most is not how much I progressed, but who I spent time with and the memories we made there.

Looking at it now, I think Arpia was showing the kind of life-sim and metaverse-like elements people talk about so often today surprisingly early on. Yes, there was character progression, but just as much, it was a game about entering a virtual space, forming relationships, and spending time with other people there.

So when I heard the service was shutting down, what felt most regrettable was not the end of character growth, but the thought of that space itself disappearing.

And now, after all this time, the game I am enjoying today.

It is Mabinogi Mobile.

When I first started playing, it kept reminding me of Arpia in a curious way.

Of course, on the surface, the two games are quite different.

Arpia was known for its pretty illustrations and cute SD-style pixel characters,

while Mabinogi Mobile is rendered in remarkable detail, from the character models to the backgrounds and presentation.

Sometimes I find myself just admiring the scenery, taking a few screenshots, and logging out.

But the biggest change I have felt is not in the graphics, but in the way we enjoy games.

In older PC online games, the main goals were to level up quickly, get better gear, and become stronger. Even when you played with friends, a lot of the time it was still about growing more efficiently together.

Games today, though, do not always move in that direction.

Even in Mabinogi Mobile, gathering and crafting, trying out life content, decorating your My Home, taking screenshots with friends, or visiting each other’s houses all become content in their own right.

Some days, I barely make any progress on combat quests at all, yet a few hours still disappear before I notice because I have been doing this and that with friends. In the past, I might have ended the day thinking, “How much did I grow today?” These days, what stays with me more is, “Who did I spend time with today, and what did we do?”

That, more than anything, is the game trend that has stood out to me lately.

Rather than emphasizing only combat and competition, games seem to be evolving toward something that lets players build relationships and live out another kind of everyday life inside the game.

There are features like a friend marker that let you designate people you are especially close to, and through various life content and community systems, the game naturally encourages players to mingle with one another.

In the past, we gathered people so we could do content,

but now there are just as many times when we log in simply to spend time together.

Even seeing the notification that an in-game friend has logged in feels oddly heartening, and spending time together with no particular goal—just chatting or wandering around—is enjoyable in itself.

Maybe that is why it felt as though the feeling I had in Arpia as a child was being recreated through modern systems.

I think PC online games will continue moving further in this direction.

The graphics will keep improving, and the systems will become more refined, but in the end, I still think what matters most is the experience people share with one another.

Rather than focusing only on competition and growth, I think more attention will go to games that respect each player’s individual tastes, help people form relationships, and allow them to build another everyday life within the game.

If Arpia was a small online space that connected people to one another,

then Mabinogi Mobile feels like a game that has expanded that same sensibility more richly through the technology and content of the present day.

Games now seem to be changing into something beyond simple entertainment: another kind of society, and a space where people make memories together and share the texture of everyday life.