I spent most of my time last year playing the local Tantra Online, leveling up my character, Ibendz, a magician (abikara), up to level 200. It took a lot of time to reach that level and I spent days and nights just building it into one of the fiercest warriors known in Tantra Philippines, Samadi Server.

I like to think I succeeded as I was able to make strategic alliances and made a name for myself even when their were others who came before me. I believe it mostly comes from my being online for almost 24/7 and not with my prowess on Player Versus Player battles in the realm we call Kruma. Even though I’ve been playing for more than 6 months, I still haven’t mastered the ropes and my finger to brain connection is not that responsive either. Learning quick finger maneuver is so important in online games as you have to press the necessary skill or pots to injure your survival.

I also spent a fraction of my income to finance my passion (read as vice) for Tantra Online so I can participate in Events and get new items to keep myself competitive. I shelled out more than two thousand pesos a month at the peak of my gaming addiction. It’s not that big of an amount back when I was receiving a stable, almost white collar, salary. When I lose my job, I was determined to put Ibendz on hibernation and focus on blogging first so I can earn enough money to finance my characters lifestyle, so to speak.It was mid December when I finally left Tantra and instill the care of my char to my online friends. I tried checking my char once a week before deciding to delete the game application from my hard drive cause it started to interfere with my blogging.

On a mid-February evening, I tried accessing my account on an internet cafe to see how my online friends are doing and to get a feel of what’s happening on a world I once consider as my online abode. Surprisingly, all my premium items are gone and my Ibendz was totally naked. It took me seconds to realize I was hacked. Hacking is rampant in online games. Some players who can’t afford to buy game loads would opt to create phishing sites, send spy ware laden e-mails and key loggers via Yahoo Messenger. I can’t blame my pilots for it, although I heard rumors that one of them profited from my loss. Perhaps one of them did it or maybe they got phished. With a little help from Tantra Game Masters, I was able to recover some of my items when I checked it last April 8, the day that marks my Ibendz’, date of creation.

With my recent update to Windows Vista, I also decided to download Tantra Online once again now that my blog don’t need much attention anymore. I was surprised to learn that not much have changed. There were some friends who left and sold their characters and others who chose to stay cause they don’t want to leave their friends behind. Some of them have been into the game for more than 2 years already ,and although the game

Some people, like myself, have came and went, taking months of sabbatical then going back again to reconnect with people we never saw personally but feel as if we were long lost brothers and sisters. It’s more like a big family where sometimes, one must move on and leave the comfort of the place we call home to pursue things we want to achieve in life, with a desire to come back someday and knowing that some of our brothers will always be their for us eager to know our life’s adventures.