I have today stumbled upon this old article, written by the japanese blogger Maidy and published on the Denfaminico Gamer video games news website. It was published on November 10, 2017, the day when Pangya JP was closed down.
The moment when the japanese server was shut down, with the countdown visible (お知らせ:サーバーが8秒後自動終了します - Notice: The server will automatically shut down in 8 seconds.). Screenshot taken from Maidy’s account, his IGN in Pangya was his full nickname: マイ・ドオーキニ - Mai Do-okini.
Maidy was a japanese videogame blogger best known for creating the viral true story “Dad of Light” about him connecting with his distant, over-60-year-old father by gifting him a PlayStation 4 and a copy of Final Fantasy XIV. The story was so popular that it was adapted into a live-action Netflix television series (2017) and a theatrical movie (2019).
Maidy sadly passed away on December 6, 2020 after losing a long battle with cancer. As a way of honoring his memory, I’m posting here an english translation of the article where Maidy explains what Pangya meant to all its japanese players. While the (automatic) translation is rough at times, it still manages to convey all the emotions we all have while playing the game, while offering a glimpse on the various tauntings and habits of the player on the japanese server. I’m also including all the (well-made) screenshots made for the article.
RIP Maidy and thanks for all the memories!
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Suddenly, when you feel tired
When playing online games, doing the same thing day after day can sometimes lead to fatigue. Of course, I play online games for fun, but there’s the money I need to buy necessary equipment, the powerful enemies I want to defeat someday, the relationships I have with others, and so on… When you play the same online game every day, there are times when you suddenly think, “I’m tired of this…”.
During those times, I would always invite my friends to play PangYa with me.
Playing Pangya is somehow very relaxing…
For me, Pangya was like a “villa” in the online gaming world, a place that soothed my weary soul after the daily battles .
Pangya wasn’t golf; it was a fantasy sport called “Pangya”
At 12:02 PM on November 10, 2017, “PangYa” sadly brought its long history to an end. This game was a historic online golf game that had been in service for 13 years. That being said, Pangya felt a little different from a simple online golf game…
First of all, the story on the official website is quite interesting.
Long ago, there was an island called “Pangya Island” that was on the verge of decay, its natural life force being stolen by the evil power of the Demon King. The inhabitants of Pangya Island, in an attempt to restore the island’s vitality, created a mystical ball called “Aztec,” imbued with the energy of nature through magical power.
Just reading this far makes me think something is a little off. Words like “demon lord” and “magic” in a golf game? Anyone who came here purely wanting to play golf will surely be thinking, “Huh?”
However, what happens next is important. Apparently, the inhabitants of Pangya Island plan to infuse the island with natural life force by placing the mystical ball “Aztec” into “holes” from which natural energy flows out. However, it was discovered that Aztec was a ball made of powerful magic and could not be touched with bare hands To solve this problem, a magic wand called “Air Knight” was developed that could safely transport Aztec. A young man from another world used this “Air Knight” to strike and transport “Aztec,” then placed it into “holes” from which natural life force gushed out.
Thanks to the efforts of a nameless young man from another world, Panya Island was saved from destruction. Afterward, a festival was held on Pangya Island to commemorate this, and a game imitating his exploits became a regular event on the island. This is a game where you use a stick called “Air Knight” to put a ball called “Aztec” into a “hole”.
That’s “Pangya”!! Yes, it certainly resembles golf, but it’s actually a fantasy sport called “Pangya”.
Looking back at the golden age of online gaming when ‘Pangya’ launched
The somewhat unusual golf game “Pangya” has actually made a significant impact on the online gaming industry. The service launched in Japan in November 2004. At that time, two years had passed since the launch of Ragnarok Online’s service in Japan, and it was a golden age where numerous online games were starting up like mushrooms after the rain. Other online games released around the same time as Pangya include the Windows versions of Nobunaga’s Ambition Online and Lineage II, and the following year saw the launch of EverQuest II, Mabinogi, and Emil Chronicle Online.
As an online gamer, it was a wonderful time, a dream come true where I could choose and play in the world of my choice.
In other words, it was an era when each company had many rivals.
During that golden age, Pangya continued to bring a breath of fresh air to the online gaming industry!
- A free open beta test was launched in August 2004.
- The number of members surpassed 50,000 in just half a month and has continued to grow steadily since then.
- In October, just as the official service was about to begin, they announced a monthly fee of “500 yen/30 days + in-game purchases”.
- Then, the number of members, which had been steadily increasing, suddenly stopped, and the number of concurrent users also plummeted, which was a big problem.
- However, their response was quick, and just 10 days after the announcement, they changed to a “free-to-play with in-game purchases” style, which was unusual at the time.
- By making this decision, they attracted users with the promise of “It’s free to play!”, and increased the total number of registered users to 1 million in less than a year after the official service launch.
That’s amazing. This figure placed it second only to the then-hugely popular “Ragnarok Online,” demonstrating the strength of the “Free to Play” model in the online gaming industry at the time.
This is the story of the men who brought about numerous innovations during the golden age of online gaming. This is such an exciting drama that it wouldn’t be surprising if Tomorowo Taguchi started narrating “Project X” right then and there! I want to see it.
Maidy performing a great Pangya shot.
Why was ‘Pangya’ a source of comfort and a vacation home for us?
I started playing Pangya in 2009 — around the time Pangya celebrated its 5th anniversary since its service launch. At the time, I was playing various online games, and as I mentioned earlier, I was getting tired of the “fighting” aspect of the gameplay. I was looking for an online game that was peaceful and didn’t involve any “fighting,” and that’s when I found Pangya. I wasn’t particularly interested in golf, but the combination of golf and fantasy seemed kind of fun, so I started playing Pangya with a friend I met through another online game.
And that really resonated with me! The courses are packed with all sorts of surprises and adorable characters. This is a luxurious golf game where you can enjoy fashion, as the clothes you can buy with real money are well-made! Plus, it’s basically free, so you can play whenever you want!
Even now, eight years later, when I get tired of the “battles” in online games, I invite my friends and head to Pangya Island. Just the other day, that’s what I did.
Friends: Pangya is ending soon, so how about we play it again after a long time?
Maidy: Sounds great! Let’s go.
I decided to invite a friend I’d been playing online games with to play a round of golf together. Being able to invite someone so easily is one of the great things about Pangya. Hooray for free-to-play games!
Friends: Which course would you like to take?
Maidy: First things first: Blue Lagoon.
The first thing that surprised me when I started playing Pangya was… the blueness of the sky in the Blue Lagoon course.
With a shout of “Pangya!”, the Aztec soars through the blue sky! It feels absolutely amazing.
Blue Lagoon is the easiest course, one you can play without thinking too deeply about it.
It feels similar to ordering a beer first when you enter a pub.
Maidy: Ah… so soothing…
Combined with the pleasant background music, this creates a truly refreshing feeling… Even though I’m sitting in front of my computer, it almost feels like I’m basking in pleasant sunlight.
My play style wasn’t about trying to get the lowest score on each course by cutting it close; it was more about simply enjoying playing Pangya on Pangya Island. In a world where online games often involve intense battles with teammates, I think that was a time of “healing” for me.
Friends: That “Pangya trolling” we did before was really fun, wasn’t it?
Maidy: Ah, that one, lol.
“Taunting Pangya” is a game we invented where you taunt your opponent in chat as they are about to take a shot, trying to induce them to miss. It was an incredibly silly way to play, but because our vocabulary for taunting was as limited as an elementary school student’s, it was strangely fun when we did it in the middle of the night.
There were also challenges like “English only” and “Kansai dialect only,” and how much fun golf could be just by adding a chat function! It was amazing.
Pangya is an online game, so it’s basically meant to be enjoyed with other people.
Maidy: It’s also fun to share the feeling of “That was close!” when the ball stops just short of going out of bounds.
Friends: I think that’s the kind of fun you can only have with Pangya.
The consumer version of ‘Golf’ can easily become a monotonous task when played alone, but it transforms when you play with friends and family. If you’re playing alone and you manage to get a hole-in-one and celebrate with a fist pump, nobody’s going to praise you. But when you play with friends and family, you can share the joy and frustration of each moment, which makes it even more exciting. One of Pangya’s biggest appeals was that, taking advantage of its online game nature, players could have fun chatting and laughing online anytime.
Friends: I’ve played with quite a lot of people so far… playing Pangya.
Maidy: It’s easy to invite friends, isn’t it?
Friends: Yes, that definitely happened!
Online games are something I tend to find difficult to recommend to friends. Since most online games are RPGs, there is often a significant difference in skill level between players who have been playing for a year and those who just started playing today, and the content they play is often different.
Maidy: In online games, even if you invite a friend to play, you have to keep your own gameplay in check and wait for them to reach your level, which can often lead to awkwardness and frustration.
Friends: With Pangya, as long as you have even a basic understanding of the rules of golf, you can easily play with anyone.
Maidy: That’s right! Of course, there’s a big difference in terms of player skill, but basically it’s a battle against yourself, so it 's easy to share the fun with others.
For the past eight years, while playing other online games, whenever I got tired of “fighting,” I would seek solace and think, “That’s right, let’s go to Pangya.” And then I’d tell friends I met through other games about how fun Pangya is and get them to start playing it… For me, Pangya wasn’t a game I logged into every day.As I mentioned at the beginning, I think it was almost like having a “vacation home” for playing various online games. It’s basically free to play, easy to use, and makes for lively conversations.
Because I only play occasionally, every day feels fresh, and I’m moved by the blue sky of Blue Lagoon every single time. And every time, since it’s been a while, I’ve gotten rusty, so it feels like I’m in rehabilitation mode! But it’s the same for everyone; the scores improve as people regain their feel for it… and that’s what’s fun about it.
The comforting feeling of emojis that never change.
Adorable characters.
And above all, the beautiful trajectory of the Aztec flying through the sky…
All of them are precious and make for enjoyable times. For us who live in the world of online games, Pangya Island was a precious space that offered solace to everyone.
Going to Pangya with my friends was always fun. I think that’s because there was always a time of “healing” there that never disappointed.
Friends: I won again…
Maidy: It’s no good… In the end, I didn’t get any better at all…
Friends: But it was fun, wasn’t it? It’s getting late, so shall we call it a night?
Maidy: Yes, again…
I swallowed the words, “Let’s do it again!” Those were always the words that ended my time in Pangya…
What Pangya gave us and left behind
Online games have the characteristic of allowing you to share time with someone, somewhere. From the comfort of your own home, you can protect the world with friends far away, cast your fishing line, and even compete against them. Sharing time with friends creates many memories. The longer you play online games, the more countless memories you accumulate.
It’s very sad that Pangya, a place of solace where I’ve made so many memories with my friends over the past 13 years, is closing down. In real life terms, it’s like the park where you play with your friends every day being demolished ; a sense of resignation that it can’t be helped, and a feeling of sadness, weigh heavily on your heart. I always feel that way when an online game service shuts down.
We must say goodbye to BlueLagoon’s blue skies, soothing background music, and adorable characters. I have PSP games and figures that I keep as mementos of Pangya, but playing Pangya alone and playing Pangya with friends are completely different experiences, aren’t they? I think there are many people who have spent almost every day playing Pangya for the past 13 years. It may be a far cry from the number of memories those people have, but those were very important times for me, and I feel like I was able to become even closer to my friends thanks to Pangya.
What probably saddens us most is the loss of “time spent with friends on Pangya Island”.
but…
It’s a long history of 13 years… I believe that the many friendships that were formed during that time will continue to connect in some other way, as long as online games exist. The days on Pangya Island gave us enough fun time to build deep bonds with friends. The days I spent chasing Aztecs under the bright blue sky were not a waste. I believe they’ve created something precious that will make our lives even more enjoyable from now on.
I can’t say “Let’s play again!” anymore, though…
I can say, “Let’s hang out again!”
Pangya was a well-made and fun online game that anyone could play.
Maidy
November 10, 2017