10 Times Players Broke MMORPGs

Compared to the many tales of players doing absolutely awful things to each other, The Sleeper is a heart-warming story of EverQuest’s players coming together.

Kerafyrm “The Sleeper” was a hibernating dragon that was a one-time event. Across every other server of EverQuest, players had awoken Kerafyrm and been demolished in seconds. However, on the server Rallos Zek, guilds had an understanding that they would never go near the beast.

It couldn’t last however and one day, a user left their guild to go do the unthinkable. Once the Sleeper was awake it couldn't be undone... so rather than fight amongst themselves, the warriors of Rallos Zek banded together.

Over the course of three hours, the once warring factions of Rallos Zek had reduced the Sleeper’s health to 26%... and then it disappeared.

Sony Online Entertainment hadn’t anticipated that anyone could actually do such a thing. Hundreds of players in the server were angry and disappointed, feeling cheated despite their honourable fight. It was a controversial move, to give the players an objective they weren’t meant to complete and then hurry it off the screen when they almost did.

By way of an apology, SOE respawned The Sleeper and a four-hour battle ended with the server finally putting down the unkillable boss. Whilst there was no loot to be had, they at least became a part of one of the MMORPG genre's biggest moments.