I just started playing this and figured I'd post it here for anyone interested, I remember this game from back in the day but never got a chance to play it much, there's also a lot of active players on this server.
PSO is a multiplayer online RPG game with fast-paced action combat. Movement and attacks are all done in real time. You can play with a keyboard or a gamepad.
You can meet up with other players in the lobby, chat, form a party, prepare on Pioneer 2 and head down to Ragol, the planet the game takes place on, to adventure to your heart’s content.
Demolish your foes, discover rare items, solve many side quests and mysteries all while trying to find out what happened to the people of Pioneer 1, a colony sent to colonize the planet of Ragol who suddenly vanished after a massive explosion rocked the entire planet.
Phantasy Star Online first debuted on the SEGA Dreamcast at the end of 1999. It’s gone through several iterations, across many platforms, with Blue Burst, on the PC, being the final one.
This game holds a special place in many player’s hearts and when SEGA decided to no longer host a server for it, the PSO community took matters into their own hands.
Oof. I looked it up and it's even worse. Some hackers were even Resta-killing and dropping glitched money in the lobby. Picking up glitched items (black cube) or getting killed in the lobby can corrupt your save file so you lose your characters.
Oof damn, that is brutal! But how did they get the items in the first place? Lol.
GameShark (confirmed); or save data backup to PC and hex editor, in theory. I don't think there was a DC DexDrive and the console's security didn't get totally defeated until a couple years later, I believe.