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Maplestory.
This whole franchise started off in Korea sometime in 2003. I followed this game from then on to four years later. That means I've been an insane schizoid who seeks friendship by pretending to whack people with fish for a very long time.
The game is fine, however strongly I may abhor it. It is just another flash game on steroids, but it's a well-planned out game. Why is it well-planned out? Well....
1. It's free. Nexon has taken a big risk on this game, on which they tried to bend our tastes on games. But with this free deal, they were able to draw even the most elitist of gamers into their foreplay.
2. It can be played on almost any computer. This compliments the "free deal" pretty well, and also helped the game become successful.
3. Their cash-shop is purely for fun. No stat enhancements or the likes, just cutsie outfits for your avatar and other luxuries that only improve your enjoyment, not your character.
4. No PvP. I found this to be a bad thing, but this game lacks the drama PvP delivers. In place of PvP, they have "get-along" quests, which attempts to connect the community instead of diversifying it, which gets me on my final point.....
5. The community. No matter how shallow, how stupid, and how asinine these players are, the community moves as a whole. Fame brings much karma in the game and friends are aplentiful. It is almost difficult to not get a friend in your first day of gameplay. Even the assholes become your friend, for whatever magic this game utilizes, it is a very powerful magic.
All these I accepted wholeheartedly, this and more. But now, they have different plans for this game.
They're banking on the shallowness of players. Their advertisements prove that. All of their advertisements, whether be it for pixels or their brand new TCG game. They have gone too far with something that should have died before it was launched in America. This game is now officially the new "myspace" for some folks, except with bigger consequences. Gambling is a big issue in Maplestory and the real money needed to do it is even bigger. Kids steal their parent's credit cards to pay almost a hundred dollars a week to fund this expensive hobby.
More and more, this game teaches nothing to kids except about how "money buys fame, and with fame, you can do anything." I wouldn't usually care about other people like this, but I don't want other people fish-smacking me for fun.
PS: Their anime sucks. Ass. Through a titanium straw.
PSS: Maplestory is crap and always will remain crap. So what if they add new stuff? What do you get when you polish crap? Shiny crap.
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