Difference between revisions of "MapleStory"

Revision as of 04:23, 11 December 2012

Your story. Your MapleStory

Genre	Fantasy RPG
Gamming Style	MMOPRG
Platform	Windows XP or later. [1]
Release Date	2003 [2]
Developer	Wizet [3]
Publisher	Nexon
Website	www.maplestory.nexon.net

MapleStory is an online, two- dimensional game developed by Nexon. The game incorporates the standard features of a MMOPRG. Users are mainly attracted by cartoon-like monsters and avatars that they can customize and display to other players. These customizations are seen through the diversification of skills and classes and additionally through the choices of weapons and armaments. Objectives are variable and flexible, where players perform quests and battle monsters to level up. Social interaction is a major component in this game through trading, group quests and even online-marriages. Throughout the active years of MapleStory, several ethical issues concerning anonymity, cheating and addiction arises from its players.

History

Maplestory was originally developed by a company called Wizet. ^[4] After Nexon bought Wizet, the game was further developed and was eventually released to the public in 2003. ^[3] Due to some setbacks, the game underwent more changes in order to further develop in order to be relaunched in 2010 with the "Big Bang Update". ^[3] The Big Bang was one of the biggest update for this game, with a new experience curve, skill rebalancing, and a new map. ^[5] As of May 2011, Maplestory has over eight million registered accounts, and over 24 million character creations worldwide. The concurrent online player base reached a peak of 136,000 in North America alone ^[6]. Additionally, Maplestory has been adapted into a trading card game, single-player game for iOS and Nintendo DS as well as a Japanese animation series ^[7].

Storyline

The framework of MapleStory is loosely based on a hero-villain narrative with the antagonist “The Black Mage” and protagonist composed of five heroes. ^[8]. These heroes are currently frozen in magical ice for the time period the players are playing in. ^[8]

Game Mechanisms

Basic Controls/Functions

Gameplay and functionality is controlled by the user's keyboard. This includes the characters' movement, interactions with other players and the environment, and development of skills. ^[9] The majority of the game is focused on the character itself. A character can be equipped with several items- most basic ones have armors and accessories; wealthier players can afford pets, more valuables and "mounts". Skills are chosen by the user once the character levels up (this can be done by attacking monsters to gain experience points). Skills are contributed by gaining points and allocating those points to specific skillsets, which are automatically given every time the character levels. Three skill points are given per level, and are associated with the level of one's job, while five ability points are given per level and are used to improve the character's stats (i.e. strength, dexterity, intelligence, luck, heath and mana).^[10]

Classes

MapleStory characters are made up of four major branches of heroes to first launch: explorer, cygnus knight, hero and resistance. As players level up, he/she has the options of selecting certain skills that will result in different class differentiation and skillsets from other players within the same branch. ^[11] All classes contain their respective strengths and weaknesses, which will influence the difficulty and popularity in playing the particular class. All the available classes can be found on its online website. The format of this game consists of multiple servers that are exact replicas of the MapleWorld. Each server is further divided into channels to account for the substantial population of participants it holds today. ^{[8] [12]}

Economics

The game is free, since players earn mesos (MapleStory money) by defeating monsters and by trading. In the game, there is an area called the "Free Market" that allows players to trade most in-game items besides money. Much of the game's economy is based off of the stability of the "Free Market." Nexon also included an in-game shop called “Cash Shop” where the currency called NX is used. NX (Nexon Cash) is purchased with real money and is similar to a gift card. They are available in most retail stores. Items bought from Cash Shop are restricted from trade in the game. Additionally, trading NX between players is also restricted, determined by the game designers, though some users trade Mesos for NX by giving the code of the gift card in return for the monetary compensation. This Free Market trade requires trust, and therefore remains as a risk to all players who engage in this activity. ^[13] The Cash Shop features more desirable clothing, pets and other virtual accessories that players can purchase for their avatars.

Ethical Concerns

Anonymity

As with most MMOPRG games, players are given the privilege of ambiguity during their in-game experience. This allows a life away from responsibility related to social standards. Individuals are able to fabricate their identities according to their preferences. Multiple players and accounts allow repeated opportunities to restart their social interactions in the game, if one is unsatisfied with the previous experience. However, the issue that arises from this freedom is a lack of trust among players in the game (though some discretion can be applied to this statement). As with most online community comes the game’s warnings of unadvisable players who do not cooperate positively among the community. ^[14] This has been a primary concern among games that uses generated avatars as substitute icons of their real life players.

Cheating

Botting

“Botting” is a key issue faced by the MapleStory community. Botting is using a system or program developed by another individual(s) interaction with the game without the involvement of a human player. This cheating methodology can be used to gain money, level up a character, or obtain certain rare items that usually take hours to attain when the game is manually played. ^[15] Nexon has responded to this issue by running several server checks to fix this issue; ^[16] however, individuals have also succeeded in updating their bots or creating new ones to adjust to these security updates.

Hacking

using a hacking client to defeat a MapleStory boss

Hacking is another primary issue that interferes with the regulations of the game. Principally, hackers gain access into accounts other than their own to take rare items or equipment so that the other players have no means of regaining their objects back. Hacking, unlike botting, can directly involve another player into the offense and consequently bring disunity among the players in Maplestory. Nexon has responded to this concern with a special page detailing instructions and precautions for users to take with their accounts and their private information. ^[17]. Not all cases of hacking can be resolved cleanly. Sometimes, items cannot be compensated due to the large number of hacking cases and the complexity of each case. MapleStory community has responded negatively towards the slow response from the administration and caused many players to quit playing the game.

Farming

Farming on MapleStory follows a similar format of online farming for most MMORPGs. Players spend majority of their game time collecting gold or popular game items to sell for profit. ^[18] "Gold farming" is a popular practice among MapleStory players in which these mesos can be traded through payment of real money. Coupled with botting, players can obtain mesos without much physical or mental effort. Supporters reinforce the idea that paying money for a menial, respective task of killing monsters for gold is a fair trade-off.^[18] However, many see this venture as cheating, especially coupled with a computer program that perform this task automatically.

Spamming/Duping

Spamming is a smaller issue, but nonetheless disturbs the game experience of other individuals. When spamming escalates beyond just one player, the game functionality can slow down significantly, and the entire game can crash. The time spent re-logging not only frustrates individuals on a level of inconvenience, but can also frustrate players who were in the midst of a quest or trading process. In addition, a unique violation can be made when the server crashes. During a deliberate trade setup and an equipment is being traded among one individual to another, a server crash is induced to duplicate the item. This violation is called “duping” or as Nexon defines it- glitching. Duping benefits both individuals since no players suffer negative setbacks. However, it allows other players to suffer from the induced server crash, which is why it’s a sever violation among the Nexon game rules.

Racism

MapleStory is played by many people all over the world, so it is natural that a variety of different races and ethnicities are playing the game. Thus, in-game racism can be a problem if user do not abide by real world ethics and treat all races of people equally. The Policies and Agreements page of the MapleStory website outlines some of the potential ethical problems that users encounter in the game. The website states, "Please abide by our rules and regulations, the golden rules being 'Treat others with respect' and 'Don't cheat'". ^[19] The website goes on to state, "When you become a part of the Nexon community, you are joining millions of players worldwide. We understand that with a large player base, disputes and misunderstandings can arise from time to time; however, our in-game/online staff will do their best to resolve these as they happen. Please refrain from instigating incidents or retaliatory action during game play and online message board activity."^[20] The question arises if the real world ethics of equality apply to virtual environments such as MapleStory. The argument can be made that users are only making racist comments as a joke; since the original identities of users is not known, users who make derogatory comments might not know that they are offending others, as the comments only come out when the user is joking about or becoming aggravated by something in the game. Conversely, the argument can be made that users should tread as carefully as they would in the real world, and try even harder not to make offensive comments because at any moment they could be hurting the feelings of another player.

Addiction

A trending issue among Maplestory is the addiction towards the game. Since the game requires leveling of characters, players have to physically spend hours defeating monsters to gain the XP points to level. Addiction towards the game can cause a sway from the player’s pre-game life into a life focused solely on being “online”. Sometimes, it is not caused by the competitive drive, but by a strong social bonding with one’s online community. ^[21] This can significantly alter a player’s view on reality and the virtual world. The Cash Shop presents a predicament of stealing or spending an inordinate amount of money on purchases that are not really necessary in the game, but presents it conformity appeal in the community. ^[21]

See Also

• Diablo II
• World of Warcraft
• Anonymous Behavior in Virtual Environments
• Cheating in Videogames
• Game Addiction

References

1. ↑ Maplestory "Platform" http://maplestory.nexon.net/support/game-download
2. ↑ Wikipedia. "Nexon Co. Ltd." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexon_America
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} Wikipedia. "MapleStory" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MapleStory
4. ↑ Basil. "History of Maplestory, Nexon, and Wizet" http://www.basilmarket.com/forum/2512240/0/History_of_Maplestory_Nexon_and_Wizet.html
5. ↑ MapleStory Community Page. http://maplestory.nexon.net/community/maple-articles/dev-blog/00ELz/dev-blog-big-bang-countdown?page=2
6. ↑ http://www.gamersdailynews.com/story-23437-MapleStory-Tops-Eight-Million-Users-Six-Years.html
7. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MapleStory#History
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} MapleStory Guide Page. http://maplestory.nexon.net/guides/what-is-maplestory
9. ↑ Maplestory Controls. http://maplestory.nexon.net/guides/game-play/controls
10. ↑ MapleSTory Faqs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/924697-maplestory/faqs/49613
11. ↑ wikiHow "How to Pick a Job in Maplestory" http://www.wikihow.com/Pick-a-Job-in-Maplestory
12. ↑ MapleStory. "Dev Blog -- MapleStory Then and Now" http://maplestory.nexon.net/community/maple-articles/dev-blog/00EKm/dev-blog-maplestory-then-and-now?page=2
13. ↑ MapleStory Cash Shop Guide. http://maplestory.nexon.net/shop/cash-shop-guide/get-started
14. ↑ MapleStory User Abuse Page. http://maplestory.nexon.net/support/user-abuse/user-abuse-policy
15. ↑ MapleSEA Botting. http://maple.asiasoftsea.com/policy/botting/
16. ↑ MapleStory Maintenance. http://maplestory.nexon.net/news/maintenance/announcements/00Ewq/maintenance-vs-game-updates
17. ↑ MapleSEA Hacking. http://maple.asiasoftsea.com/policy/hacking/
18. ↑ ^{18.0 18.1} BBC News. "The business end of playing games" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6592335.stm
19. ↑ http://www.nexon.net/legal/user-abuse/
20. ↑ http://www.nexon.net/legal/user-abuse/
21. ↑ ^{21.0 21.1} OLGA. http://www.olganon.org/?q=node/21932

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