MapleStory

MapleStory is an online, two- dimensional game developed by Nexon. The game incorporates the standard features of a MMOPRG. Main attractions include cartoon-like monsters and avatars that users can customize and display to other players. 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.

Storyline

The framework of MapleStory is loosely based on a hero-villain narrative with the antagonist as “The Black Mage” and five heroes serving as the protagonists. These heroes are currently frozen in magical ice for the duration of time that the players are playing in.

Game Mechanisms

Classes

MapleStory characters are made up of four major branches of heroes to launch from- 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 skills. All the different classes can be found on its online website. The game also 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.

Economics

The game is free, since players earn mesos (MapleStory money) from attacking monsters or from trading. However, Nexon also included an in-game shop called “Cash Shop” is which uses the currency called NX. NX (Nexon Cash) is purchased with real money. 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 from responsibility from social standards and responsibilities. Individuals are able to fabricate their identities according to their preferences. Multiple players and accounts allows for repeated opportunities to redo their social interactions in the game, if one is unsatisfied with the 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. This has been a primary concern among games that uses generated avatars as substitute icons of their real life players.

Breaking Game Rules

Another consequence of anonymity is evident through in-game spamming, hacking, and cheating. More specifically, “Botting” is a key issue faced by the MapleStory community. Botting is using a system or program developed by individual(s) interact 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. Nexon has responded to this issue by running several sever checks to fix this issue; however, individuals have also succeeded in updating their bots or creating new ones to adjust to these security updates. 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 to take with accounts and one’s private information. 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. 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, or 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”. 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.

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. 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.

References

http://maplestory.nexon.net/guides/classes-and-jobs http://maplestory.nexon.net/guides/what-is-maplestory http://maplestory.nexon.net/support/user-abuse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv8gTTkUeIk http://maplestory.nexon.net/support/security http://www.basilmarket.com/forum/2432871/0/when_does_nexon_respond_to_hack_complaints.html http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CEUQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mpgh.net%2Fforum%2F347-maplestory-tutorial-guides%2F423624-how-dupe.html&ei=IBt2UJ23CKGqyAGClIHACQ&usg=AFQjCNHXqaGJzTbz6Hu3IM4Sy8AOSjI7Tg