An Overview of the MMO MapleStory
A Free 2D MMORPG (Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game)
Sep 8, 2009
Many Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games have been developed in Asia. MapleStory, which is developed by Wizet, first started in South Korea. The “Global” version of the game was published in the United States on May 11, 2005 by Nexon Corporation.
A General Overview of What MapleStory Is
MapleStory is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG.) This means that players take the role of one character, live that characters life, and improve upon that character in some form (either by making that character stronger, earning better upgrades for it, etc.)
In MapleStory, players take the role of an adventurer in the Maple World. They’ll spend their time in the Maple World doing quests, collecting items, gaining new armors and weapons, learning better skills, and playing mini-games. MapleStory also lets a player do a “Party Quests” where they’ll work as a team with a set of players to achieve a goal. With all the activities in MapleStory, there is never a moment where players will find themselves having nothing to do.
Your First Steps on Maple Island
Players start as a Beginner on Maple Island. As a Beginner, they will only have access to three skills, but that doesn’t hamper a character for long, as once they reach level ten (or level 8, in the case that they want to become a Mage character,) they get to pick their character’s job (class) and will have access to a plethora of new skills.
The experience on Maple Island plays out much like a tutorial. Players will learn the basic controls, how to allocate skills and skill points, and any other information a new player needs to play. MapleStory’s controls are mostly done with the keyboard. The keyboard is used to jump, attack, and move. To select a Non-Player Character (NPC) to accept a quest or sell an item, players will use the mouse.
After players finish the tutorial on Maple Island, they will choose which character path they wish to take and move on to Victoria Island. The main game takes place there. (Note: Once you pick your job path, you can still change it until you accept your professional at the NPC for the class.) There are five classes to pick from initially, not including the beginner job, and these branch into a total of fifty-eight jobs.
How Popular is MapleStory?
According to Gamestudy.org, in October of 2005 MapleStory had 1.5 million accounts registered on the “Global” version. The global version only houses the English speaking players.
Players have to ability to choose from ten “worlds” to pick from. They many have up to six characters per world. And, in a world, there are twenty channels a player may choose to be on. This gives players the ability to play with as many or few people as they wish, so they shouldn’t feel as if they’ll be overcrowded by that large population number.
Is MapleStory Free to Play?
In as few words as possible, yes!
MapleStory is completely free to play if you so choose to do so. In the game, you can acquire any items, weapons, or armors with Mesos, the in-game currency. But, for those who wish to make themselves look cooler by buying unique weapons, hairs, face, armors, and pets, you can purchase Nexon Cash.
Nexon Cash is a virtual currency that is bought with real money. It is highly recommended to buy Nexon Cash Cards, which can be bought at some retail stores, such as Target, as Nexon won’t let players buy some of the items in the Cash Shop with Maple Cash acquired through a PayPal purchase.
MapleStory Is an MMO Worth Playing
MapleStory can be a fun experience for all players. The ability to play without putting in any money is a great bonus. The game does use the Free to Play with Micro-Transactions model, but they don’t sell items that give an advantage over players who don’t buy (they do offer times two experience, but you can get this feature in game without paying also.)
If someone plans on going to play MapleStory, be warned that because it is a Free to Play game, and has anime(ish) looking graphics, younger players are attracted to the game. At times, these players will call others a “noob” derogatively.
It is best to ignore them and continue on with a happy playing experience. Players can also get married in the game, which might attract some couples to the game.
References:
http://gamestudy.org/eblog/?p=32#footnote-1-32
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