MapleStory

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MapleStory
Developer(s)	Wizet
Publisher(s)	Wizet, Nexon, Shanda, AsiaSoft, and Gamania
Latest version	1.2.34 1.18 0.47 0.41 0.25 (Global) 0.32 (SEA) 0.36 (Europe) 0.15 (Korea Test Server) 1.2.70
Release date(s)	May 2002 November 2003 December 2004 July 4, 2005 August 16, 2005 (Global) May 11, 2005 (SEA) June 23, 2005 (Europe) July 27, 2006 (Closed Beta) (Korea Test Server) 2003
Genre(s)	Fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game
Mode(s)	MMO
Platform(s)	Windows(98/ME/2K/XP)
System requirements	Intel Celeron 500 MHz CPU, 64 MB RAM, 400 MB hard disk space (depends on version), Internet connection (at least 56 kbit/s) and Direct3D support
Input	Keyboard, mouse, gamepad

MapleStory (Korean: 메이플스토리) is a free, 2D, side-scrolling Massively Multiplayer Online Game developed by the Korean company Wizet. Several versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions, and each is published by various companies such as Wizet and Nexon. Although playing the game is free, many player appearances and gameplay enhancements can be purchased from the "Cash Shop" using real money. MapleStory has a combined total of over 50 million players in all of its versions.^[1] MapleStory Global, for players mainly outside of East Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe, has over one million players.^[1]

In the game, players defend the "Maple World" from monsters and develop their character's skills and abilities, as in typical role-playing games. Players can interact with others in many ways, such as through chatting, trading, and playing minigames. Groups of players can band together in "parties" to hunt monsters and share the rewards. Players can also band in a guild to interact more easily with each other.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Controls 1.2 New players 1.3 Dying 1.4 Advancing in level 1.5 Character classes 1.6 Abilities 1.7 Skills 1.8 Parties 1.9 Ranking 2 Monsters 2.1 Boss monsters 3 Quests 3.1 Accompaniments/Party Quests 3.2 Jump quests 4 World 5 Items 5.1 Inventory 5.2 Upgrading items 5.3 Cash Shop 5.4 Free Market 6 Guilds 7 Unique gameplay features 7.1 Fame 7.2 Minigames 7.3 Marriage 7.4 Events 8 Versions and registration 9 Revenue and game population 10 Criticism 11 Game issues 12 See also 13 References 14 External links 14.1 Official game websites 14.2 Informational fansites

Gameplay

Like most Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, gameplay centers on venturing into dungeons and combating monsters in real time. The players combat monsters and complete quests, in the process acquiring in-game currency, called "Mesos" or "Meru" (depending on version), experience points (EXP) and various items. Characters in MapleStory advance in level by gaining a prerequisite amount of EXP for each level. After each level, the user has the ability to improve various skills.

However, MapleStory's 2D side-scrolling viewpoint more closely resembles a platformer than the typical 3D or top-down view of other games (such as Guild Wars or Mu Online). MapleStory is played primarily with the keyboard; the mouse is mainly used to trigger NPC's (Non Playing Characters), select various menus from the user interface and to interact with other players.

MapleStory characters exist in "worlds" or "servers", e.g., "Broa", "Bellocan", or "Aquila". Players are allowed to create up to three different characters in each world. Each world, similar in content between each other in the same version, is split into at most twenty channels, among which characters are allowed to freely switch.^[2] However, characters and their items cannot be transferred between worlds,^[3] although there is limited functionality in transferring items between characters of the same world: for a small fee, a storage NPC can be used to store items and mesos that, once stored, can be retrieved by any character in the same world.

Controls

The Controls for the game are executed using the computer keyboard and mouse. Most of the controls are capable of being rearranged by the user, to adapt to their preference. As an example, the standard setting to execute an attack command is to press the "control" or "ctrl" button. Many of the buttons (e.g. the letter "K" opens the skills book) are shortcuts to various functions. However, certain controls are fixed, and cannot be modified by the player. For example, the movement keys are fixed as the directional arrows. Controls can also be bound to various facial expressions in game, many which can be bought from the Cash Shop.

New players

New players are sent to Maple Island, a floating island specifically designed to be beginner-friendly. Unlike many other MMORPG's, players in MapleStory cannot choose a character class or job when they create the character. Rather, every character starts with the job Beginner until they meet the requirements to complete the first job advancement.

When a player creates a new character, he or she is able to allocate 25 ability points amongst four different abilities. Players cannot manually choose where these points will be placed, as the distribution is randomly generated by a dice roll, to which 262,144 rolls are possible. The minimum possible point level scored when the dice is rolled in a statistic is four and the maximum is thirteen. When creating the character, the player can also choose from a limited variety of faces, hair styles, hair colors, skin colors and initial equipment. These can be modified only through the purchase of special coupons from the Cash Shop.^[4]

Dying

When a character's HP reaches zero, a character dies. This is depicted by a tombstone falling from the top of the screen, and the character transmuting to a floating, ghost-like body. The character is incapable of moving at this stage but they retain the ability to speak. Instead of the usual speech bubbles, a "thought bubble" is substituted. A character may still use facial expressions when dead.

Upon dying, a window appears notifying the character of their death. If the character presses the "OK" button on this window, they are transported to the nearest town and revived with fifty HP. The amount of MP after a character's death does not change. The player can remain in ghost-form for an allocated time (dependent on version) after which the player will automatically be sent to the nearest town.

Beginners do not lose EXP when they die. However, once a beginner makes their first job advancement, each death will cost them a percentage of EXP (between 5-10%) based upon the amount of LUK possessed. Dying in towns or other specific areas (such as Zakum's altar) will always result in an EXP loss of 1%. A character cannot fall below zero percent EXP of their current level, rendering leveling only incremental.

Items such as the Safety Charm (available from the Cash Shop) can prevent EXP loss when the character dies; however, the user loses the item after they die. The Safety Charm is available in all versions of the game and there is no limit to using the charm as long as the user buys more. Other variations of the Safety Charm are the Box of Chocolates and Easter Charm, which were both released for GlobalMS events.

Advancing in level

Characters begin the game at level one. To increase in level, the character must kill monsters and/or complete quests to gain EXP. The maximum any player can level up to is level 200 ^[5]. With each level gained, a player receives 5 ability points (AP) to be distributed among HP (health points), MP (mana points), STR, DEX, INT, and LUK at their own will. The player will receive 1 skill point (SP) for each of the first six levels, and then no more until they complete the first job advancement. After that the player will get 3 skill points (SP) per level. These points are to be distributed on the skills they have.

Character classes

StrategyWiki MapleStory has a page on the topic of Jobs

Main article: MapleStory character classes

All characters start the game as "Beginners". At either level eight or ten, depending on desired class, the player can willingly choose to complete the first job advancement and acquire a new class as a "Warrior", "Magician", "Bowman", or "Thief". Job progression grants access to more powerful skills. These are only possible if the character has the minimum amount of AP allocated in the abilities that the advancement requires.

Once a player reaches level thirty (30), they are able to complete the second job advancement according to their current job. Unlike the first job advancement, a quest is required to be completed prior to advancing. As with the first job advancement, the player is able to choose from two or three secondary professions based on their initial class choice. After the advancement, they gain access to a new set of skills according to their respective job advancement. At level seventy (70) and one hundred twenty (120), characters can once again change their jobs. Unlike previous job advancements, the player is not given the option to choose their job, only being able to progress in their current job to a new-named one with an additional skill set.

3rd job advancement is currently available in all version except EuropeMS and fourth job advancements have only been implemented in the KoreaMS Beta server, which is currently testing the fourth job. Wizet has revealed the English names of the fourth job classes.^[6]

Abilities

There are four types of abilities and two sub-types of abilities, with varying degrees of value, depending on character class. General effects of each stat do not depend on a character's class; however, damage will vary based on job, level, and the equipped weapon. Most classes have one main stat which they raise to increase their damage output, as well as one minor stat which is raised to meet the requirements to equip weapons and armor and/or increase the specialties that come with some of the abilities. These are raised using Ability Points. Characters do not have to follow these general guidelines and may choose to raise other abilities. For example, while warriors generally raise their STR and DEX, some may put more emphasis on their HP over STR.^[7]

• Strength (STR) has a major effect on melee attacks, as well as somewhat affecting a bowman's ranged attacks and a thief's dagger and throwing star attacks.
• Dexterity (DEX) increases accuracy at the rate of 4 every 5 DEX points and avoidability at the rate of 1 every 4 DEX points. It has a minor effect in most melee damage except for bowmen who use it in place of Strength for damage.
• Intelligence (INT) increases magic attack, which determines spell accuracy and spell damage. It also increases magic defence.
• Luck (LUK) increases avoidability at the rate of 1 every 3 LUK points and accuracy at the rate of 1 every 2 LUK points. It also has a major effect on a thief's dagger and throwing star attacks. Some players believe that LUK increases the drop rate of items, however, this is not true. Also, when one dies, depending on the amount of LUK one has, the extent of EXP loss is lessened. Other job advancments e.g Bowman and Warrior do not require LUK whereas Thieves and Mages do. The most % exp can be lost with a good amount of LUK establishes will be 5% loss of experience.^[7][8]
• Health Points (HP) - Adding Ability Points into this will increases the maximum HP a character has.
• Mana Points (MP) - Adding Ability Points into this will increases the maximum MP a character has.

Skills

Every character class has specific skills in which to invest Skill Points (SP) into. The effects of these skills vary. A skill becomes increasingly powerful or helpful depending on the amount of SP invested in the skill. There are 3 types of skills: Passive (activated automatically when the moment is right), Supportive (manually activated to help the player or allies) and Active (attack skills). These skills can also be put on specific buttons to make it easier for you to use them.

• Passive skills such as a bowman's range-increasing "Eye of Amazon", take effect as long as SP has been placed in the skill. The gamut of passive skill effects enhance the character and are not prone to negatively affecting other user specialties. Passive skills do not require any usage of MP or HP.

• Supportive skills can be used when necessary. They always require MP and, in some cases, HP or even special items. Their effects can range from giving temporary benefits to one's character (such as the "Weapon Booster" skill every class receives), to affecting allied members as well (such as the Assassin/Bandit skill "Haste"), to powering down monsters (such as the Page's "Threaten"). Some Supportive skills are only available depending on the equipped weapon, such as the Hunter's "Bow Booster" skill which cannot be used while another type of weapon is equipped. Certain monsters can 'dispel' these types of skills requiring the skill to be recast. When a player is affected by a Supportive skill, an icon with the skill's image is shown in the top-right corner. The player can deactivate them by right clicking on these icons. Some characters have supportive skills to alter their weapon defense, magic defense, and damage. Clerics have more support skills than any other class.

• Active skills are skills that are used to damage and defeat enemies. Like Supportive skills, they require MP, and sometimes HP. First job active skills usually can be performed with any weapon that is in one's class (an exception can be made for the Thief's "Lucky Seven" and "Double Stab" skills). From the second job however, nearly all active skills require a specific weapon. For example, a Dragon Knight's active skills can only be performed with either a Polearm or a Spear.

Parties

Players can kill monsters alone, or they can form a party with up to 5 other characters (6 characters total). One character forms a party as the leader, and invites others to the party. To create a party, the character must be at least level 10 or have already completed the first job advancement. While killing monsters, money and EXP are shared based on damage dealt to the monster as well as each character's relative level. More EXP is given to higher level characters and characters that do more damage. The EXP and money gained is only shared if the party members are in the same map and channel. Joining a party without helping is called leeching and is generally considered rude.

Ranking

When a player logs on, they can see how their character is ranked among others in the same world and among the other players at the same class as their character; it will also display the character's changes in ranking from the previous day. All characters in the game are ranked based on how much total EXP they have gained, approximately equivalent to the character's level.

Websites for some versions have ranking systems that allows anyone to view any character's ranking within the version. On the MapleSEA and GlobalMS websites, rankings may be viewed in four ways: overall ranking compares all characters across all worlds within the version; world ranking only compares characters on the same world; class ranking compares characters across all worlds based on their class; and fame ranking compares characters across all worlds based on the amount of fame they have.^[9]

Monsters

StrategyWiki MapleStory has a page on the topic of Monsters

Killing monsters gives a player experience, or mesos, or items, or sometimes all three. Any experience gained is automatically added to the player’s total experience, whereas the mesos and items are dropped at the location of the monsters' death. Dropped items include monster leftovers (a piece of the monster), ores, equipment, quest items, usable drops, and during certain periods of time, "set-up" items (see the items section). Stronger monsters (those with a higher level than another compared monster), give more experience when killed, drop larger sums of mesos and tend to drop better items in terms of their use and selling abilities.

Like human-controlled characters, monsters have defense ratings against physical and magical attacks. In addition, some monsters have elemental strengths and weaknesses making them more or less susceptible to specific elemental attacks. For example, "Fire Boars" take extra damage against ice-elemental attacks, but take reduced damage against fire-elemental attacks. All monsters can damage the player simply through contact. However, some monsters can use skills similar to the player's. These range from supportive skills to attack skills.

Boss monsters

There are several boss monsters which can be found throughout the MapleStory world. Each boss is located at their respective map and do not appear at other maps beyond their bounds. Most boss monsters have special privileges such as being unaffected by some spells, higher than normal HP, higher than normal attack, defense and special attack power and summoning powers. They are also generally very large. Spoils from bosses are also typically dominant over other similar items in the boss' level group. However, bosses spawn less frequently than normal monsters ranging anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours. Bosses can also be found in accompaniments's such as King Slime who is located at the end of the Kerning City accompaniment.

Quests

StrategyWiki MapleStory has a page on the topic of Quests

Quests are varying tasks that players may perform for NPCs in return for experience and possible rewards. There are over a hundred available quests,^[10] each with varying prerequisites; most quests require the player to be at or more than a certain level limit and/or the player to have a specific character class, minimum fame data point or to have completed another certain quest.^[10] For example, the quest "Building Blackbull's New House" requires the player to have a minimum of level thirty, ten fame and the completion of "Fixing Blackbull's House", an earlier quest. Most available quests require the player to retrieve a certain amount of spoils attained from monsters or they must traverse through obstacle courses. Different rewards, such as experience or unique items, can be received by the player after completing certain quests.^[10] Some quests can be repeated, although the reward(s) and given EXP may be different from those attained during their first completion. Unlike some MMORPGs, it's not possible to escape the grind by completing quests. Also unlike some MMORPGs, MapleStory does not follow any quest storyline mainly because MapleStory has no back-story.

Accompaniments/Party Quests

Although not listed as a quest within the game, accompaniments are a special type of quest where a party of players must work together to beat several challenges. Although officially called "Accompaniments", they are commonly referred to as "Party Quests" or "PQ" interchangeably. Each of the six party quests has its own level limits which every character in the party must be within to enter the party quest.

For example, the first party quest is in Kerning City. A party of four, ranging from levels 21 to 30, progresses through five stages with a thirty minute time limit by solving puzzles and killing monsters. At the end, a prize is given to each participant. Only one party can be inside the party quest at any time on one channel.

In the Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese versions there is a special quest for guilds called "Sharenian". Located in the Perion Castle area, it is much like a party quest but more difficult. It is mostly designed for high-leveled guild members (level 70+), but anyone Level 10 or above can enter. Someone Level 30 or below is needed to do a jump quest.

Jump quests

Jump quests are a unique type of quest in which a character starts at one part of a map and uses timed jumps to get from one to another specific platform. The player attempts to avoid enemies and obstacles that can knock them off of the platform. Enemies would look like your ordinary monsters with their ordinary attack, except the attacks are weaker. In addition, you cannot kill the monsters; for they are just obstacles to avoid. Jump quests typically require precision timing, although the reaped rewards are re-attainable and monetarily valuable. Mobility skills (Teleport, Flash Jump) are disabled in Jump Quests, as with speed and jump boosts. However. The Chief Bandit skill "Assaulter" still works, allowing them to use it to "cheat" and teleport through monsters in the Jump Quest.

World

Main article: MapleStory world

There are three main continents (Maple Island, Victoria Island, and Ossyria Island) and two subcontinents (Florina Beach and Ludibrium) common to all versions in the MapleStory world and one more additional subcontinent soon to be common to all versions (Riprey).

Maple Island is where every new player begins their journey. It has short, tutorial quests and is occupied with monsters whose levels are suited for Beginners. When a player leaves this island, they are unable to return to it later. A world map is available to navigate the island.

Victoria Island has six towns. Lith Harbor is a port town where one first arrives after leaving Maple Island. Players complete their first job advancements in various towns around Victoria Island. Sleepywood is a town located near the dungeon at the center of Victoria Island. A flying ship departs from Ellinia on Victoria Island taking the character to Ossyria. Similarly to Maple Island, there is a world map available.

Ossyria contains harder enemies than Victoria Island. The player initially arrives at Orbis. El Nath and Aqua Road are accessible by descending through the Orbis tower. A giant blue bird can take the player from Orbis to Riprey. A train can take the character from Orbis to Ludibrium, from where the player can visit Omega Sector and Korean Folk Town by descending the Eos or Helios towers. Unlike Victoria Island, there is no world map.

There are additional continents called Coca-Cola World, Zipangu, Dong Fang Shen Zhou, Formosa, and Thai Floating Market. There are also two marriage systems called Peach Blossom Island and Amoria. Each is only released in certain versions of the game (see below), though they are expected to be released in other versions in future patches. Happyville like these other towns, has limited availability. It can only be accessed during the Christmas period. Premium Road has been made available to KoreaMS, JapanMS, ThailandMS and MapleSEA; it can be accessed only if the player is connected to the game from an Internet Cafe which has contracts with the staff of its local MapleStory version.

Items

Items can be acquired from monster drops, purchased from other characters or shops, or as rewards for completing a quest. In some versions of the game, items can be obtained through cash with the gachapon system. Players buy gachapon tickets with cash and each of these tickets can be exchanged for a random item. Unnecessary items can be dropped (where they can be picked up by any other character), sold to any shop for a sum of meso, or sold/traded to other characters. Generally the stronger the monsters are the better the items they drop. Due to the time required to sell valuable items to other players as well as the quantity of items received, many players create a mule account to store excess items and act as a dedicated trading account.

Inventory

There are five different item categories in the game: Equipment, Use, Set-Up, Etc., and Cash. In the inventory window, each category has its own section, each of which is only able to contain a limited amount of items; however, extra inventory space can be purchased in the Cash Shop. Extra inventory space is also awarded after each job advancement.

Equipment

The various types of equipment are clothing, accessories, and weapons; clothing and accessories adding defense, weapons adding attack. Most have a level, stat, and class requirement to be able to equip it. Additionally a rare few have a fame requirement. In addition to the basic attack or defense increase, items can also provide stat bonuses such as extra HP, MP, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Speed, Jump, Accuracy, Avoidability, and/or Luck stats. Most equipment have specific "average" stats which the item always has when it is bought from a store. When dropped by monsters these stats typically differ from the average.

Use

Use items consist of consumable items, such as potions, pills, food (which serves the same purpose as potions), upgrade scrolls, town portal scrolls (teleports the user back to the nearest town or a specific town), arrows (for use with bows/crossbows), and throwing stars (for use with claws).

Set-Up

Set-Up items are mainly decorative special items for events such as Christmas or special quests. They usually serve no purpose after the special event is over. You can also hold chairs (The Relaxer for example) here.

Etc.

Etc. items are monster leftovers, ores, materials and quest items. Ores and materials are used for forging items.

Cash

Cash items are the items bought in the Cash Shop. However, some Cash Shop items may appear in other sections of the inventory depending on their function.

Upgrading items

Equipment can be upgraded by using item upgrade scrolls which give stat bonuses to equipment. Using a scroll on an item can only be attempted a limited number of times irrespective of the scroll's success or failure. The number of attempts varying with the item type. Scrolls have a certain percentage of success, and the lower the success percentage, the higher the stat gains provided by the scrolls. Scrolls can only be used when you have equipped the item that you wish to upgrade, but in KoreanMS and JapanMS, there is a new beginner skill that allows you to scroll an item without the need of equipping it.

Cash Shop

Since playing MapleStory is free, the developers of MapleStory introduced the Cash Shop to generate revenue. This is a virtual shop where players can buy items using real money. These items may or may not give actual gameplay bonuses to the character. The items sold in the Cash Shop include clothing items, haircut coupons, pets and much more. Most Cash Shop items expire after a period of 90 days.

Other than equipment that players can wear, some other items from the Cash Shop can grant the players special abilities, such as negating the experience points lost from dying and giving players a 2x EXP gain bonus

Pets^[11] can also be purchased from the Cash Shop. Modeled after animals such as monkeys, dogs, cats, bunnies, pandas, huskies, pigs, dinosaurs, tigers, robots and Yeti, they follow the owner around and can be equipped to pick up the spoils dropped by the enemies.

The Global Cash Shop markets items for two virtual currencies: Nexon Cash (NX Cash), and "MaplePoints". NX Cash is purchased outside of MapleStory through the MapleStory web site. MaplePoints, however, can be earned through special events.

On 23 June 2006, MapleStory Global announced that people had been abusing the Nexon Cash "gifting" feature, and ultimately decided to disable the feature indefinitely.^[12] The reason MapleStory Global has given for this decision is that many people have been fraudulent towards PayPal and Wizet itself. Those who have falsely charged Nexon Cash will receive a permanent ban. However, those that falsely charged Nexon cash to their account or believed someone falsely gifted them Nexon cash were able to "self-report" themselves via the MapleStory Global website up until 7 days after the website's gifting feature was disabled. Those who did received a lesser ban of 30 days instead of a permanent ban. If a transaction resulted in a financial penalty for Wizet, users will still be permanently banned regardless of self-reporting. Users who reported themselves but did not have an "illegal charge" on their account were not affected.^[13]

Many people are taking advantage of the fact that people are unable to pay for Nexon Cash and are accepting items and in game currency to trade for Nexon Cash. People are also attracting these people using referral sites that give paypal money as a reward for doing offers calling it Free NX (Nexon) Cash.^[14] However, such transactions are deemed illegal and any user involved in such a transaction could be banned if caught by a GM.

In MapleSEA's case, in addition to credit card payment (through PayPal), it has also released Prepaid cards that are sold at a fixed price of SGD $10.50 [Tax inclusive](approximately USD $6.30) per 10,000 A-Cash (which can be used to convert into MapleCash) or RM 24 (approximately USD $6.40) for 24,000 MaplePoints (which can be used to purchase 10,000 A-Cash).^[15]

As for Global MapleStory, Pre-Paid cash-value cards, or "Nexon Cards" have been announced that they will be released, but there has been a short delay in the release of the cards and will announce when they are ready for sale soon. ^[16]

Free Market

The Free Market is a place set aside for people who wish to sell their items amongst other players. Miniature shops can be set up in this area in which a maximum of three people can concurrently browse their stock. The shop permits, required to set up a shop, are only available through the Cash Shop. There are two types of store permits. The standard store has the player stop playing while the store is active. A new permit called the Mushroom House Elf has a NPC run the store while the player fights monsters or is offline.

One can meet with players located in other towns or even continents, provided the town contains a Free Market entrance. However, one cannot use the free market to travel between towns. There are entrances to the Free Market in the following towns: Henesys, Perion, El Nath, Aquarium, Ludibrium, Omega Sector, Orbis, Riprey, Showa Town, Night Market, and Yu Yuan Garden.

Guilds

Players can form Guilds^[17] in MapleStory with other players. The purpose of a guild is to be able to find and chat with each other more easily, to bond with other players, and make it easier when trying to complete a quest wherein one is allowed to have one's guild members aid oneself. When a guild member logs in, all other guild members are notified, similar to what happens when a "buddy" signs on. Members have their guild's name listed under their character name along with the guild's emblem, if applicable.

Guilds can be created in the Guild Head Quarters located in Orbis for a large amount of mesos. Additional upgrades to the guild such as a guild emblem and expanding the maximum amount of guild members (from 10 to a maximum of 30) will carry an additional fee. One can increase the size of their guild to reach a maximum of 30 members,however TaiwanMS has increased the maximum guild members to 40 in version 0.40.^[18] KoreaMS test server has increased the maximum guild members to 100 in version 1.2.70.

Guilds have a customizable hierarchy of five ranks: Master, Jr. Master, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st, in descending order. The "Guild Master", who initially created the guild, can invite or expel other players to or from the guild, raise or lower rank, define hierarchy terms, and add or subtract Mesos from the guild pot. He can also appoint other guild members to the rank of "Jr. Master". Jr. Masters can only invite other players to the guild and modify lower level rankings. Each guild member's information is displayed at the guild window, including rank, level and job.

In KoreaMS, JapanMS, and TaiwanMS, there is a special quest for guilds called "Sharanian". It is much like a party quest but more difficult. It is mostly designed for high-leveled guild members (level 70+) but there is no level cap so anyone can enter.

Guilds may also make it easier for training purposes. For example: a level 80 player may want to create a guild of level 60 and up to train with players of the same strength.

Unique gameplay features

Although a purely two-dimensional game lacking certain features found in other MMORPGs, MapleStory does have features that distinguish it from other standard online games. For example, by pressing certain keys, a player can have their character temporarily display various emotions viewable by other players; some emotions showcase a confused or angry expression, while others show happiness or sadness. Other, more dramatic, expressions can also be bought using NX Cash or Maple Points in the Cash Shop.

Fame

Fame is the designation for one of the statistics on a character's character sheet. Although publicized by the game's creators, fame is rarely claimed to be an indicator of a player's popularity among others in the game. This makes fame almost useless. Once characters are at the minimum requirement of level fifteen, they are able to raise or lower the fame of any character, excluding themselves, once per day. A character cannot raise or lower the same character's fame more than once every thirty days (1 month). Some quests may award a player fame points, or even take some away. Fame has no significant effect in the game, except for certain quest pre-requisites and a selected number of high level pieces of equipment, usually 'dark' armor type such as the "Dark Anakamoon" for magicians. Though some players have suggested that fame increases one's chances of gaining rare items from monster drops, it is only a rumor.

Minigames

There are two minigames that 2 players may play together called Omok and Match Cards, both of which require a certain amount of Mesos to play. There are also three solo minigames called Pachinko, Ga-cha-pon, and Rock Paper Scissors, the first two requiring the purchase of certain Cash Shop items to be able to play them.

• Omok is the Korean cognate of a Japanese game named "Gomoku". Omok and Gomoku are akin to tic-tac-toe. To win, a player needs to place 5 of his/her pieces in horizontal, vertical or diagonal line.

• Match Cards is also known as the game "Concentration". Match cards games can be opened in grids of 3x4, 4x5, and 5x6 cards. The other side of the cards contains images of MapleStory monsters, which players take turn matching.

• Pachinko is a mini-game exclusive to JapanMS. Pachinko balls (coins) may be purchased in the Cash Shop and are required in order to play. The player must be in a Pachinko store (located in Kerning City and Showa Town) to play the game. In order to win, one needs to try to get the Pachinko balls in a mushroom hole below a slot; they are sometimes aided by NPCs. Once it is in, the slot will start. If the player obtains a certain amount of balls, he or she may win in-game prizes.

• Gachapon (also known as Gacapon) is a mini-game available in all versions of MapleStory except EuropeMS. To play Ga-cha-pon, one must first purchase a Ga-cha-pon Ticket from the Cash Shop. The game is basically a slot game where the player inserts one ticket and a random, rare prize comes out. The ticket prices vary depending on the amount one purchases. The Ga-cha-pon Slot Machines are located in Ellinia, Henesys, Perion, Kerning City, Sleepywood, Mushroom Shrine, Showa Town, Xi Men Ding, Aquarium and Ludibrium.

• Rock Paper Scissors is the newest minigame released. Currently, KoreaMS, JapanMS and ThailandMS have this minigame. Like Pachinko, it is a one-player minigame, as one plays against the Maple Administrator NPC. Since this minigame is new, it's uncertain if this minigame will become a human-versus-human minigame.

Marriage

The Traditional Chinese Marriage system is only available in ChinaMS, MapleSEA and TaiwanMS. The wedding ceremony is held at Peach Blossom Island (accessible via monk NPCs in Henesys, Orbis and Ludibrium). In order for the couple to enter the ceremony hall, players will need to wear a Crush Ring (purchased from the Cash Shop), and marriage clothes (Western clothes can be purchased from an NPC on Peach Blossom Island with Mesos, or players that wishes to be more traditional, Chinese clothes can be purchased from the Cash Shop).

The marrying couple may also invite friends to attend the ceremony by sending invitation cards (available in the Cash Shop). After the ceremony, both players will receive a Diamond Ring as proof of the marriage. The ring is vital to the marriage system, because if one of the players loses the ring, they will be unable to divorce.

Marriage can help the couple to heal HP and MP 3 times faster than normal healing rate while they are on the same map.

GlobalMS has released its own marriage system based on western culture, the ceremony is held in a new exclusive area called Amoria. It is located outside of Henesys and requires various quests, including the getting a wedding ring and the blessing of the parents. Unlike other versions, players have a variety of wedding rings they can try to make. Each of these rings carry various statistic bonuses and are also upgradeable via upgrade scrolls.

Events

During certain days, the GMs (Game Masters) host special events in which any user is capable of participating, given they are online and at a certain map at a certain time. All participants are rewarded with an "Event Trophy". In addition, those who win the event receive a "Scroll of Secrets", which can be used to obtain a random prize from an NPC.

Users are notified of an upcoming event by a scrolling box at the top of the game screen. Events are known to bring an influx of players to the event's respective locations, which generally causes massive connection lag and, possibly, disconnections from the game.^[19]

Select events include:

• Coconut Harvest, in which the player works with others in a team competing against another team to gather coconuts from coconut trees on a beach.
• Snowball, in which the player works with others in a team to roll their snowball to the finish line, and prevent the opposing team from getting their snowball to the finish line.
• Find the Jewel, in which the player must search for specific maps.
• MapleStory Physical Fitness Challenge (a.k.a. Hyperdash) and Ola Ola have the player attempt to reach a set location in a set amount of time. It is similar to a jump quest.
• OX Quiz and Minigame Challenge, which consists of correctly answering questions asked by a GM. Once players answer them correctly, they are teleported to the Minigame Challenge room, where they compete in minigames. The winner goes on to the next level of the tournament, competing against players with (presumably) steadily increasing skill.

Special events include Christmas tree events, wedding events, drawing events and quest events; for example, players might be required to find an item and return it to the event quest NPC or GM.

Occasionally, certain versions of the game hold events that celebrate a certain event in real-life or an event specific to that version, such as a holiday or new server release. During these events, certain aspects of the game are modified in celebration; for example, the experience rate or drop rate may be increased, or special items may be released. GlobalMS has been known to celebrate numerous holidays, their first "birthday", and seasons: it has celebrated (in 2005) Halloween and Thanksgiving, (in 2006) Valentine's Day, Easter, their first birthday, Independence Day, summer and Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Versions and registration

Version	Nicknames	Language	Countries	Local publishers	Version-specific Worlds
MapleStory South Korea	KoreaMS, KMS, OMS or 메이플스토리	Korean	South Korea	NEXON Korea Co., Ltd.; a South Korean identification number is required in order to properly register.	Stius, Bellocan, Demethos, Yellonde, Kastia, Elnido, Windia, Scania, Bera, Broa, Khaini, Zenith, Croa, Mardia, Plana, Arkenia, Juidis, Khadia, Galicia, and Beta world - Tespia
MapleStory Japan	JapanMS, JMS, メイプルストーリー or 楓故事	Japanese	Japan	NEXON Japan Co., Ltd.	Keyaki, Popura, Sumomo, Khalin, Sakura, Momiji, Kaede, and Anzu
MapleStory China	ChinaMS, CMS or 冒險島	Simplified Chinese	China	Shanda Corporation Co., Ltd; a China identification number is required for registration.	Gateway 1: Pepe, Yeti, Curse Eye, Wild Cargo, Hector, Small White Rabbit, Copper Drake, Fire Boar, Ligator, Orange Mushroom, Blue Snail, Shroom, Slime, Pig, Jr. Necki, Lorang, Tortie, Octopus, Lupin, and Star Pixie Gateway 2: Emerald, Black Crystal, Diamond, Topaz, Sapphire, Amethyst, Aquamarine, and Opal Gateway 3: Rina and Alex
MapleStory Taiwan	TaiwanMS, TaMS or 楓之谷	Traditional Chinese	Taiwan	Gamania Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.; a Taiwan identification number is required for registration.	Yeti, Orange Mushroom, Star Pixie, Ribbon Pig, Blue Snail, Slime, Octopus, Stump, Evil Eye, Fierry, Jr. Balrog and Pianus
MapleStory Thailand	ThailandMS or ThMS	Thai	Thailand	Asiasoft Corporation Co., Ltd.; a Thailand identification number is required for registration.	Scania, Bera, Broa, and Windia
MapleStory Global	GlobalMS, GMS, Official MapleStory, Or OMS	English	Any country without a localized version	NEXON America Co., Ltd.	Scania, Bera, Broa, Windia, Khaini, and Bellocan
MapleStory South East Asia	MapleSEA or MSEA	English	Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand	AsiaSoft Online Pte, Ltd.; an identification number is required for registration.	Aquila, Bootes, Cassiopeia, and Delphinus
MapleStory Europe	EuropeMS or EMS	English, German, Spanish, and Dutch. (French client is unavailable.)	Any country within Europe	NEXON Korea Co., Ltd. GameGuard checks your computer's location.	Kradia: Europe: Channels 1 and 2 English: Channels 3 and 4 German: Channels 5 and 6 Spanish: Channels 7 and 8 Dutch: Channels 9 and 10

The Korean version was the first to be created, ergo it has the most features as of yet; other versions are at different stages of development and most are not as advanced in content as Korea's. With this advantage comes the problem of players from mainly the Global version, and some from other versions trying to play KoreaMS. The players are often referred to as 이주자, or "Immigrants" by a majority of the Korean MapleStory players. These "Immigrants" are the reason why a Korean Social Security Number is required to play. IP blocking is used between some of the other versions of the game, mostly for the same reason. Some attempt to bypass this by using Proxies, which spoof and IP address to make it seem like a player is playing from a different country - however in Europe MapleStory a GameGuard proxy check has been implemented. However, this is also because foreign text in the Latin Character-Based Global version causes glitches to occur. This is the same for Koreans in the Chinese version, and so on.^[20]

Though some versions share the same world names, they are different and independent of each other. They are defined by their language used, publisher, server location and specialized worlds (see main article: MapleStory world)

The Europe version of MapleStory is under 2nd closed beta testing as of 09 November 2006.

Revenue and game population

As of Feb. 2006, Wizet has generated 200 million USD from the game service in Korea. Wizet received 110 million USD for licensing the games to other parts of the world.

Game Population (as of Feb. 2006):

• Korea since 2002, 200 thousand subscribers
• Japan since November 2003, 9 million subscribers
• China since December 2004, 25 million subscribers
• Taiwan since July 2005, 3.5 million subscribers
• Thailand since August 2005, 550 thousand subscribers
• South East Asia (mostly Singapore and Malaysia) since June 2005, 550 thousand subscribers
• Global since May 2005, 2 million subscribers^[21]

Criticism

One issue in MapleStroy is grinding. On the same note, quests seem to be more of the same, making MapleStory a grind-based game. The quests themselves are varying from object searching, to killing enemies, to delivering goods, or "jump" quests (the only category that involves avoiding rather than killing enemies). EXP required to gain levels increases exponentially with level, however EXP earned from monsters only increases linearly ^{[citation needed]}.

Game Master (GM) appearances are uncommon, and the number of cheaters and scammers in MapleStory is consequently increased in frequency. Hackers that are legitimately reported for hacking are not immediately banned, as the Game Master investigating the report must catch the reported user in the act of it to prevent accidental or false reports. Further, the Alert GM feature only works once a day, making reporting a second hacker a problem.

Another issue has to do with 5 point ability increase. The system works against making unique character designs as the raising the appropriate stats also affects miss/hit chance as well as damage. This creates situations where a magician which has 20 of STR and DEX, having to train 8 more levels to be able to hit the same enemy as one which has made not adjustments to any abilities besides INT and LUK.

There is also no back story to the game, and events (double exp, double drop rate of items, etc.) are overcrowded. Fame is only once a day, and only in single increments. The special functions are trial and error, as processes such as minimizing (Alt+Tab) as MapleStory lacks a visible help file in-game. An issue is the lack of new non-event features, especially in Global MS. Events are repeats of ones that have happened in previous years, with the exception of the occasional update. Lately, the only MapleSEA events have been 2x Drop Rates or Exp. There was no Halloween Event, nor has there been a Christmas event announced as of yet.

Game issues

Main article: MapleStory game issues

As with most other MMORPGs, there are many faults in the game and many people who exploit them. There are also many third party programs (hacks) created to simplify gameplay for players. Some of these hacks make players invincible (such as "godmode" hacks), while others suck monsters into one spot ("vacuum" or "vac" hacks which currently disconnect hackers). The use of third party programs is strictly forbidden, and users who take advantage of them are not often banned from the game, however, the GMs are often unable to catch these people.

See also

• MapleStory DS
• Wizet

References

External links

StrategyWiki has more on the topic of MapleStory

Official game websites

• MapleStory portal - Official MapleStory website
• Global MapleStory site - MapleStory Global (Requires Internet Explorer)
• Chinese MapleStory site - MapleStory China
• Japanese MapleStory site - MapleStory Japan
• South East Asian MapleStory site - MapleStory South East Asia/SEA
• South Korean MapleStory site - MapleStory South Korea (Requires Internet Explorer)
• South Korean MapleStory tester site - MapleStory South Korea tester (Requires Internet Explorer)
• Taiwanese MapleStory site - MapleStory Taiwan
• Thai MapleStory site - MapleStory Thailand
• Europe MapleStory site - MapleStory Europe closed beta (Requires Internet Explorer)
• Official MapleStory Developer site - Wizet Corp., Ltd. Korean
• Official MapleStory developer's site - Wizet Corp., Ltd. Japanese

Informational fansites

• Basil Market - An auction site to buy and sell items in MapleStory.
• Happy Mapling - Vast library of game information and a forum for discussions and help. [GlobalMS and MapleSEA]
• Hidden Street - Extensive library of game information [GlobalMS and MapleSEA].
• MapleTip - Contains Maplewiki, library of game information, guides, a large forum for help, and more. [GlobalMS, MapleSEA and JapanMS].
• Orbis Outlet - A new MapleStory fan site with the MapleStory graphics database.
• Sauna - Library of game information extracted directly from the client [GlobalMS].
• Sleepywood Forums - Oldest standing message board with an extensive trading forums, guides, community, etc. [GlobalMS].

Simplified Chinese language

• 冒险岛主题站 - Library of game information [ChinaMS].

Thai language

• Maple2 - the library of game data with a BBS [ThailandMS].
• ThaiMS PocketBook - the library of game data [ThailandMS].

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