2009-03-05, 11:28 PM
[COLOR="Red"]Well, this really isn't an addition to Maplestory, but since the Shady Tree is gone, and I actually wrote this for a lit. essay, I might as well share it, as it deals with Maple. It is long, and the assignment was to create a level of hell to punish those whom we wanted. Here is the more or less end result:
The Scum of Maplestory
As I came home from a hard day at school, the only thing on my mind was to play Maplestory. I had a bad day. I bombed my AP Physics test, forgot that there was an assignment in Calculus, had a kid run into me at lunch and spill Friday's best meal all over my favorite jeans, and had Mr. Briody verbally chide me for being so silly in Statistics class. On top of that, my parents decided to tell me that I was not pulling my weight around the house, berating me for playing such a silly game as Maplestory. Even with all of this, I logged on, eagerly selecting my virtual avatar that I was currently playing with. My avatar was a high powered pirate in Maplestory, and none could defy me. I had amassed the maximum amount of in game money, and I felt like a billion meso (the in-game currency). As I thought to myself how powerful I was, how much money I had, how cool I looked in game, and how awesome my in-game pet was, I entered a portal into the next map, on my way to have some fun. Interestingly enough, the map I entered was unlike I had ever seen. I had been this way many times before in-game, and just now I noticed a sign reading, "This way to Hell." I wandered over to the sign only to experience a lag spike unlike I had ever had before in-game. When the lag spike ended, my monitor was a swirling mass of red and black, making it seem like a whirlpool, ready to suck me in. Then, it did.
I awoke to find myself lying on the floor. When I fully came to my senses, it seemed to me like I was in the dungeon of Maplestory, a terrible place filled with powerful monsters, creepy music, and a cavernous landscape. Before me stood door unlike I had ever seen. It appeared to be made of solid stone, which such intricate details carved into it, that I stood looking at the stone door for a bit of time. It had a solemn inscription saying, "Abandon all hope Ye who enter here." Not caring for it, I looked around only to be surprised by my Maple avatar looking at me, with my avatar's monkey hanging off of his arm. Fully decked out in pirate gear, and looking almost exactly like an extra from Pirates of the Caribbean, I was at a loss for words.
“Thomas, you have used me to do things that I would have preferred not doing. Now, you will see what may come of your actions if you do not repent.” My guide simply came up to me, took my hand, and led me through that massive door.
The revolting smell and sights that hit me nearly knocked me off of my feet. If my guide would not have been there, holding my hand, I would have fallen over. As we kept walking, I noticed my surroundings little by little. The colors were dark and dreary. The ground felt under my socks as if it had not gotten any water for the longest of ages. There was no plant life as far as I could see. Stretching out to the left and right of me, it appeared that the ground went on for ages. The ground looked like the Badlands, but more sinister and desolate. As we kept walking, my avatar said nothing, only holding my hand and leading me onward. Suddenly, he turned to me and said, "Here is the limbo of hell. This is where the Noobs are kept. The Noobs are people who play this game for the first time and instead of looking at guides, or even paying attention to the tutorials, they ask the dumbest questions that would have been easily answered. Though they are annoying, they have not committed the sins necessary to actually be physically punished."
The Noobs were in the middle of a huge library that was built right into the stone. The library included tons of books, so much so that they were overflowing from the shelves, spilling onto the floor, and on top of each other. The Noobs were in the midst of all this, some sitting and reading, some writing on a black board, and some in front of computers, seeming to create complex structures. Getting closer, I heard a babbling coming from the Noobs. I approached one, leaving the strange yet comforting grip of my avatar, and listened in on what he was saying. Not being able to comprehend it, I asked him out right.
"Excuse me, Noob. Um... what are you saying?" I asked.
"The anti-derivative of a function is the coefficient of a binomial expansion which creates ammonium chloride. I know a significant amount more than you and would like to continue my studies to counter balance my idiocy in life." He responded in a matter-of-fact way.
My guide stepped beside me and retook my hand. "Since they were not experienced in life about anything, in death, they must learn, learning so much that it all gets confused in their heads. Come, we have seen enough. Let us continue."
We continued on, down and lower into hell. The landscape around us also got worse and worse. The ground was now almost entirely barren, appearing like solid rock. The sky was illuminated by some strange way, absent of the moon, sun or stars. After a bit of walking, I started hearing a moaning noise. Every so often, it would be pierced with a gut wrenching scream. My guide and I came to a large valley, with a bridge going directly across in the middle. As soon as we started walking on the ridge, I figured out where the moans where coming from. Zombies littered the valley on every side. The stench from their decaying corpses was so intolerable that I had to plug my nose to keep from vomiting. The zombies were chasing people who eventually would become tired and would be forced to stop, whereupon they would be overtaken.
"These, young Thomas, are the scammers of Maplestory. They thought it would be nice to take other's hard earned possessions and use them for their own gain. Now, here, they are taken of by the zombies, who use them to satiate for their endless hunger. Whenever they get bitten, the wound does not heal until they are completely eaten, and then they reform. The number of zombies chasing them is proportional to the amount of meso they stole. We need to keep on going, as the zombies would chase after you if you went down there. Besides, you still need to shown all the levels of hell before you can come out on the other side."
My guide's word chilled me into thinking how much I had taken in my quest for the maximum amount of money. “But, my avatar, it seems unfair that they must be so horribly punished for what is a trivial matter.”
“It would be the wisest idea not to question. Questioning shows a disbelief in divine justice. Everything done here is for the good of the sinners, no matter what the sin.” He shook his head slowly. “As we progress, I hope you see what I mean.” Silently, we walked across the bridge; I peered over the edge to see to my horror a scammer being chased by zombies. He thought he was safe, and decided to take a short rest. About five seconds later, a massive horde of zombies came into view. They were slowly chasing him. The scammer, seeing this, decided to bolt. Unfortunately, he bolted into the group of zombies that was flanking him secretly, while he did not notice. In a few moments after the screeches died down enough, his mangled corpse was left there by the zombies, who decided to pursue another scammer. I was riveted towards this pitiful scene, knowing what would happen at the end, and yet hoping it would not end so. After quite a bit of walking, and more scenes like the previous, we came to the next group of sinners.
"Here the leechers and looters reside. The leechers gained levels in quick progression, allowing them to become high powered in a short amount of time. All the leechers had to do was to pay someone to kill monsters for them, and the levels came effortlessly. The looters are similar, as they took the monster drops of others, allowing them to gain powerful items without the effort. Now, they are grouped together in hell. They must dig down into the barren soil with their bare hands, trying to find the imagined treasures that lie underneath."
My guide and I approached the looters and leechers. Their hands were bloody pulps, and they would not stop trying to dig. There were pools of blood around the sinners discoloring the rock like ground underneath them with a red stain. They kept going, screaming every time their pulps hit the ground. Sadly, their pitiful attempts did not make any headway in trying to dig their holes. I approached one after my guide's prompting.
"You know you are not digging anywhere, right?" I asked simply.
"Nope. I'm almost at the treasure. I can almost feel it. I need to dig faster, and beat everyone else to the great power at the bottom of my hole. I wanted to beat others and paid money for people to level me so I could get ahead of the pack. Here, I must do the same." The leecher responded in a quick, hurried pace, as though she needed any extra breaths to get ahead of the competition. At the end of her response, she beat the ground more furiously than before, causing a new wave of pain to rack her body. I peered on, looking at the others, and seeing how much they think they are doing, but are not making any progress. I returned to my guide, who said nothing. I knew I had done things like leeching and taking other's loot before in my Maple career, and I knew that it would not come down to what I had just seen in front of me because as soon as I got out, I was going to be different.
"Thomas, we are coming to the worse of the Maplers. These are the kill-stealers. Their punishment is that since in life they were greedy and wanted the monsters for themselves, in the afterlife, they are now nice. Here, they are also given a hunger that is so great that it racks their bodies with pain. The only thing that could solve it is the apple in the midst of all of them. But, now that they are so nice, they all keep waiting for someone else to taste of the apple before them. Since they all are waiting for the other person to go first, the kill-stealers are in a circle around the apple, staring at it, while they groan in pain from the hunger." My guide was acting differently now. He showed me all of this while hoping the lessons would sink in.
Gazing at the kill-stealers, I happened to look upon the apple. The apple was the most delicious red I have ever seen. The lush color of the red, coupled with the fact that the apple seemed to be forever fresh drove my mind mad, and made me want to taste it. I took a couple of steps toward it, and my avatar’s voice sounded out. "Don't think about touching that apple, Thomas. You know how they say the forbidden fruit was an apple? Well, now you know. Instead, go and try to talk with one of the kill stealers, and maybe you will learn something."
The kill-stealers were mumbling something and as I got closer, it became more apparent. Opposite to the sea gulls in Finding Nemo, the kill stealers mumbled, "Yours, yours, yours," over and over again.
"Fellow Mapler, why don't you go for the apple?" I asked one of them.
"Nope, it is yours first, and then his, and then hers, and then-" He continued.
"I urge you to take it. Go for it!" I interrupted.
"Nope, it is yours first, and then his, and then hers, and then..." He repeated.
After seeing that it would do no good, I decided to leave. My guide and I continued to walk. I had learned a lot about myself and what I should not do in the future to avoid this place.
"Thomas, we are almost done. This is the most important part of your journey. Here is where everything hangs in the balance. The next group of sinners is the hackers. You must never, ever resort to hacking, no matter how much fun it looks, or how easy it would be against such an incompetent company as Nexon. The hackers like to distort the game, and now they themselves are distorted beyond belief. Peer upon their sufferings and never do what they have done."
My guide was right. The hackers were in the most hideous of forms. My stomach churned at the sight. I quickly ran away to throw up, fearing the disapproval of my avatar. Heads were twisted around, arms in positions so contorted that just looking at it would make any Fear Factor contestant quit, and legs as same as the arms or in even worse positions. The hackers were hung up in contraptions that twisted them so. The contraptions kept distorting their bodies, making them howl with the sheer pain. I quickly begged my guide for us to leave, and he allowed us to stay there, forcing me to see what might become if I sunk to a depth that low. I was unable to control myself and fell over, weeping at the horror and trying to keep the madness of it all from overtaking me. My avatar stooped down, and picked me up like a mother would pick up a crying baby. He walked slowly, shushing and comforting me. We left that place, and came to the end of my journey into hell. After I had regained my composure enough to stand on my two feet, we stopped in front of another portal. My avatar turned to my and said, “Thomas, now you have seen what befalls those that make mistakes like the ones you are making. Please, do not make the same ones, and force me to make them also. Just step into the portal and you will be taken back to the map before you had come here. I enjoyed our time together. Instead of you guiding me, I was able to guide you for a period of time. It was a fun experience. Now, go, and become a better man.”
I heeded his words and after a quick hug, stepped into the portal. I was transported back in front of my computer and looking at my clock, saw that time had only passed a few seconds. A Noob came into the map my avatar was in. In the typical Noob dialect he asked me, “Yo doode, can j00 give me sum Moses (slang for meso)?? PLZ MOSES!”
“Yes, I can. I can also help you out a little. Is there anything…” I continued asking him questions and I think my avatar smiled at me for a spilt second, or maybe it was my imagination.
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The Scum of Maplestory
As I came home from a hard day at school, the only thing on my mind was to play Maplestory. I had a bad day. I bombed my AP Physics test, forgot that there was an assignment in Calculus, had a kid run into me at lunch and spill Friday's best meal all over my favorite jeans, and had Mr. Briody verbally chide me for being so silly in Statistics class. On top of that, my parents decided to tell me that I was not pulling my weight around the house, berating me for playing such a silly game as Maplestory. Even with all of this, I logged on, eagerly selecting my virtual avatar that I was currently playing with. My avatar was a high powered pirate in Maplestory, and none could defy me. I had amassed the maximum amount of in game money, and I felt like a billion meso (the in-game currency). As I thought to myself how powerful I was, how much money I had, how cool I looked in game, and how awesome my in-game pet was, I entered a portal into the next map, on my way to have some fun. Interestingly enough, the map I entered was unlike I had ever seen. I had been this way many times before in-game, and just now I noticed a sign reading, "This way to Hell." I wandered over to the sign only to experience a lag spike unlike I had ever had before in-game. When the lag spike ended, my monitor was a swirling mass of red and black, making it seem like a whirlpool, ready to suck me in. Then, it did.
I awoke to find myself lying on the floor. When I fully came to my senses, it seemed to me like I was in the dungeon of Maplestory, a terrible place filled with powerful monsters, creepy music, and a cavernous landscape. Before me stood door unlike I had ever seen. It appeared to be made of solid stone, which such intricate details carved into it, that I stood looking at the stone door for a bit of time. It had a solemn inscription saying, "Abandon all hope Ye who enter here." Not caring for it, I looked around only to be surprised by my Maple avatar looking at me, with my avatar's monkey hanging off of his arm. Fully decked out in pirate gear, and looking almost exactly like an extra from Pirates of the Caribbean, I was at a loss for words.
“Thomas, you have used me to do things that I would have preferred not doing. Now, you will see what may come of your actions if you do not repent.” My guide simply came up to me, took my hand, and led me through that massive door.
The revolting smell and sights that hit me nearly knocked me off of my feet. If my guide would not have been there, holding my hand, I would have fallen over. As we kept walking, I noticed my surroundings little by little. The colors were dark and dreary. The ground felt under my socks as if it had not gotten any water for the longest of ages. There was no plant life as far as I could see. Stretching out to the left and right of me, it appeared that the ground went on for ages. The ground looked like the Badlands, but more sinister and desolate. As we kept walking, my avatar said nothing, only holding my hand and leading me onward. Suddenly, he turned to me and said, "Here is the limbo of hell. This is where the Noobs are kept. The Noobs are people who play this game for the first time and instead of looking at guides, or even paying attention to the tutorials, they ask the dumbest questions that would have been easily answered. Though they are annoying, they have not committed the sins necessary to actually be physically punished."
The Noobs were in the middle of a huge library that was built right into the stone. The library included tons of books, so much so that they were overflowing from the shelves, spilling onto the floor, and on top of each other. The Noobs were in the midst of all this, some sitting and reading, some writing on a black board, and some in front of computers, seeming to create complex structures. Getting closer, I heard a babbling coming from the Noobs. I approached one, leaving the strange yet comforting grip of my avatar, and listened in on what he was saying. Not being able to comprehend it, I asked him out right.
"Excuse me, Noob. Um... what are you saying?" I asked.
"The anti-derivative of a function is the coefficient of a binomial expansion which creates ammonium chloride. I know a significant amount more than you and would like to continue my studies to counter balance my idiocy in life." He responded in a matter-of-fact way.
My guide stepped beside me and retook my hand. "Since they were not experienced in life about anything, in death, they must learn, learning so much that it all gets confused in their heads. Come, we have seen enough. Let us continue."
We continued on, down and lower into hell. The landscape around us also got worse and worse. The ground was now almost entirely barren, appearing like solid rock. The sky was illuminated by some strange way, absent of the moon, sun or stars. After a bit of walking, I started hearing a moaning noise. Every so often, it would be pierced with a gut wrenching scream. My guide and I came to a large valley, with a bridge going directly across in the middle. As soon as we started walking on the ridge, I figured out where the moans where coming from. Zombies littered the valley on every side. The stench from their decaying corpses was so intolerable that I had to plug my nose to keep from vomiting. The zombies were chasing people who eventually would become tired and would be forced to stop, whereupon they would be overtaken.
"These, young Thomas, are the scammers of Maplestory. They thought it would be nice to take other's hard earned possessions and use them for their own gain. Now, here, they are taken of by the zombies, who use them to satiate for their endless hunger. Whenever they get bitten, the wound does not heal until they are completely eaten, and then they reform. The number of zombies chasing them is proportional to the amount of meso they stole. We need to keep on going, as the zombies would chase after you if you went down there. Besides, you still need to shown all the levels of hell before you can come out on the other side."
My guide's word chilled me into thinking how much I had taken in my quest for the maximum amount of money. “But, my avatar, it seems unfair that they must be so horribly punished for what is a trivial matter.”
“It would be the wisest idea not to question. Questioning shows a disbelief in divine justice. Everything done here is for the good of the sinners, no matter what the sin.” He shook his head slowly. “As we progress, I hope you see what I mean.” Silently, we walked across the bridge; I peered over the edge to see to my horror a scammer being chased by zombies. He thought he was safe, and decided to take a short rest. About five seconds later, a massive horde of zombies came into view. They were slowly chasing him. The scammer, seeing this, decided to bolt. Unfortunately, he bolted into the group of zombies that was flanking him secretly, while he did not notice. In a few moments after the screeches died down enough, his mangled corpse was left there by the zombies, who decided to pursue another scammer. I was riveted towards this pitiful scene, knowing what would happen at the end, and yet hoping it would not end so. After quite a bit of walking, and more scenes like the previous, we came to the next group of sinners.
"Here the leechers and looters reside. The leechers gained levels in quick progression, allowing them to become high powered in a short amount of time. All the leechers had to do was to pay someone to kill monsters for them, and the levels came effortlessly. The looters are similar, as they took the monster drops of others, allowing them to gain powerful items without the effort. Now, they are grouped together in hell. They must dig down into the barren soil with their bare hands, trying to find the imagined treasures that lie underneath."
My guide and I approached the looters and leechers. Their hands were bloody pulps, and they would not stop trying to dig. There were pools of blood around the sinners discoloring the rock like ground underneath them with a red stain. They kept going, screaming every time their pulps hit the ground. Sadly, their pitiful attempts did not make any headway in trying to dig their holes. I approached one after my guide's prompting.
"You know you are not digging anywhere, right?" I asked simply.
"Nope. I'm almost at the treasure. I can almost feel it. I need to dig faster, and beat everyone else to the great power at the bottom of my hole. I wanted to beat others and paid money for people to level me so I could get ahead of the pack. Here, I must do the same." The leecher responded in a quick, hurried pace, as though she needed any extra breaths to get ahead of the competition. At the end of her response, she beat the ground more furiously than before, causing a new wave of pain to rack her body. I peered on, looking at the others, and seeing how much they think they are doing, but are not making any progress. I returned to my guide, who said nothing. I knew I had done things like leeching and taking other's loot before in my Maple career, and I knew that it would not come down to what I had just seen in front of me because as soon as I got out, I was going to be different.
"Thomas, we are coming to the worse of the Maplers. These are the kill-stealers. Their punishment is that since in life they were greedy and wanted the monsters for themselves, in the afterlife, they are now nice. Here, they are also given a hunger that is so great that it racks their bodies with pain. The only thing that could solve it is the apple in the midst of all of them. But, now that they are so nice, they all keep waiting for someone else to taste of the apple before them. Since they all are waiting for the other person to go first, the kill-stealers are in a circle around the apple, staring at it, while they groan in pain from the hunger." My guide was acting differently now. He showed me all of this while hoping the lessons would sink in.
Gazing at the kill-stealers, I happened to look upon the apple. The apple was the most delicious red I have ever seen. The lush color of the red, coupled with the fact that the apple seemed to be forever fresh drove my mind mad, and made me want to taste it. I took a couple of steps toward it, and my avatar’s voice sounded out. "Don't think about touching that apple, Thomas. You know how they say the forbidden fruit was an apple? Well, now you know. Instead, go and try to talk with one of the kill stealers, and maybe you will learn something."
The kill-stealers were mumbling something and as I got closer, it became more apparent. Opposite to the sea gulls in Finding Nemo, the kill stealers mumbled, "Yours, yours, yours," over and over again.
"Fellow Mapler, why don't you go for the apple?" I asked one of them.
"Nope, it is yours first, and then his, and then hers, and then-" He continued.
"I urge you to take it. Go for it!" I interrupted.
"Nope, it is yours first, and then his, and then hers, and then..." He repeated.
After seeing that it would do no good, I decided to leave. My guide and I continued to walk. I had learned a lot about myself and what I should not do in the future to avoid this place.
"Thomas, we are almost done. This is the most important part of your journey. Here is where everything hangs in the balance. The next group of sinners is the hackers. You must never, ever resort to hacking, no matter how much fun it looks, or how easy it would be against such an incompetent company as Nexon. The hackers like to distort the game, and now they themselves are distorted beyond belief. Peer upon their sufferings and never do what they have done."
My guide was right. The hackers were in the most hideous of forms. My stomach churned at the sight. I quickly ran away to throw up, fearing the disapproval of my avatar. Heads were twisted around, arms in positions so contorted that just looking at it would make any Fear Factor contestant quit, and legs as same as the arms or in even worse positions. The hackers were hung up in contraptions that twisted them so. The contraptions kept distorting their bodies, making them howl with the sheer pain. I quickly begged my guide for us to leave, and he allowed us to stay there, forcing me to see what might become if I sunk to a depth that low. I was unable to control myself and fell over, weeping at the horror and trying to keep the madness of it all from overtaking me. My avatar stooped down, and picked me up like a mother would pick up a crying baby. He walked slowly, shushing and comforting me. We left that place, and came to the end of my journey into hell. After I had regained my composure enough to stand on my two feet, we stopped in front of another portal. My avatar turned to my and said, “Thomas, now you have seen what befalls those that make mistakes like the ones you are making. Please, do not make the same ones, and force me to make them also. Just step into the portal and you will be taken back to the map before you had come here. I enjoyed our time together. Instead of you guiding me, I was able to guide you for a period of time. It was a fun experience. Now, go, and become a better man.”
I heeded his words and after a quick hug, stepped into the portal. I was transported back in front of my computer and looking at my clock, saw that time had only passed a few seconds. A Noob came into the map my avatar was in. In the typical Noob dialect he asked me, “Yo doode, can j00 give me sum Moses (slang for meso)?? PLZ MOSES!”
“Yes, I can. I can also help you out a little. Is there anything…” I continued asking him questions and I think my avatar smiled at me for a spilt second, or maybe it was my imagination.
Liked it? Y/N?
The tl;dr: Read it
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