An open letter to Nexon and MapleStory players

Yes, hackers are at fault. However, Nexon's even moreso at fault for letting them run rampant with their poorly designed methods to combat hacking. Let's observe each of the ones implemented in the current game:

Auto-bans
Bans based on a poorly generated reactive mechanism that determines if a player's current actions are abnormal or not. When determined they are, the hacker is then banned for a week to a month to maybe three months tops. Auto-bans are not permanent nor do they ban the IP. This does not discourage the hacker. Instead, the hacker takes this as an opportunity and makes a work-around to prevent the auto-ban from triggering.
You have no idea how wrong you are here. The hacker is far more likely to continue using the same hacks on a different account, because those who hack don't generally make them theirselves, and those that do are already well aware how to avoid autobans as they've had plenty of time to figure out what triggers them.

The Hack Reason GM D/C
For players that Maple deems to be questionable but want to be on the safe side (such as lagging), the game boots the player off for "The Hack Reason" and d/c's them. This does not ban the player. All it does is enforce an inconvenience. The hacker, just like with the auto-ban system, comes up with a work-around. This came and gave birth to a timed auto-CC which bypasses The Hack Reason d/c.
This WAS effective before the timed auto-cc was added. It stopped most players from botting overnight.

Report System
Legit players may report players they deem to be illegit. There's many many flaws with this system. First off, it only works once a day. This means if a player encounters more than one hacker a day, that player cannot report again. Second off, it costs mesos to report. If a player has no mesos on that account, that player cannot report. Third off, hackers also made a work-around with this by creating a hack that lets them automatically CC out of the channel when a player comes within range of them. This means if a hacker actually cares about being reported, players cannot even touch them to report them.
It costs barely ANY mesos to report, furthermore, when it was unlimited, they were spammed reports for no reason. These are necessary. Also, this version of Auto-CC has been around long before most of Southperry's users even started playing. I'm talking no later than v.27

Lie Detector System (no longer in game)
When the Lie Detector System existed, it would allow players to enter in the names of botting hackers. If the question is unanswered within a specified amount of time, the hacker is then sent to town. Three major problems exist with this. It costs mesos meaning a player without mesos is unable to report them. Two, it requires the player to know the name of the said hacker. With all the i's and L's out there, knowing the exact IGN of a hacker proves difficult. Third, if the player is successful in sending the hacker back to town, it does nothing. Furthermore, hackers made another work-around for this. They have hacks that let them teleport back to the map they were in before they were sent to town and they get to continue botting away.
Did this ever work in GMS? It's not super effective, but I've already addressed the whole meso thing.

So, what's the best way to combat hacking?

Active GM's
With how openly hacking is talked about, having GM's monitor and interact with players allows them to figure out who's a hacker and who isn't. Granted, they ought to not ban right off the bat with knowledge of who is a potential hacker without research. This would solve a lot of problems and filter out a lot of the major hackers roaming each server.
I obviously agree with this.

IP Bans + MAC Address
Crush the hackers with IP bans. When they get ban, include their IP and MAC address. While I'm perfectly aware there are ways to bypass this, doing so requires a bit of work that the majority of script kiddie hackers do not care to associate with. This leaves only the big, bad, and dedicated hackers to change their IP/MAC addresses constantly, and those are for GM's to take care of. The innocent who get caught in the web ought will be solved through the next issue:
You have no idea how terrible of an idea this is. Especially in the global version of Maple Story. This can ban players who've done nothing, or even stop new players from joining. IP's and computers are not tied to their owner. The answer lies not in increasing the power of the bans, but better by restricting registration.

Active Non-template Responses
Get rid of the template responses, Nexon. Actually have more than 3 people work on answering tickets at a time. Players who get wrongfully banned or caught in the IP Ban net will be given access. On the other hand, illegit players reported through the ticket system need to be investigated and have proper action delivered.
The problem here is mostly availability. To be accurate, this needs to be staffed only by GM's, which runs back to hiring more GM's, which is a costly venture. At least to police all of Maple Story.

All three of those are completely doable within Nexon America's abilities. However, they choose to not invest in more active GM's (and the ones that do exist only get paid a pitiful $9/hour), they choose to not use an IP/MAC Address banning system, and their Ticket System is horrid. This is as much of a fault of Nexon's as it is the hackers.

My answers in bold, but I do disagree with most of your points. I think you underestimate how difficult it is to do what you're asking. Not to say they cannot afford it. However, when people keep buying NX and keep playing the game, why cut the profit margin?

Well, I guess it's that time of year again... Like the others have said, this sort of method has been done several times. The only time it was even moderately successful is when some people decided to bombard the BBB with complaints. But Nexon doesn't even care anymore, clearly being happy with their C- rating. It's become a sort of normalcy now, like how the citizens of a high crime rate city come to accept the fact that things will most likely never get better.

IP Bans + MAC Address
Crush the hackers with IP bans. When they get ban, include their IP and MAC address. While I'm perfectly aware there are ways to bypass this, doing so requires a bit of work that the majority of script kiddie hackers do not care to associate with. This leaves only the big, bad, and dedicated hackers to change their IP/MAC addresses constantly, and those are for GM's to take care of.

Discussed to death on this issue already. It doesnt work. It wastes more time than its weight.

There're 2 factors we need to look at this. First is the economic gains. Is Nexon losing money? No? Then they dont need to do anything else. If the current model generates income, why change it? Even you stating that higher levels players making money thought MTS. Why fix something for tho who doesnt spend money in the first place?

Only until they're losing their income, then they will consider tightening these issues. When that happens, what they can do is fixing up their ends rather than trying to tamper with client machines.

Middle ground is to have more GMs.

That's why they have that line in their terms of service stating they can suspend or stop providing services to customers at any time for any reason.

If i buy a car, and on the contract it says, "may take away the car at any time at one's own discretion," all that constitutes is a malicious contract, whereby you must prove you were unaware of the terms when you entered into the contract. Trust me, I have worked in --- for awhile, and although we have a 10 day rescission period in contract and by law, we just had to refund 10 or more --- 6+months after the contract was signed for the same claimed reasons. Contracts are not as strong as you would naively think.

My answers in bold, but I do disagree with most of your points. I think you underestimate how difficult it is to do what you're asking. Not to say they cannot afford it. However, when people keep buying NX and keep playing the game, why cut the profit margin?

For the sake of clarity in your future responses to my comments, I ask of you to not add in your responses within quotes. They don't function well for replies due to the way Southperry ignores quotes within quoted responses.

You have no idea how wrong you are here. The hacker is far more likely to continue using the same hacks on a different account, because those who hack don't generally make them theirselves, and those that do are already well aware how to avoid autobans as they've had plenty of time to figure out what triggers them.

You didn't even try to understand the context of the statement. Auto-bans aren't permanent. That in itself is an issue. The fact that a hacking player caught by the auto-ban system after determining 100% it's a hack won't deliver a permanent ban. The fault of the issue lies there. IP bans/MAC addresses are covered later. You failed to acknowledge the resulting statements delivered later while making this "counterargument" without comprehension of the whole context. In fact, your message of the hacker more likely to continue using the same hacks on a different account contributes to my argument of Nexon having faulty anti-hack mechanisms.

This WAS effective before the timed auto-cc was added. It stopped most players from botting overnight.

Is it effective now? No. Why does it persist? Only as a temporary measure to "combat" hacking when it seemingly affects legits more than hackers. Legits who train on maps with a person tabbed out see this message and get inconvenienced while a botting auto-CC-ing hacker is not inconvenienced by it slightly. Once again, failure to comprehend the issue at stake here. And once again, contributed to my argument of it being a faulty anti-hack mechanism.

It costs barely ANY mesos to report, furthermore, when it was unlimited, they were spammed reports for no reason. These are necessary. Also, this version of Auto-CC has been around long before most of Southperry's users even started playing. I'm talking no later than v.27

The fact it costs barely any mesos to report doesn't make it a problem. The problem is, you're not always going to encounter hackers on characters with mesos. Ever since beta ended, it was never unlimited. But I wonder, where in your judgement is it is it better to have only ONE report a day as opposed to multiple? The Auto-CC you mentioned has no bearing in aiding your argument either, because in fact, it attributes to the fact that reporting hackers is a complete failure by not letting players being able to report the hacker.

Did this ever work in GMS? It's not super effective, but I've already addressed the whole meso thing.

It never did. That's why I listed it as a faulty system.

So I'm not even sure why you even bothered to make those counterarguments up there, except to unintentionally further strengthen my points. If maybe you missed why I listed them the first time through, it's because I'm saying Nexon is at fault for implementing such FAULTY methods to prevent hacking.

You have no idea how terrible of an idea this is. Especially in the global version of Maple Story. This can ban players who've done nothing, or even stop new players from joining. IP's and computers are not tied to their owner. The answer lies not in increasing the power of the bans, but better by restricting registration.

IP bans are not tied to people. MAC addresses are tied to their computers, however! Provided that Blizzard uses the same method (IP + MAC Address Ban simultaneously), in order to go around the said ban, they've reduced their hacker ratio to completely minimal amounts. Why hasn't Nexon started doing what they've been doing yet?

The reason that AB isnt permanent is because Nexon themselve cant guarantee that their little golden robot has a 100% hit rate.

By referring to IP + MAC ban combination, I assume you mean using these 2 values as the key to determine what to ban? If that's the case, IP + MAC is no different to MAC banning. Spoofing your MAC address is a lot easier than you think. Different MAC, same IP will get them through (assuming I understood your definition of IP + MAC ban correctly)

IP bans are not tied to people. MAC addresses are tied to their computers, however! Provided that Blizzard uses the same method (IP + MAC Address Ban simultaneously), in order to go around the said ban, they've reduced their hacker ratio to completely minimal amounts. Why hasn't Nexon started doing what they've been doing yet?

Pretty much this. There are not a lot of ways to restrict registration (which Tykian suggested), but I am curious as to what you suggest @Tykian

The reason that AB isnt permanent is because Nexon themselve cant guarantee that their little golden robot has a 100% hit rate.

By referring to IP + MAC ban combination, I assume you mean using these 2 values as the key to determine what to ban? If that's the case, IP + MAC is no different to MAC banning. Spoofing your MAC address is a lot easier than you think. Different MAC, same IP will get them through (assuming I understood your definition of IP + MAC ban correctly)

MAC Spoofing isn't something a typical GK and W8 script kiddie does. If they do spoof it, then it's time to leave it to the active GM's we so desperately need again.

For the sake of clarity in your future responses to my comments, I ask of you to not add in your responses within quotes. They don't function well for replies due to the way Southperry ignores quotes within quoted responses.

I apologize, I didn't think of this earlier.

You didn't even try to understand the context of the statement. Auto-bans aren't permanent. That in itself is an issue. The fact that a hacking player caught by the auto-ban system after determining 100% it's a hack won't deliver a permanent ban. The fault of the issue lies there. IP bans/MAC addresses are covered later. You failed to acknowledge the resulting statements delivered later while making this "counterargument" without comprehension of the whole context. In fact, your message of the hacker more likely to continue using the same hacks on a different account contributes to my argument of Nexon having faulty anti-hack mechanisms.

Just gonna say this once. You only see what I decide to share, not the entire process inside my head. Do not claim I didn't try to understand the context. I am well aware of your issue. However, as someone whose done a gamemasters job, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you that autoban's and permanent bans don't mix, and they never should. The autoban system functions in a way that simply doesn't allow your scenario to function. There is no game out there right now with an autoban system that can 100% determine that a user is hacking. Also, the fact that a hacker is more likely to continue on a separate account, rather than fix the problem, is NOT a plus to your argument. This would require some way for the game to almost auto-detect the hack used not 5 minutes ago, and somehow block against it's use again. If that's what you want I suggest you start developing an AI capable of modifying major server source code. On the fly. Might want to also figure out a way to integrate those instant changes without server checks.

Is it effective now? No. Why does it persist? Only as a temporary measure to "combat" hacking when it seemingly affects legits more than hackers. Legits who train on maps with a person tabbed out see this message and get inconvenienced while a botting auto-CC-ing hacker is not inconvenienced by it slightly. Once again, failure to comprehend the issue at stake here. And once again, contributed to my argument of it being a faulty anti-hack mechanism.

Once again, delusions of superiority. However, I'm going to ignore those and assume that you are a human being capable of faults and mistakes. YOU failed to comprehend the response. At the time, it was effective, should they remove it the hacker is no longer required to avoid it. THAT is why it persists. Besides, the hacker has to log back in, just as you do. Assuming he hasn't avoided it. However let me be clear that a hacker who lowers his timer low enough to surely avoid this message, is rare, as it wastes MORE time in the long run than relogging.

It never did. That's why I listed it as a faulty system.

So than, IPv6 is a faulty system in America. Right?

So I'm not even sure why you even bothered to make those counterarguments up there, except to unintentionally further strengthen my points. If maybe you missed why I listed them the first time through, it's because I'm saying Nexon is at fault for implementing such FAULTY methods to prevent hacking.

Heh. I've already addressed your delusions of superiority, so I won't get into those again. However, I never strengthened your argument. I tried to explain to you that the hacker will always win, and that the measures your asking for(complete prevention) is impossible. It always will be impossible. Thus the true party at fault is the hacker who continuously defies the system, for reasons he/she deems justifiable.

IP bans are not tied to people. MAC addresses are tied to their computers, however! Provided that Blizzard uses the same method (IP + MAC Address Ban simultaneously), in order to go around the said ban, they've reduced their hacker ratio to completely minimal amounts. Why hasn't Nexon started doing what they've been doing yet?

Please, don't ever compare Nexon to Blizzard. Blizzard is by far the best online gaming company in creation, and as you can see from their progression, they once suffered from hacking problems as well. Their response(and the reason why they have so few hackers)? Warden.


@CautionSin: Why not a system similar to Korea's. I realize we have multiple countries to cover, however I(as a canadian) have a SIN, and I'm quite sure you are also identified to your governing body as just another #. Some people may not want to give this out to Nexon. If not, fine, don't play. However, as soon as registration requires something that cannot be spoofed without the spoof being easily detected, then your account becomes a valuable commodity, not something you're so likely to throw to the wind.

Once again, delusions of superiority. However, I'm going to ignore those and assume that you are a human being capable of faults and mistakes. YOU failed to comprehend the response. At the time, it was effective, should the remove it the hacker is no longer required to avoid it. THAT is why it persists. Besides, the hacker has to log back in, just as you do. Assuming he hasn't avoided it. However let me be clear that a hacker who lowers his timer low enough to surely avoid this message, is rare, as it wastes MORE time in the long run than relogging.

There was no miscomprehension nor delusions of superiority. Furthermore, relogging has stopped being a problem even for those who failed to avoid the Hack Reason GM D/C. The majority of hackers now have auto-login capabilities that let them work-around D/C-ing from the game in the event that they do. Once again, completely bypassed.

So than, IPv6 is a faulty system in America. Right?

You asking about the right thing here?

Heh. I've already addressed your delusions of superiority, so I won't get into those again. However, I never strengthened your argument. I tried to explain to you that the hacker will always win, and that the measures your asking for(complete prevention) is impossible. It always will be impossible. Thus the true party at fault is the hacker who continuously defies the system, for reasons he/she deems justifiable.

No, your message was far from hackers always winning. You mentioned nothing of the sort in your initial post. Your message consists of saying that it's not the fault of Nexon, it's the fault of only the hackers. I added to your message, in fact, AIDING your message, but only disagreeing with the part where Nexon is not at fault. Look back. You can read.

Please, don't ever compare Nexon to Blizzard. Blizzard is by far the best online gaming company in creation, and as you can see from their progression, they once suffered from hacking problems as well. Their response(and the reason why they have so few hackers)? Warden.

Why shouldn't we compare Nexon to Blizzard and hope they at least -try- to be like them? They have higher standards, they monitor their own games, patch hacks before they outbreak to high degrees, they listen to their players, cater to their players, and are willing to work with them on a 1 on 1 basis. Through what aspirational direction should Nexon head if not towards the same thing Blizzard has?

There was no miscomprehension nor delusions of superiority. Furthermore, relogging has stopped being a problem even for those who failed to avoid the Hack Reason GM D/C. The majority of hackers now have auto-login capabilities that let them work-around D/C-ing from the game in the event that they do. Once again, completely bypassed.

Of course they do. So what? It still takes me about... 45 seconds to start the game from scratch and log in. 45 seconds wasted. Whatever shall I do? Perhaps it would mean something if this game wasn't a gigantic waste of time to begin with. Pretty sure thats the idea.

You asking about the right thing here?

Yep. Was trying to make a point. How can you fault a system you never had?

No, your message was far from hackers always winning. You mentioned nothing of the sort in your initial post. Your message consists of saying that it's not the fault of Nexon, it's the fault of only the hackers. I added to your message, in fact, AIDING your message, but only disagreeing with the part where Nexon is not at fault. Look back. You can read.

Actually, if you read between the lines, that was my exact point. I was just pointing out that anything written in code can be reverse engineered and tampered with. I never said that Nexon was NOT at fault, however this situation is far less controllable than your posts suggest.

Why shouldn't we compare Nexon to Blizzard and hope they at least -try- to be like them? They have higher standards, they monitor their own games, patch hacks before they outbreak to high degrees, they listen to their players, cater to their players, and are willing to work with them on a 1 on 1 basis. Through what aspirational direction should Nexon head if not towards the same thing Blizzard has?

Because they operate 2 separate platforms? When you play a F2P game, you have to expect a lesser quality of service. Don't kid yourself.

However, just in case my point is missed, it is this: Nexon can pour all of their first quarter profits into stopping hacking, and they will STILL fail. Why fight a losing battle and give up tons of profit for it, knowing that kids will buy NX regardless?

Of course they do. So what? It still takes me about... 45 seconds to start the game from scratch and log in. 45 seconds wasted. Whatever shall I do? Perhaps it would mean something if this game wasn't a gigantic waste of time to begin with. Pretty sure thats the idea.

The comment I made is to indicate the faults of The Hack Reason GM D/C even more.

Yep. Was trying to make a point. How can you fault a system you never had?

The series of comments for this don't even make sense and don't even lead into the question you're asking. Let's take a look.

 Spoiler

Lie Detector System (no longer in game)
When the Lie Detector System existed, it would allow players to enter in the names of botting hackers. If the question is unanswered within a specified amount of time, the hacker is then sent to town. Three major problems exist with this. It costs mesos meaning a player without mesos is unable to report them. Two, it requires the player to know the name of the said hacker. With all the i's and L's out there, knowing the exact IGN of a hacker proves difficult. Third, if the player is successful in sending the hacker back to town, it does nothing. Furthermore, hackers made another work-around for this. They have hacks that let them teleport back to the map they were in before they were sent to town and they get to continue botting away.

Did this ever work in GMS? It's not super effective, but I've already addressed the whole meso thing.

It never did. That's why I listed it as a faulty system.

So than, IPv6 is a faulty system in America. Right?

What the hell? Try that again. If you're trying to start a strawman here, try that again.

Actually, if you read between the lines, that was my exact point. I was just pointing out that anything written in code can be reverse engineered and tampered with. I never said that Nexon was NOT at fault, however this situation is far less controllable than your posts suggest.

You specifically said Nexon was NOT at fault. Right here.

 Spoiler

What do you really hope to accomplish with that letter. Honestly?

There is no MMO out there that is safe from hacks, and the ones who do a decent job of preventing their usage just happen to be the ones with a plethora of active gamemasters. Wherever software is involved, it can be reverse engineered, and thus tampered with. Though you seem to think that this is Nexon's fault, it isn't. Want to blame someone, blame the hackers. Beyond hiring a pomegranateload of gamemasters and killing their profit margin, there is NOTHING they can do.

I'm not confusing double negatives either. Furthermore, you've mentioned nothing about the controllability of the situation. In none of the follow up posts either.

Because they operate 2 separate platforms? When you play a F2P game, you have to expect a lesser quality of service. Don't kid yourself.

However, just in case my point is missed, it is this: Nexon can pour all of their first quarter profits into stopping hacking, and they will STILL fail. Why fight a losing battle and give up tons of profit for it, knowing that kids will buy NX regardless?

While I'll agree with you that I, myself, don't expect quality service (as was my experiences with Maple, FlyFF, Trickster, and other horrid Korean MMORPGs), here's where the real differences in opinion operate:

As a consumer for either F2P games or P2P games, there is an expectation driven to receive good customer service nonetheless the company. Free 2 Play Games -CAN- have good quality service. In fact, most of them do, because their revenue comes from on-site advertisement, in-game cash shop-esque systems, and such. Here's a few examples: World of Tanks, FiestaO, League of Legends, etc. With that out of the way, I'm going to directly argue with you the very nature of MapleStory being a F2P MMORPG.

MapleStory is HARDLY a free to play MMORPG. It's certainly free if you want to start playing, but nowhere near free if you wish to continue playing. Now, I won't give a single care if you, as an individual, never spent a single dime on the game. Other people have, other people still do, other people will still spend money on the game. While the game does require you, as general, do pay, you definitely cannot experience the full game without it. Two classes required NX to play (arguable for DBs, not as arguable for Evans), NX is required to even sell crap in the market, I can go on and on. Players not only spend maybe $30 or so on the game. They can spend upwards thousands. Eosian of this site spent $8k alone on MapleStory over the course of 3 years. Are you to say that the players who spend such should not expect better service? I say they darn well should expect better service.

Nexon also made 59% upwards revenue during the first quarter compared to last year. Looking at the games Nexon offers: MapleStory, Atlantica Online, Combat Arms, Vindictus, Dungeon Fighter Online, and Mabinogi, it's a no brainer that the cash cow here is MapleStory. Nexon has more than enough funds to higher active GM's, raise their minimum wage, and actually combat hackers. Yet, no action is taken, not even for their cash cow. F2P games do not generate nearly the same kinds of funds that Nexon does (However, Nexon is the exception, not the rule).

Now, let's compare income intake with Blizzard. Blizzard's World of WarCraft has a monthly fee of $20. That's $0.67 (rounded) a day for 30 month days. Per average customer, they net $20 usually. Per average Mapler, they expend more than $30 for all of the various NX items. These items often are spent in the form of cubes, gachapon tickets, MTS, etc. In fact, I've asked some of the 16-18 year olds on my Buddy List without a job. They've spent an average of $50 to $90 a month on those items alone. The more "wealthy" players on my Buddy List (age 20 and up with a job), spend anywhere from $100 to $200. Now, these numbers I've provided are from those who don't merch for their NX, but buys them with cash/credit. These two demographics already spend more money a month on MapleStory than they would had they played WoW.

BUT, before you say anything about Blizzard having a larger player base which attributes to its overall higher income (and thus, better customer support), Blizzard spends a whole lot more than Nexon on advertising, administration, maintenance, customer service, promotions, etc. Blizzard's net sales during 2010 was roughly $1.05 billion from WoW. Total from their other games? $4.45 billion. However, what was their net income? I'll link you the very source I've been looking at right here. Only $414 million. Taking into numbers, this is less than 10% gain whereas Nexon announced 42% upward during year 2010. Does something look wrong here? A big company's willing to use more than 90% of its gains to provide quality service to its gamer base than a small company who doesn't even appear to use more than 10%?

HOWEVER, the funding doesn't drive to my initial point. Instead, it's to give you a good idea the amount of funding that a big company like Blizzard is willing to push into the company itself (and where Nexon is thrifty and doesn't). My point now is, Nexon is at fault for not making use of the funding they receive to better enhance the game itself, better enhance anti-hack measures, hire more GM's, revamp the ticket system. With their funding, they have no excuse to not up their standards at all, and we, as paying customers and dedicated players, have every right to having good expectations for this company to service us right.

However, I myself know better... =_=

While I'm loathe to compaire things to Blizzard (gamings equivilent to Microsoft sometimes), the fact is they're making more then enough money to do what needs to be done to end this problem.

BUT, I question 2 things.

1) Does Nexon America even have staff capable of the code modifications needed to stop the packet modifying stuff, or are their coders completely based out of Korea?

2) from a purely buisness standpoint: Do they have the incentive to care? If they were losing large numbers of paying players over this then probibly, but as this is far from the first incident of this magnintude its obvious that most players just roll with it.

That said. I question if Nexon America even has the authority to do much. I've been working as a judge/coordinator with Bandai America's Gaming division for years, and I've heard more then once "Japan said no" or "Japan hasn't gotten back to us". Regardless of how it would help America's game, if the mothership didn't give the go ahead nothing got done.

Is the same true with Nexon? If Korea is happy with the constantly increasing money income, perhaps GMS's hands are tied.

While I'm loathe to compaire things to Blizzard (gamings equivilent to Microsoft sometimes), the fact is they're making more then enough money to do what needs to be done to end this problem.

BUT, I question 2 things.

1) Does Nexon America even have staff capable of the code modifications needed to stop the packet modifying stuff, or are their coders completely based out of Korea?

2) from a purely buisness standpoint: Do they have the incentive to care? If they were losing large numbers of paying players over this then probibly, but as this is far from the first incident of this magnintude its obvious that most players just roll with it.

That said. I question if Nexon America even has the authority to do much. I've been working as a judge/coordinator with Bandai America's Gaming division for years, and I've heard more then once "Japan said no" or "Japan hasn't gotten back to us". Regardless of how it would help America's game, if the mothership didn't give the go ahead nothing got done.

Is the same true with Nexon? If Korea is happy with the constantly increasing money income, perhaps GMS's hands are tied.

1. Not sure of this. But based on what I've read from Dev Blogs, they have to relay problems to their Korean counterparts to fix issues. The only things Nexon can do on the American end from what I can tell are the abilities to turn off the servers when needed and create content (not fixes).
2. As a company, they have little incentive to care. Their home company is located across seas and the American branch is just an off shoot to gather any stupid players they can to give them money. From the American branch standpoint, they have every incentive to care... but only for their pay.

Like you said, the possibility exists where their hands are tied. However, of many things mentioned in Nexon America's game dev blogs (I'm too tired to search for the evidence I need now at this late hour) leads me to believe they have more control than they let on. Furthermore, if you remember them taking legal action upon hacking sites, private server hosts, and even Banned Story, it was all GMS related with nothing to bar towards KMS. The Banned Story incident gets me even more. For those who are uninformed of it, Banned Story cannot make use of GMS exclusive content in it. Whether or not this is a red herring leading me to believe Nexon America has more power than they let on, it's certainly something that will cause me to raise an eyebrow if they say they cannot do something without Nexon Korea's consent.

Blizzard =/= Nexon.

Blizzard has a history of stability and reliability. They have a few games they focus on, and a huge customer base. Everything they put out requires either up-front payment or monthly payment (or both), and they know when their customers want to play their games, they will pay the $$. They put a lot of time and programming effort into their games and updates because they are focused on customers returning month after month. Programs are completed and released in America, resulting in no translation issues or other crossover troubles.

Nexon has an erratic history. They produce a wide variety of games. They do not know whether or not their next customer will result in revenue. They release a lot of rapid-fire content updates and events, hoping to lure customers in to buying their product (Nexon Cash). They do not necessarily expect customer loyalty; they are looking for impulse buyers, or people who want the newest and biggest and best, and want it now, and don't care about the cost. Often, this means poor programming on releases because they want it out ASAP to keep the community engaged. (Also, their content is designed in Korea and translated over...this can be problematic in and of itself.)

Nexon realizes that their company model only works if they can wow people with their updates. They've experienced massive growth recently, and I feel like their content updates have been more rapid than ever. There will be natural hiccups, but the average player (I'm sorry, but SP.N doesn't exactly represent the average mapler) isn't going to mind these as long as they can have Super Premium Fabulous Miracle Cubes and Super Duper Fantastic Awesome Premium Meso Sacks.

A bunch of numbers. Like. A lot of numbers.

I seriously do not have time to go into all this. However...
1. English is not your first language. Please tell me that. Your ability to decipher my posts is terrible, at best, and you seem to constantly be looking for literals. If it is, then I highly suggest you educate yourself on the concept of a metaphor. My example of IPv6 was to try to get you to realize that you cannot fault the lie detector system, as we never had it. It may appear faulty to you. Whether or not it would have succeeded in its task or not is up to only all-knowing, all-seeing beings. You don't fall into this category.

2. If I were to say "ShanghaiDizzy doesn't read very well", is it the same as saying "ShanghaiDizzy doesn't read my posts very well because he walks in assuming that I have the IQ of a doorknob"? No. It is not. English is all about context. I said that Nexon could not be blamed just because their software, like all others, is subject to reverse engineering.

3. I've said this before. Learn to read between the lines. Must I spell out everything to get a point across? pineapple I hope not, I type with 3-4 fingers at most good sir, and can barely manage 90wpm. If I have to sit here and type all of my thoughts out in precise detail, I could be here all month.

4. I will not argue with you that Maple Story is a f2p game. Lay out all the arguments you want, I don't even need to read them. In the end, you are wrong. I have made a total of 27 characters that were not mules throughout my time here. At least 20 of them never had a shred of Nexon Cash. If you "need" to spend money on this game to play/enjoy/succeed, so be it. However, not all of us are struck by such... inadequacies. Sure, you may not care whether or not I did. However, it kind of destroys your entire rant. Should you expect better service because you do? pineapple no you shouldn't.

5. I hope one day you work for a gaming company such as Nexon, so that when you see huge profit margins, and are rolling in the dough, that you can look back and say: "Hot damn, I sure am glad that I took my family on vacation with my pay rise, rather than wasting valuable resources trying to manage a problem that we cannot overcome".

In the end, I'm just trying to get across that Nexon cannot shoulder the blame for what people completely out of their control do with their time, and that Nexon is doing whats best for business, as in the end, thats what this is all about. Business.

I apologize if I seem rude, but this same old whining about Nexon conducting a damn good business is getting... well... old? I'm not saying what Nexon's doing is moral, but you better believe if I ran Nexon I wouldn't be trying to make each of you happier. I would spend as little as possible to offer the game I'm offering, nothing more, nothing less.

TL;DR: People are greedy, Nexon is run by people(and not for the people).

I'm not saying what Nexon's doing is moral, but you better believe if I ran Nexon I wouldn't be trying to make each of you happier. I would spend as little as possible to offer the game I'm offering, nothing more, nothing less.

You see, what really baffles my mind is whether or not NOT DOING A GODDAMNED THING is actually beneficial investment-wise.
How much would it cost to hire a GM and have him sit full-time on his ass, banning people publicly? How much, seriously?

I'm all with you about Nexon being true to their business selves. However, unless they are really really smart and controlling things that may seem impossible and turning the playerbase around at their mercy, what they have been doing does not make sense.
How MUCH does it cost to send the message across that IF YOU HACK OR ABUSE HACK OR EXPLOIT HACKERS/HACKING IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, YOU WILL FACE APPROPRIATE CONSEQUENCES?

If I were making multi-million dollars, I would surely buy a cheap and false sense of security for people to feel comfortable digging into their wallets and feeding me.
Now, they could be releasing the hacks from behind the scenes, make a mess out of everything by themselves, stimulating the population in one way or another, etc etc to ultimately make them buy more NX. THAT I can understand (though I can't quite wrap my minds around).

You see, what really baffles my mind is whether or not NOT DOING A GODDAMNED THING is actually beneficial investment-wise.

How much would it cost to hire a GM and have him sit full-time on his ass, banning people publicly? How much, seriously?

Free. I'd do it.


Actually, they'd probably only pay minimum wage, if that.

Free. I'd do it.


Actually, they'd probably only pay minimum wage, if that.

Exactly. It takes a monkey's ability to do that. They don't have to pay anything over $10/hr for as long as it takes to instill the thinking into people's heads, probably a full quarter of constant activity. Just about how many people would play this game more confidently (and investing in NX more liberally) if they knew hackers are (supposed to be) dealt with on a strict/regular basis?

What about now? People pay to get ahead in the game and then have their privilege robbed off by some kid who thinks he's cool for knowing how to browse GK and bugging people for pomegranate.
People always feel entitled to pomegranate if they pay, regardless what they DO and what they DO NOT pay for, that's how it goes.

Free. I'd do it.

^Seconded. Clearly not the problem here.

Just about how many people would play this game more confidently (and investing in NX more liberally) if they knew hackers are (supposed to be) dealt with on a strict/regular basis?

Sad thing is, most of them will pay anyway, the increase in profit simply doesn't make it worth it.

People always feel entitled to pomegranate if they pay, regardless what they DO and what they DO NOT pay for, that's how it goes.

And after all the rants, including my own, we arrive at the real problem.