2017-01-17, 01:44 PM
Eos Wrote:Out of curiosity, what created/s those aspects in a game like Maple in your opinion? Specific Features? Forced co-op? Truly shared maps?
I do agree that the mmo population having limited options was the biggest reason why maple was ever big back then. There's a lot of issues that i tolerated in 2008 maple I'd smack myself for today: (lack of permanent fashion, horrid pricing on XP cards and lack of common quality of life features and the god-awful FM system) I quickly ditched MS for other F2Ps in 2009 for games that werent so heavy handed in their wallet prodding and better customer service.
I agree that the lack of forced travel is a factor. Rather than make us spend less time actually grinding and stopping to see who you run into along the way, everything is more instant gratification. Honestly, I DO prefer this over the past because i remember how much of a chore it was to make sure i got home early enough to travel to my 2x exp grind spot. Sometimes taking almost an hour to get to if i was in say, Ludibrium needing to get to Jesters in Korean Folk Town.
Another factor that killed the social element was the dumbing down of PQs/drop in their relevance. Requiring communication often built trust and when you found someone that was competent enough to handle them, you were very likely to buddy them because you wanted people you could reliably do them with as they were more likely to know others who were competent too. I made many friends in the old Ludi Maze PQ that i ended up eventually adding on MSN and such. Once PQs were streamlined and became more about killfests rather than organization (or just stopped being rewarding enough compared to raw grinding). That element for socializing died.
However what I feel the biggest factor has been for the reduced socializing in the game is simply the internet changing. Back in 2006, social media wasn't as advanced as it is now. Myspace and Facebook were about all we had and if there were others they weren't big enough to impact the gaming community. So for the most part, Maplestory and other MMOs WERE our main form of social media. So most hardcore players socialize ingame as an outlet.
Fast forward to today; twitter/tumblr lets you yap about games in a convenient format and get doses of art of said games to boot, FB group pages and reddit can be used to organize a guild for a game before anyone even downloads it! Wanna talk to your guild members? Why use all chat in your hangout spot when you guys can just download discord and conveniently voice chat. Why even log in? you can just talk to them there and not have to worry about being interrupted by some outsider. These changes have even hurt the relevance of fan forums such as this and basilmarket: Why bother posting in a place that can get you modded for bashing when you can say whatever the heck you want about it on other social media sites?
Socializing in game is just a lot less relevant now.
That said, im exactly the kind of gamer that the new Maple 2 direction appeals to, I've long stopped enjoying MMOs for multiplayer gaming when I can pick up steam games that are pick up and play online with friends and don't require tons of mindless money farming to enjoy content with others, its just an obsolete model for me personally.
However, MMOs with their persistent world , along with its customizability have a lot of potential for being a fun social experience. the ability to create content and show it off to others and socialize based on that is something that's rarely focused on in an MMO, and its funny because its really the only thing MMOs have to offer that can't be done better anywhere else. If you focus on that, ingame interaction suddenly becomes relevant again because you can't see that fancy house if you're not actually playing and just on discord. Additionally, being able to share off your creations on social media actually turns the tables on them, turning players into free advertisements for your game. An appeal that seeing higher damage numbers onscreen just doesn't have save for already engaged players.
I think its a good idea to build a persistent MMO on social content and UGC, but i don't think they really needed to sacrifice challenge to change their focus. Just give bosses multiple difficulties and call it a day if anything.