2008-09-25, 07:54 AM
Despite all the game's design shortcomings, I actually enjoy it. All the design flaws are easily fixable (change value of something that's broken, test, repeat if necessary). What isn't easily fixable is the community - it is, I would argue and have argued for a long time, the actual broken part of Maple.
Other people have brought up the social nature of MMOs, I wanted to get to this. Someone else also brought up the fact that there's no punishment for being an ass or a moron in global. This is an important fact - there's no incentive to be a decent person. That means that you gain more by doing negative things.
Someone KSes your map? They get EXP and they take away some of your drops. You lose EXP/money. Sure, they could potentially go find an open map, but you're there. It's fun to make you angry. It's against the ToS, but who cares? It's not like Nexon ever enforces it. If they do actually get banned, it's for 1-3 days. Oh dear. That sure makes them think about what they've done and why it's not acceptable.
Apparently, Scania is the worst for this, but that doesn't matter. The fact that it's a problem on any world means it's a problem. In Scania, this happens at any level, from 1-190+ (youtube for Excellent guild event, Scania Friday nights, numerous videos with "Tiger" or "KS war" in the title, etc.). It's been this way since the beginning, so it would take a HEAVY amount of GM power to change the community.
But guess what? It hasn't happened in the 3.5 years of global thus far. I guess the game is meant to be enjoyed alone off in desolate maps without any interaction, because otherwise you'll be harassed in some way. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when.
I don't really play global anymore. I'll give it some activity every couple weeks when I'm bored, but that usually doesn't last long. I mostly develop for private server source and will continue to do so until it forces Nexon's service to improve. I want to play their service. I want to pay them money for bringing it to us. I just can't support a terrible product.
Other people have brought up the social nature of MMOs, I wanted to get to this. Someone else also brought up the fact that there's no punishment for being an ass or a moron in global. This is an important fact - there's no incentive to be a decent person. That means that you gain more by doing negative things.
Someone KSes your map? They get EXP and they take away some of your drops. You lose EXP/money. Sure, they could potentially go find an open map, but you're there. It's fun to make you angry. It's against the ToS, but who cares? It's not like Nexon ever enforces it. If they do actually get banned, it's for 1-3 days. Oh dear. That sure makes them think about what they've done and why it's not acceptable.
Apparently, Scania is the worst for this, but that doesn't matter. The fact that it's a problem on any world means it's a problem. In Scania, this happens at any level, from 1-190+ (youtube for Excellent guild event, Scania Friday nights, numerous videos with "Tiger" or "KS war" in the title, etc.). It's been this way since the beginning, so it would take a HEAVY amount of GM power to change the community.
But guess what? It hasn't happened in the 3.5 years of global thus far. I guess the game is meant to be enjoyed alone off in desolate maps without any interaction, because otherwise you'll be harassed in some way. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when.
I don't really play global anymore. I'll give it some activity every couple weeks when I'm bored, but that usually doesn't last long. I mostly develop for private server source and will continue to do so until it forces Nexon's service to improve. I want to play their service. I want to pay them money for bringing it to us. I just can't support a terrible product.