Why is Maple so popular?

Guess I play for the quests... then again I suck at popularity judging.

Well I know why I don't play it much. Maple has nothing over sneaking into an opposing realm's town, starting a dance off, and then getting mauled by a hord of low lvl characters screaming "To arms comrades we must defend the mother land".

The lack of a monthly fee makes it very tempting to try it out and come back after you quit.

Unlike many free-to-play games, Maplestory hasn't gone belly up like many other MMOs do after a couple of years. You can count on it being there a few months later.

The UI is simple and easy to use compared to 3D MMOs where your screen can become cluttered with intrusive windows during normal play.

Some think that Nexon is the greediest company on the face of the Earth. The truth is, many of the competing MMOs are much worse. Some force you to pay money in order to make one of the newer character classes. Others make you pay money to access to the majority of the higher level areas.