The fatal flaw with the current business model.

delete this post.

Why state something if it's only speculative? That's why i'm trying to get y'all to see, you are saying stuff like it's fact and it would definitely work if nexon just did this or just did that etc etc, when you have no idea how it would really affect their overall revenue be it good or bad. It's all speculative.

It's not speculation. Nexon is, for a fact, on a down path with their IPO. The problem is their current business model is they reward a small % of players. Those players slowly drip off or become seasonal. That's not a viable, nor an intelligent business design. Those are not speculation, that is common sense. You have no argument so you throw what if's and your own lack of understanding to try to justify your stance. Really strips away your credibility.

Think about it, everyone is saying why not do it this way and why not do it that way, but is that really going to help in the long run? The game might not even survive another 3 months with the suggestions you guys are putting forward. Unless you can say for certain that by implementing X it will increase revenue AND encourage more people to play for longer time period than they are sticking to now.

I have already explained to you in detail the intention of the implementation I have suggested. Unless you want to actually attack the points and not the ambiguity that your own clouded mind has fabricated, by all means. Other than that, your opinion is accredited to little worth based on your limited knowledge on the subject.

And Seanny brought up another factor to the mix, the selfish people who monopolize certain part of the game so that THEY can have an advantage.

..The advantage they already have by hacking or simply buying tons of nx...seriously I'm dumbfounded on how you can post this crap, do you double check what you post?

There is alot more than meets the eye than just saying do that and do that, sure i get why are you saying it and what you would like to see, but in the end you have no idea what will work 100% given nexon's current structure. Maybe it would have worked x years ago, or before Y happened but can you say with at least 90% certainty that what you are suggesting will increase revenue and keep people longer than they stay now.

....No one knows what will work 100%, that's kind of why the economy isn't fixed right now. This is a dumb point, a dumb suggestion and a f`ucking retarded analysis. "Oh I'm not sure...BETTER NOT TRY IT". That's why they check their profit margins quarterly so at the end of the year they don't get f`ucked for christ sake. There is no secret variable you're missing. The game has lost majority of its dedicated players for various reasons, but can't lure in new players with the same temptation because of the great wall they'd have to climb. This does not make them lazy, it makes them logical, sensible, and frankly realistic. No one should be spending 16 hours a day trying to accomplish what 1 single dollar can do. It's asinine.

They are a business, they will have had to have been constantly researching different pathways for the game and trying to optimize it, to say that they are stupid and don't know what they are doing is highly naive. Alot of games Don't last half as long as MS has so why dog them on doing something that is actually working.

"The sky is red and hippos are purple"

That sentence above as much credibility as that entire block I just quoted. First off, I don't know how you can be so oblivious to state something like that. Where was this imaginary "research team" when other branches of nexon went under hmm? Clearly you have no idea how a business operates, what a business degree consists of and frankly, the very format on how nexon is built on. Nexon America really focus' on marketing, Nexon Korea pretty much handles how the business operates, including coding of the game really.

Is it so bad that i have to actually pay for a few things in the game to get a better experience? Hell no, it's there to make money, if i can do everything i want without paying a cent, THAT IS A REALLY BAD BUSINESS PLAN FOR A GAME, especially one that needs constant maintenance and updates. I don't think you guys are thinking straight. Ms could be a bit better i don't disagree, but what they are doing now is working like a charm and they are even seeing profits from what i gather from the yearly reports.

Okay look, I have drawn you a f`ucking picture for christ sake. By making a free option does not mean in any shape or form that it's the best f`ucking way to do it. Jesus christ, what do I have to do? Call you on your cell phone to scream in your ear loud enough to get your brain operating again?

Let's take pets for example since you're clearly special and need some fucking specific example. You want a pet, let's say they only have a free bunny available. In order to get the f`ucking bunny pet, you have to complete the bunny quest pq 10 times and have 50 f`ucking carrots. bam you got a pet. You want the equips for it? You get them (untradeable mind you) from exchanging tokens from bunny related f`ucking items.

Considering every f`ucking cs item is untransferable for every goddamn class, that means you'd have to take the time, everytime you do a new class. Do you think people are going to do that on their 3rd or 4th character? F`uck no, they'll buy a dragon pet that's more aesthetically pleasing.

If you look at Red they are making it easier for free players to get past all of that crap of mastery book and skill books which only hinder your progress and slow you down of reaching that point where you tell yourself hmmm i need to spend some NX if i want to really be able to fight these bosses.

I unno the magical miracle cube which is necessary because your skill %'s aren't high enough to down the later game bosses for f`uck sake. Oh you can make sh`itty cube variants? That's a step in the right direction but it's merely a c`ock tease.

As someone posted on basil to remove the junk stats from cubes, or actually make a cube that's worth it, instead of all these junk cubes that are just a big gamble, maybe more poeple would be interested in buying cubes if it was that way. No idea if that would actually lower revenue or not but it's a thought worth playing around with.

Lol basil logic. Seems you're abundant in that unfortunately. What do you consider junk stats? Defense? Mp increase? Maybe accuracy? How about making the stats actually do something. I feel that's a better step in the right direction.

Ways of successing in maplestory.

A) Spend a huge amount of money

or

B) Spend an even much bigger amount of time in it

And for both pray to god you never get hacked in the run.

Since time = money,I think we can all agree maplestory is the most expensive game ever.

Ways of successing in maplestory.

A) Spend a huge amount of money

or

B) Spend an even much bigger amount of time in it

And for both pray to god you never get hacked in the run.

Since time = money,I think we can all agree maplestory is the most expensive game ever.

But it is impossible to get as far for free as you can with money.

Ways of successing in maplestory.

A) Spend a huge amount of money

or

B) Spend an even much bigger amount of time in it

And for both pray to god you never get hacked in the run.

Since time = money,I think we can all agree maplestory is the most expensive game ever.

Forgetting false bans

There you go again spouting your childish rants, if you wanna be a troll do it with someone else, no one else but you is acting like a spoilt kid, constantly insulting people and talking about credibility......really?. Nothing you have posted has given me any reason to believe anything about you other than you just like playing devil's advocate and trying to instigate rage. Why do you keep trying to attack everything i post, is what i'm saying bothering you that much? Here is a hint if you are so annoyed or w/e else you are going through, don't read it lol.

On top of it your examples are really irrelevant to the points i'm making and still have an inherent flaw i've been pointing out to you again and again, if you can't get you head of out of your ass and respond properly then don't do it.

Take for instance the junk stats, you said how about making the stats actually do something.......uhh what? that's the whole point of removing junk stats, if you wanna spend time making EVERY single stat abundantly useful you are going to take away from the damage, there is no need to do back to that path because it complicates things adding to the already ever present tedium. Further more it will just making the game cluttered with useless junk that subtract from what people want, seeing monsters die faster and faster because of higher damage which is the whole point of cubing gear.

I'm telling you your ways are making aren't going to help bring in income in the least, that is what this thread is about right? A business model that excels at keeping customers while increasing revenue.

The game is losing it's originality and fun factor faster and faster because it's been around for years. There isn't much that can be done to make people go "omg so new i've never seen this before ever, i must try this out now", Perhaps that's the reason for the declines you are seeing?

You know you aren't even responding to the objects of my quotes, you start ranting about something completely different and each time you do and it's actually kinda amusing seeing you post. So i'll just ignore you from now on.

Byakugan it's true you either spend lots of time or money to be successful in maplestory. Kinda reminds me of that android game dungeon hunter 4, takes quite a while to get things done without paying for stuff, but you can get pretty far, because they have a daily wheel you can manipulate to help you get currency.

You know what happened? A good amount of people didn't spend a cent on it, especially me even though i got pretty far, and those who did spent quite a fair amount but it still wasn't enough from what i gather to keep the game profitable for very long. Eventually i just got bored because of the constant bugs, but that's the example you see with lots of games nowadays it's getting harder and harder to implement a system with "micro transactions", that doesn't end up completely flooding the game or end up being useless because no one pays anything because they can get what they want without it. It's hard to find that perfect balance.

If you offer too much for free people tend to just move on when the game finally says hey um... can you buy something please? That's the situation right now with 1 of the top mobile app creators gameloft. There isn't a difference when it comes to people and paying for games no matter what the platform is. Unless it's a subscription or one time purchase, keeping a game alive with micro-transactions is a sticky situation.

Subscriptions require constant updates and high maintenance requirements.

One time purchase games die off in a few weeks so unless you rake in massive sales on the first release don't get your hopes up.

Micro-transaction games are usually games that span over a long time period and they try to use this method because if it's a one time fee obviously the revenue from the initial says is gonna fall off in relation to the maintenance cost of the game, so how do you keep a game viable for long periods without bogging them down with having to pay for everything? And as i said keep in mind that if there is options for free more than likely people simply won't pay and just play as far as they can without having to pay and just move on, so you will still end up with a small percentage of people you have to rely on for the big income.

I agree with you guys, you can't get far without the use of real life currency, but granted you still can access a pretty good portion of the game without paying a cent. Is that not true? Isn't the point of making a product, to make money while allowing people to enjoy what you have made. I would understand if this was an open source game and just there for the fun of it, but it's not.

So my question is why should we be allowed to enjoy anything without paying, is it wrong for them to cut us off where they do when we hit the ceiling because we didn't pay money? That's why i posed the question earlier in the thread of where should the ceiling be that allows good access to alot of content while still forcing us to pay for content? As i said if everything can be done for free, 9 times out of 10 people will chose the free option, leaving you getting little to no revenue for your work, or ending up relying on a very small percentage of mass buyers, which is what is already happening now lol.

Are you kidding me? Did you read his post at all and even remotely try to understand it?

[MENTION=12978]Jazeon[/MENTION] there's really not much more I can say to you at this point.
Have fun with some reference material:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/195806/
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/177190/

Well, considering I was making a quote from Min Kim, the freaking CEO of Nexon America, I highly doubt that it's "speculation" that it was at one point a company philosophy that has since been abandoned.


They have done some pretty stupid things in the past, like verbatim copying a version of kMS, and with it, exploits that had already been solved in later versions in Korea. Not to mention some evidence of lack of research in general, including lore inconsistencies.
So yeah, I'd say that on any given day there's a fairly good chance they have no idea what they are doing.

Also bear in mind that there's a difference between revenue and profits. Furthermore notice that the trend has been a continual decrease in revenue.

Just saw your post, fair enough i was responding what that kanye west person was saying. I notice one thing about all of this as well, and have been hearing it for years, the main company in Korea or where ever it's located decides everything. Is GMS just following orders and looking for an easy way out when it comes to patches and updates etc by just copying? That gives me the idea that headquarters don't seem to care much about what US does lol. Once they get it done eventually lawl.

Seems like a good read, i'll try to read it at work tmr.

There you go again spouting your childish rants, if you wanna be a troll do it with someone else, no one else but you is acting like a spoilt kid, constantly insulting people and talking about credibility......really?. Nothing you have posted has given me any reason to believe anything about you other than you just like playing devil's advocate and trying to instigate rage. Why do you keep trying to attack everything i post, is what i'm saying bothering you that much? Here is a hint if you are so annoyed or w/e else you are going through, don't read it lol.

Then you aren't reading my posts. There are multiple reasons I have given you that you straight up ignored. If you don't like being wrong, then dont type an opinion that hasn't been researched.

On top of it your examples are really irrelevant to the points i'm making and still have an inherent flaw i've been pointing out to you again and again, if you can't get you head of out of your ass and respond properly then don't do it.

So now you're deflecting my own criticism of your crappy posts? There's no substance in your first two responses at all. There is a reason there is no one quoting and correcting me but are all over your sh`it. Instead of trying to save face, you should concede that the last two pages were of assumptions. You don't even understand how nexon's company format is set up for gods sake.

Take for instance the junk stats, you said how about making the stats actually do something.......uhh what? that's the whole point of removing junk stats, if you wanna spend time making EVERY single stat abundantly useful you are going to take away from the damage, there is no need to do back to that path because it complicates things adding to the already ever present tedium. Further more it will just making the game cluttered with useless junk that subtract from what people want, seeing monsters die faster and faster because of higher damage which is the whole point of cubing gear.

....Are you for real? You do realize most MMO's actually focus on skill cooldown rate right? Or that some classes originally had the benefits of avoidability and accuracy? You do realize that adding a depth to the game just increases the usefulness of each cube without inflating damage right? What if I want to kill monsters at a low level, I don't have enough accuracy, if I get accuracy potential gear for cheap, I can fight those stronger monsters I can't normally fight.

To be quite frank you just sound damage hungry and that's such a shallow want because it's only one direction you can go. Invincibility frames would be much more useful, then let's say, frekin 9% str. You are condoning the games short attention span and that's stupid. Just straight up stupid.

I'm telling you your ways are making aren't going to help bring in income in the least, that is what this thread is about right? A business model that excels at keeping customers while increasing revenue.

...I'll explain a 5th time for you in the most simple terms I can muster. Player A joins game, he makes an account, is told that pets are really useful and should invest time into it. He does so with the first 2 characters he makes. He gets tired of doing the quest as it takes a few hours to reach the requirement and requires a party and that requires socializing. He speeds up the process by buying the pet. If you limit the pet you can get then it becomes a aesthetic issue. As you can see with NX clothes, those sell really goddamn fast. Not only that but you can limit the time to one month, which forces them to repeat it once in awhile or save up tokens for a water of life.

If players are encouraged to play and shown that "cash shop" is in game accessible, they will essentially work for it, instead of just avoid it like you did. Then when they get tired of repeating the process, they will purchase the item. Considering how many classes they make during the year which have no transferable NX, this will become a pattern. You're just so goddamn so far up Nexons ass on blind faith alone that you can't accept these answers. Typical of an addict I suppose.

The game is losing it's originality and fun factor faster and faster because it's been around for years. There isn't much that can be done to make people go "omg so new i've never seen this before ever, i must try this out now", Perhaps that's the reason for the declines you are seeing?

That's idiotic. You're making up obnoxious excuses. If it lost its charm people wouldn't be swarming to private servers, people wouldn't come back to try out the new classes to get that "power" drug they get upon release, and if you notice the decline is followed with the release of super miracle cubes. You want to claim that's a coincidence, the most high spending unrewarding lottery item in the game? Then feel free to continue to be ignorant. You aren't fooling anyone with these fallacies.

You know you aren't even responding to the objects of my quotes, you start ranting about something completely different and each time you do and it's actually kinda amusing seeing you post. So i'll just ignore you from now on.

If you honestly believe that then you're simply illiterate. Everything I have said has been a response, people are reading, they are correcting you, not me, what magical excuse do you have for that?

So my question is why should we be allowed to enjoy anything without paying

Because it's a free to play game for gods sake.

, is it wrong for them to cut us off where they do when we hit the ceiling because we didn't pay money? That's why i posed the question earlier in the thread of where should the ceiling be that allows good access to alot of content while still forcing us to pay for content? As i said if everything can be done for free, 9 times out of 10 people will chose the free option, leaving you getting little to no revenue for your work, or ending up relying on a very small percentage of mass buyers, which is what is already happening now lol.

And I answered your pineappleing question 3 times. Go re-read it, I'm pretty sure you're just playing stupid at this point, I really can't fathom how you're missing all this information.

Just saw your post, fair enough i was responding what that kanye west person was saying. I notice one thing about all of this as well, and have been hearing it for years, the main company in Korea or where ever it's located decides everything. Is GMS just following orders and looking for an easy way out when it comes to patches and updates etc by just copying? That gives me the idea that headquarters don't seem to care much about what US does lol. Once they get it done eventually lawl.

Seems like a good read, i'll try to read it at work tmr.

LMFAO, YOU'RE TRYING TO ARGUE ABOUT THE COMPANY AND YOU'RE NOT EVEN AWARE HOW THE F`UCKING COMPANY WORKS. JUST GET OUT.

Let me try to calm things, let's just say we are both misinterpreting what each other is saying. Kinda pointless trying to respond text for text explaining exactly what we mean for each line. If what i'm saying isn't clear ask to elaborate, it happens in discussions.

For the record i'm not arguing with anyone, i'm trying to show a different side of the picture than what i'm seeing posted from my point of view.

For the record i'm not arguing with anyone, i'm trying to show a different side of the picture than what i'm seeing posted from my point of view.

Then you should try harder to be more convincing because frankly you're doing a poor job of it. :/

lol yeh maybe, but i'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, people are free to have their opinions, i'm just sharing mine and how i have seen it play out over the years.

KhainiWest's first few posts in this thread are right on the mark and basically sum up everything that has been wrong with this game since 2009. I've quit MapleStory long ago, but since I love the game, I still keep tabs on it from time to time. I've even made a few attempts to return, but I can't justify the time, effort and money involved and it's just not the same.

That Nexon doesn't care about it's players, their time, hardships, effort and investment, is blatantly obvious. They say it everytime they ignore loyal players' tickets about being hacked, being the victim of a glitch or scam and just by ignoring the community in general. It's not only this way for MapleStory, but for most games they currently manage. You need look no further than the unfortunate situation with Dungeon Fighter Online to prove that.

The fact that MapleStory is still standing after all it's been through is amazing. I've watched in disbelief time and time again as changes were made to the game, each one more ridiculous than the one before it. The fact that anyone could still want to play this game in it's current form is unbelievable.
I could write a short novel on issues with this game, but to keep it short:

- Nexon doesn't police the game. Hackers make thousands of dollars of real life money by cheating, nevermind those who hack for the actual advantage in the game.

- You have to be a hacker or spend thousands of dollars to be able to compete. There aren't many ways to earn money in game anymore. You can merchant if you already have money and that does work for some people who are good at it. Most boss drops are not worth the time or effort or require you to be very strong already to kill them.

- Some of the cash shop items should have never been invented. For example, Hyper Teleport Rocks basically give you GM teleport for, what was it, $30? $35?

- The gap between players is much too high now. The difference between a godly player and an average one used to be ~30k per star or something. High enough to take pride in if you managed to be one of the few that were that strong, low enough to encourage weaker players to strive to become that strong, but also low enough to not make average and even weak players completely obsolete and worthless. Godly players were an inspiration, now they are a sad reminder of how pay to win this game now is. Frankly, it's discouraging.

- Leveling takes the backseat to equipment. The level 250 cap is a joke. Even level 200 with the current equipment potential and damage cap is too much. I remember when the best way to level up was to split the map with a friend, now it's SoloStory for leveling and bossing.

- Bugs and Glitches are left to go for months and sometimes even years before they are fixed. I remember having serious issues with Windows Vista and Windows 7 that disabled me from being able to boss for nearly a year before I finally decided to dual boot with Windows XP. I also remember a Horntail squad signup glitch which I'm not even sure has been fixed yet. Last I knew it was still around and that was years ago.

- The social experience and bonds made were part of what encouraged you and got you through some of the tough grinding. In the end, those are fond memories I have and many of the friends I met years ago I still talk to today. The game just isn't like that anymore.

I think this is an interesting topic, but also a pointless one. Things will continue as normal until the game is ran into the ground and enough people stop playing that Nexon doesn't think the North American branch is worth the manpower involved to keep running. Then the game will be shut down just like Dungeon Fighter Online and Nexon will move on to some other game. Maybe MapleStory 2 will be out by then. Nexon as a company is not going to change.

- Bugs and Glitches are left to go for months and sometimes even years before they are fixed. I remember having serious issues with Windows Vista and Windows 7 that disabled me from being able to boss for nearly a year before I finally decided to dual boot with Windows XP. I also remember a Horntail squad signup glitch which I'm not even sure has been fixed yet. Last I knew it was still around and that was years ago.

If you're talkin about the only a certain number of people able to sign up after a patch/sc, I think they announced it as an intended change like a year after it started lol

The real sad part about all of this is that Nexon has stepped up their game in terms of catching hackers and keeping the larger ones away from the game, and most hackers are beginning to become discouraged because of this and the fact that their program creators no longer care for this game anymore, and yet the game seems to be getting worse because of the lackluster content that they're spewing from their asses.

Wow. First of all, great thread. Thank you [MENTION=5658]xparasite9[/MENTION]; for getting this conversation started. I've read the first two pages so far, and intend to read the rest but I just wanted to respond and throw in my two cents to this whole conversation.

Firstly, a lot of great comments by everyone. I don't think it's a matter of who is right or wrong at this point. A lot of you are arguing about whether or not players should know better or if Nexon is to blame. I think it's somewhere in the middle. As someone pointed out earlier, this topic is nothing new and has been beat to death. What's interesting about this topic is its specificity and the amount of people who have played for years (some since beta like myself) and are now in their twenties able to look back and put together the pieces.

A lot of editorials have been posted on Maple-News.com over the past two years about the declining stature of the game. I am not expert on business models or finance, but a lot of what you guys are saying seems right on the nose. Specifically, that Nexon expected the same business model that was successful in Asia, specifically South Korea and Japan, to work in the United States and Canada. If those of you played before or around 2008 are part of this thread then you'll surely remember when things started taking off for Nexon. In my opinion, MapleStory was somewhat of a fluke here in North America. MapleGlobal (or whatever they call it now?) was somewhat of a hit almost immediately. You can try and pin down what exactly made the game so appealing, and although it was certainly a combination of features, I would say the unique graphics allowed it to stand out from the crowd and its focus on building a community and interacting with others more than just talking, but through quests and just from the mere fact that in some ways the game was mundane and it forced you to find creative ways to enjoy yourself...mainly through interaction with other players. MapleGlobal beta launched in 2005 and if all of you were around 11-14 during that time period the main means of connecting with your friends over the internet was MySpace, instant messaging, and e-mail. MapleStory combined those elements perfectly by creating a literal virtual world that operated in real time (unlike a lot of CD-R computer games and obviously console games). Essentially you could come home from school and hang out with tons of friends all over the world, play a video game, and talk. Things started to change when the cash shop was implemented and then the real nail in the coffin was obviously pay-to-win items such as miracle cubes. I would like to point out that when the MapleGlobal staff first released the cash shop they promised that players who chose to not buy NX, or could not buy it, would not be at an unfair disadvantage and that the game would always be on a level playing field. For a number of years, the cash shop functioned as mainly a beauty parlor and clothing store. If you wanted to look more unique and have a pet to make things a bit easier, then you could buy some NX. Then store permits came in, which were reasonably priced but effectively killed the Match Card and Omok makeshift stores in major towns like Perion.

The fact of the matter is I don't believe Nexon ever truly evaluated who their consumers were and what they wanted. Again, I believe this game got lucky in the beginning and was somewhat of a fluke. Nexon wasted tons of money and effort criminalizing private server creators. The irony is, they were a reaction to their opinions and suggestions for features for MapleStory being ignored. Nexon's solution? Sue the pineapple out of them. I do understand the intellectual property argument - it certainly is valid to an extent. But the reality is, most of these servers had at most a couple thousand players on at once and even that was rare. Many people played both private servers and the official game and when Nexon actually did some things right in 2009/2010, private server activity decreased. It's a similar argument to piracy today. The intelligent decision would have been to go to private server owners and players and asking them what they would like added to the official version and made them feel like they were actually being listened to instead of ignored. Convenience is another huge issue that has since been somewhat resolved.

Solution? Quit. Honestly, that's just what the game has become. You can sit here and discuss it, but you're 4 years too late, you can petition for it, but I can guarantee itll be ignored. The changes you and I want, aren't really determined by the NA branch, but the korean branch, so it's a fruitless endeavor. It didn't become this overnight, it gradually reached this nightmare point, and it's only going to get worse. If you have the patience/toleration to know that you may not be able to do everything, or not only are other players willing to cut your throat, but nexon is willing to abandon you at any moment, then that's your choice. But I feel as though players who choose that decision don't have a right to complain. This is common knowledge, it isn't some legendary treasure trove of information.

[MENTION=4235]KhainiWest[/MENTION]; I think you are dead on. People assume Nexon America is actually calling a lot of the shots. Let's just say they put on a good act and when you're a teenager, you assume that this huge company really knows what's going on. I'm not saying Nexon America doesn't have input and are at fault for the day to day management of the game, but I just don't think they care as much as we would think they do. Nexon America is merely the translation office. They'll throw in some custom events and features once in a blue moon, but most of this crap is just transplanted from KMS to GMS. There's no reevaluation or discussion. Why? Money. Like most multi-million dollar companies, the bottom line is a big deal. Who knows what North America really is to Nexon Korea? I'd assume we're not as important as we might think and thus it is more cost efficient to just translate the updates from the development team in Korea to the North American version. Hell, just look at the recent translation pineapple up at what was it, MSEA or EMS? I mean c'mon. It's cheaper to just put a new cover on a can than to completely reevaluate whether the country you are shipping it too may have different tastes, needs, or preferences. Nexon America tried to fit in, albeit pathetically, with the ads that ran on MTV, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon in 2008. Remember the fish slap commercial? The pig? Yeah. Everyone playing at the time thought the game was going to blow up. But it didn't. That's not to say they didn't get new players and that things went downhill immediately, but it's pretty clear that Nexon expected they would get tons of people by appealing to kids in the age group they saw were playing MapleStory around 2008. MapleStory never reached the success of a game like World of Warcraft and I don't think as a company they were willing to stop and truly evaluate why they had gotten success in the first place and accept the truth that MapleStory fills a particular niche, not the other way around.

As Khaini said, if you intend to play the game and don't have tons of disposable income, aren't willing to hack, scam, and cheat your way to the top, or just don't plain have the time or patience to play every day you should just accept that you probably aren't going to be #1 on the rankings doing godly damage. But hey, that's okay, right? It's clear that younger kids, and even those who are in college are being taken advantage of financially. I too understand the feeling in 2011 when cash shop surprises came out and the anticipation and near-addiction to try and get a pink bean pet. I myself blew about $30 on that. It just so happens that young people very rarely have tons of disposable income consistently, which I suppose is a good thing. Is this clear difference between the 1% of maplers who have the money to spend and the 99% of us who don't okay? Absolutely not. It has severely affected the way the game is played and virtually eradicated human interaction. Things aren't going to get any better at this rate. We can remain optimistic to an extent but maybe it's just time for most of us to let go. I don't play often, but sometimes I do for an hour or so and it's somewhat enjoyable. I do miss the days when there was an active guild to login to, party quests to participate in, and where I made real lasting friendships. That's still there - you just have to work really hard to find those people and stick with them. As far as damage goes, as Khaini said, you just have to accept it. Would we all love to be some merchant king and doing bad ass damage? Of course! But hey, that's way to much pineappleing work for me. I'm content just leveling and enjoying myself with others.

The sad reality, as is obvious by the drop in active players and the death of numerous fan sites, is that this game probably won't be around in a few years. And if it is, well, it will be home to an elite mechanical ward of players. I'd much rather watch my microwave than play MapleStory at that point. At some point MapleStory will become obsolete and a new game will replace it and fill this particular 2D sidescrolling niche. I have no doubt about that. It's had a decent run, but maybe a lot of us need to just accept that the end is near. Miracles can happen, though.

Really interested to read all of your posts!

EDIT: [MENTION=1631]Xaorath[/MENTION]; loved your post dude. Dead on. What I would like to see, personally, is an actual honest response from Nexon. I get that they think they're some fancy internet company because they're in L.A. or Silicon Valley or wherever they hell they are with a big fancy sign and a nice office and thus have to have some professional PR person ignore every legitimate question and only promote the 'next big thing' coming to the game but I think we can all agree the facade is a waste of time. We all see through it. What would actually save their business is at least making an effort to connect with each and every player who genuinely cares about the game (essentially everyone here at Southperry) and doing so in a personal and meaningful manner. I think a lot of us would feel invigorated just to hear them admit things are wrong (specifically, of course) and present a plan or at least a time frame in which some issues would be addressed. This whole faceless corporation act isn't working anymore and they'll all wish they paid attention when they're all out of a job.

The reality is, I've interviewed Nexon for Maple-News.com several times over the years. We did our last Q&A just last year. I got approval for another interview this past summer, but I just didn't follow through. I could give you a list of reasons why I should have. Even if nothing special came of it, it would have brought hits to Maple-News. But, for some reason, I just couldn't lie or convince myself that it was worth the effort. Ironically, I started Maple-News because I actually enjoyed this game and the people who played it and just wanted a creative outlet and a way to connect with a community. I admired forums and communities I was part of prior to starting MNN in 2007. But, interview after interview even when I asked a slightly honest question that wasn't "What events do you have coming up next month?" "What's the new big update?" that was geared at the questionable changes they were making to the game, they simply 'removed' the questions and sent me a brand new interview of questions they compiled that would show the company in a better light. I tried this maybe, two or three times. It wasn't until last year when I chose the top voted questions here on Southperry that they were forced to answer a few of the questions that actually focused on problems with the game. Just look at how Southperry was treated up until recently. First, declared a site that was hurtful to MapleStory and threatened for harmless extractions, but as soon as they start seeing the tide turning and realize they have to actually reach out to fan communities, only then is a damn given. Maybe I'm an idealist and I guess I should have expected that result, but my point in bringing it up is to give yet another example of why this game was clearly doomed after 2008.

Nexon, the door is always open to reach out and maybe start an actual dialogue between your company and your players. God knows we have a lot to say.

Nexon, the door is always open to reach out and maybe start an actual dialogue between your company and your players. God knows we have a lot to say.

and it appears that maybe, just maybe, we have a new community manager that just might rise to the occasion.
What say you, [MENTION=12842]Aurtax[/MENTION]?

and it appears that maybe, just maybe, we have a new community manager that just might rise to the occasion.
What say you, @Aurtax?

He's more of a messenger. He isn't classified the same way girasol is/was. Think of him as another Hime. So I wouldn't put too much on his shoulders.

He's more of a messenger. He isn't classified the same way girasol is/was. Think of him as another Hime. So I wouldn't put too much on his shoulders.

That's not the situation I read when I see his posts on the official and fan forums. He seems pretty dedicated to me. I guess he's a good pretender if he isn't.

and it appears that maybe, just maybe, we have a new community manager that just might rise to the occasion.
What say you, [MENTION=12842]Aurtax[/MENTION]?

I'd much rather prefer something from Nexon themselves in the form of something along the lines of a newsletter almost, not just a few posts or a thread on Nexon forums from their PR dummy lol