My Guilty Gaming Pleasure: MapleStory

We all have our guilty pleasures. Whether it’s those steamy romance novels or cheesy 80’s movies, usually there’s something you like that other people might find a little odd or embarrassing.

Of course, I too have my share of guilty pleasures with one guilty gaming pleasure being MapleStory.

If you’re into MMORPGs chances are you’ve heard of it. But if you haven’t, it is a 2D side-scrolling MMORPG with anime-style graphics. Like most MMORPGs, it’s a game where you create a character from many different class archetypes and embark on your own adventure.

I started playing way back in the beta phase in late 2004 and I’ve played on and off ever since. It certainly has changed since then, some ways good and others bad as all things tend to do, but there’s just something about it that always seems to drag me back in.

Me (Zxion) pwning at HoH. That was max damage at the time…but I only hit max because of a glitch, haha

At first the game was fairly basic in its ways: go kill mobs, buy or find equipment in-game, level up and learn new skills. There were only 4 main classes to choose from and each had two different job advancements.

These days there are around 30 different classes, along with a whole bunch of areas to explore and monsters to kill. Instead of just buying equipment from an in-game shop or finding them when you kill mobs, you can also make your own items with the in-game crafting system.

Also, instead of just basic weapon stats, you should worry about getting a good potential on an item because they give percent stat increases (which is crazy good). So, to make sure you have a good one, you have to buy an item called a potential cube from the cash shop which gives you a random potential each time. A lot of them are really bad, so this eventually turns into paying a ton of money just for a chance at finally making the item you want.

Dat staff…

Since so many people are looking for good potentials on items, this leads to seedy activity in the game. Such as people advertising the sale of NX (the cash shop currency you buy with real money to buy virtual goods in-game) for in-game currency as well as the sale of items for real money on third-party websites.

Don’t do it! It sounds awesome, but I assure you, it most likely isn’t!

Such websites however are usually a scam where people either take your money or they try to take your account info. Also, since it’s so hard to get such items, there are hackers who create fake items and sell those as well, whether it be in-game or on a website. This leads to a somewhat unfriendly community where people bicker back and forth.

Even though there are times it might not seem as great a game as it once was, I still find myself coming back. Indeed, through all the virtual muck there are truly some hidden gems to be found. Although I like the gameplay and I guess I’m somewhat of an addict, I guess the main reason I come back to the game is to talk to the people I spent all of those hours with trying to hit max level. All of those hours trying to take down the hardest bosses in the game.

What a noob, he killed himself in guild HQ, lol.

Those people are my guildmates. Although I only met them about a year and a half ago I consider them really good friends. If you can find a really good guild it makes the game 1000% better and you are sure to meet people who you’d call friends for life.

At least I know I have.

How about you? Do you have a guilty gaming pleasure? Let me know in the comments below! Maybe I’ll get to add another one to the list!