I've played this game inside and out. After braving the game's steep experience grind (far, far worse than WoW), I reached level 101. The maximum level is 200, although the experience required to attain such a high level is so intense that only one player in the history of MapleStory has ever reached there.

MapleStory has several rather major flaws:
- Very little endgame content (just three large bosses to fight in groups, and no new equipment or training spots for levels 100+)
- Terrible, Terrible, TERRIBLE customer service
- No PvP
- Incredible amounts of hackers, combined with the fact that there seems to be only four or five GMs total policing the six gigantic servers. Attempting to train on the same map as a hacker is impossible, as they "vacuum" all the monsters to a corner and attack them with a multi-hitting skill.

That said, I loved this game. I wanted to continue playing, but lack of content being patched in and GM inactivity drove me to quit. If only the company hired a few more GMs ...maybe even some who had more than a preschool level of speaking English...

P.S. In answer to your question, I heard about this game on a GameFAQs message board

Posted by Fishysquisher at October 16, 2006 03:05 PM

I have never tried this game before but heard about it from my brother. He has on several occasions played these type of games for a while and then when he got bored he would sell his character to make some extra money.

As far as advertising for Maple Story, they have an ad on the back cover of EGM this month.

Posted by DCoiner at October 16, 2006 03:30 PM

I have seen people playing this game... I think I may rather enjoy putting my head in a vice.

Posted by PatMan33 at October 16, 2006 04:52 PM

I used to play this game. Heard about it from a friend. Didn't know noone knew about it o_O

Posted by teo at October 16, 2006 05:49 PM

i played maple story for about a month while taking a break from wow.

here's my review: it's fun, it's charming, it grows tiring.

that's right. the graphics and locations are quite adoreable, though the transitions between one area and another are a bit abrupt. anyone who's played a zelda or mario game will enjoy the game play. and even more so, will enjoy the secret hunting grounds. you can tell they are secret because they don't have obvious doorways, and are plauged with other players farming for the same kills. there lies the problem; it's freakishly exhausting. how much time can you really waste killing the same green slimeball, armored pig or whathave you over and over again? only then do you realize the exaggeration per leveling up.

sure, all mmos seem to follow this strategy, but maple story has very little in the way of quests to temper this test of endurance.

sure, it's a free game. i think asian countries even have a "pay for bonus gear" choice. a nice find indeed, you can customize your character if you toss a few dollars down.
but it suffers from way too many immature gamers: abbreviated words when players speak or extreme usage of @@@@@@@ to draw attention to their sales. and too many people named horribly, like aznkilla, xxsefirothxx, etc. you can't kill something without someone else claiming you are stealing their kill. ugh...

i'm surprised people stick with that game to the high levels. it's fun, but i feel it grows weary fast.

Posted by jov at October 16, 2006 06:29 PM

I concluded this game wasn't for me after having to put up with such extreme security to register and begin.

Posted by Gauphastus at October 16, 2006 08:13 PM

Good or not. Buying stuff with real cash, no thanks.

Posted by Willard Eugene at October 16, 2006 08:32 PM

Steve - this is too funny. Listening to you talk about Puzzle Pirates in the last podcast got me thinking about other free games I'd been meaning to play, so I finally signed up for Maple Story. And now you're talking about it! Too much!

Posted by jimmycanuck at October 16, 2006 09:31 PM

I haven't tried it yet, but this game is actually listed in the list of free games in the gaming steve forum ;)
The post was last edited on September 2nd so it couldn't have been added on there because of this post.

Posted by Marijn at October 16, 2006 09:41 PM

You have never herd of this before?

We used to play it all the time in the computer lab at school. It's one of the few games the computers there can handle (in windowed mode of course ^_^ )

Posted by Fink at October 16, 2006 10:41 PM

I've seen this advertised on 1up.com and because I'm a sucker for anime 2d mmorpgs I followed the link. The maplestory website told me that it would only work in IE. So thats where I stopped and closed the page.

Looks very similar to Ragnarok Online if you ask me, and by the sounds of it they both play the same too.

Posted by DevilMachine at October 16, 2006 11:53 PM

I think RuneScape more popular than MS

Posted by uraniay at October 17, 2006 03:35 AM

And although I don't think it matters that much, it does list it on gamespot. http://au.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/maplestory/index.html

Posted by Marijn at October 17, 2006 10:27 AM

I played this game for a time in the BETA.
I got to lvl 45 when the BETA stopped and everyone had to start over.. which was awful.
A friend of mine still plays the game and buys content from time to time.

http://www.onrpg.com/

A site with a lot of free / payed mmorpgs
have a look there if you want to find your gem!

Posted by Thimon at October 17, 2006 10:37 AM

Nice Simpsons reference!

Posted by Robbway at October 17, 2006 12:22 PM

I'm just going to straight up answer the question first.

I found out about this game the same way you did, gamefaqs rankings, although I was aware of it at least a year ago, maybe more not sure.

If you play the game I'm Gyrigo a zombie looking spear knight in purple armor (yes via ore upgrades), although I haven't played in so long I'm not sure knight is the correct term, but I remember killing those darn flaming boars.

The main problem with this game is that noobs mistake high level players for hackers, it happens constantly, I've been examined a few times because of a misinformed younger player that doesn't know spear knights can do as much damage at as high a speed as we do. Those that do hack are eliminated quickly, although maps spawn via quota, meaning there is always a set number of a certain mob at all times on the map, so hackers have very little effect on gameplay for everyone else. I'm tired of how over exagerated the problem is, but I quit playing because it is very repetitive and boring, once you are dropping things in one or two hits further play seems pointless, it lets you get too strong.

Posted by Coleman at October 18, 2006 12:09 AM

For what it's worth, there's a full page back cover ad for Maple Story on the new EGM. They must be making some pretty good loot somewhere.

Posted by mik at October 18, 2006 01:08 AM

Wow im a bit shocked no one knows about maplestory, at my school nearly all my friends play it (including me), but then again I might be the cause of it, seeing that i started playing while it was still in BETA! ive played for a little over a year now too!

Posted by Metranisome at October 18, 2006 10:45 PM

I have heard it before(never played it), and I also saw an advertisement on the back of EGM.

Posted by KrAzYmAn at October 19, 2006 12:49 AM

yes I also glanced over the ad on EGM as I put the magazine down.

Posted by DrJiggs at October 19, 2006 10:34 AM

Theres a full page ad for Maple story on the back of the new EGM

Posted by Racingfreak92 at October 20, 2006 06:40 AM

Here are some reasons why it's so popular, and why you may have never heard of it:

Why it's so popular: It's korean, and it's free.

Why you've never heard of it: It's no good. I beta tested this game, and played it again a few months ago. It still has all the major flaws and gameplay issues, and still has it's clunky controls.

It's odd though, that you have never heard of it. People have talked about it on your forums, and it's been in magazines. www.mpogd.com has had it listed there for years now, and it's near the top.

Have you ever heard of Goonzu Online? It's been advertised on FileFront for a few weeks now, it's another free korean MMO. It's a lot better than Maple Story in my opinion, the whole economy is player ran. Everything in the game is made by the players, and sold in a market. The monsters only drop ingrediants, and the players have to use their manufacturing skills to make the items. The game is still a bit unbalanced though, but its getting a lot better.

Posted by rayofash at October 20, 2006 06:14 PM

I had heard about this game a while back...at first it really didn't interest me. Then on a forum I heard people talk about it and was reinterested...I had still never tried it. Well, third times a charm...I guess I'll officially try it now. I'm downloading it as we speak. Looks like a good time waster.

Posted by robotplague at October 20, 2006 06:48 PM

Who cares aout your baby, give a new podcast already stop wasting and ruining your life with a serious relationship.

Posted by bewb at October 21, 2006 03:09 PM

Steve is an emotional rollercoaster

Posted by Evil Lil Spore at October 22, 2006 08:57 AM

I heard that game is like runescape and i hate that game.

Posted by AndrewV at October 22, 2006 04:12 PM

i quit this game a while ago, and i don't feel like staring over, so if you have a lvl 25-up account send it to eweez3@hotmail.com Thank you xD.

Posted by eweezy at October 22, 2006 08:15 PM

aahhggg! i have taken the time to download this thing....But i can't open the part of the register page that comes after your birthday. All i get is maplestory page that says "Browser alert".
PLease help..

Posted by Zolo at October 23, 2006 11:04 AM

Maple Story is VERY popular with all the kids around here. Both of my kids play it, AND I (I'm 38) play it too! Actually the game can continue to keep your interest but you need to know where the best training grounds are. Of course it would get repetitive and boring unless you move on to more and more challenging monsters. Maple Story is a VERY well thought out game, solid, few bugs if any and I agree with the other poster that the hacker problem is overstated. There are 20 channels to choose from - all the same game, but if a level is too busy, just change channels. The market place is lots of fun to buy and sell in. And some of the posters here are mis informed. You do NOT need to pay for *anything* at all in this game. You can play it to its full extent without needing to pay. Yes there are things that cost money, but its not for equipment, its not for weapons or anything of the sort. The stuff that costs money are the frivilous things. Like if you want a hairdo, or cool shades, or a funky hat. Pets cost money as well. It also costs money if you want special tele port powers, but if you dont, you just take the boat or train between worlds instead.

They are constantly adding new worlds, new weapons, new equipment and new features. And I mean constantly. There are major upgrades of various sorts at least once a month. They open new worlds at the rate of about one every three to four months. Yes customer service sucks. In fact I have never ever received a reply to any of my questions. I had to abandon my son's character completely when they instituted a new pin # system and he forgot what he had typed in. And yes, the signup process is agonizing. But I would encourage all gamers to give it a try.

A few tips:

If you want to be around a lot of other players, go to the world "Scania" or "Bera." If you want to be alone and have more monsters and levels to yourself, try some of the other ones. Personally I think its better to be around more other players. That way the marketplace is more dynamic, more offerings etc.

For sure do the quests. You level up faster, its a lot less boring, you get cool things and you get abilities, like bring able to buy things cheaply.

If you have questions, ask the other players. This is a very friendly group of people and they will usually answer your questions. Such as where to find certain things for quests, how to get to certain levels, finding monsters etc. Channel 1 has the most people, and the marketplaces are so filled with people you can barely see yourself.

I think the number of users figure might be incorrect. I am not sure who published them or where you got them, but there is a real easy way to find out. Each time you log in, you are ranked. Its not perfectly accurate, and it only ranks you according to what type you are (ex: theif, magician etc), but using this I would estimate no more than a million users or so. Well I could be very wrong, but thats my guess. And not that it matters.

The final thing I must say is that I have enjoyed myself immensely, playing this game. And along with my kids, going on quests together its been a blast. Aside from Halo, which I think is a great game though a different genre, Maple Story would be my favorite.

Have fun!

The Freeze

Posted by The Freeze at October 23, 2006 07:49 PM

really haven't seen it advertised anywhere? I think its the most commonly advertised game I see on gaming sites, I see it all the time. Never got around to playing it because I've heard that the game isn't that fun. Might try it sometime though, it is free afterall.

Posted by Patrick at October 25, 2006 12:05 AM

This game is hugely popular in Asia, with alot of school kids playing WITH their parents. Computer shops here sell cards with MS credits for users to purchase items with. There were even newspaper articles on grown-ups using money to buy MS items for their young relatives for their birthdays etc.

Posted by nayr at October 26, 2006 09:50 PM

I've played maple story on and off for about a year. I heard about it by just browsing the internet. It was on a forum, and it said free. Then all my friends were into WOW and I didn't have the cash to shell out every month w/ rent, gas, cell phone, out of state tuition..... So i started playing and all my roomates got in on it. The fun thing is playing during the holidays when they have special items, and different quests. I started playing it when there was only one server.... so my character is in the most crowded one which is kinda of lame. This game is a great way to waste time when your trying to study for a midterm, or in between classes. If your starting out, during the holidays when there are collectables all the high level wizards like killing low level animals and just leave all the mesos for you disposal! This game is a lot of fun, and should be tried out. Its also fun to see the weapons... Fork on a stick, fish on a stick... That reminds me of what i used to cheer on my highschool with at the games.

Posted by Aaron at October 27, 2006 01:20 PM

This game is VERY popular among young teenagers, much like Gaia Online. It is very unlikely an adult, even a young adult, would ever hear about this game unless he has young teenage children or, as in my case, goes to a forum or such where young people post.

Posted by RealmRPGer at October 27, 2006 10:24 PM

I played this game for a short period of time, and found it mildly entertaining, if somewhat repetative and monotonous. I know people who have become intensly interested in the game , but they all eventually quit in favour of more formal MMO's like WOW.

I believe the reason (or at least one of them) for there being so "popular" is that multiple accounts are pretty much accepted within the community, and that small percentage of people who are manic for this game may have absurd numbers of accounts.

Coupled with the non-deltion of inactive accounts (I'm not sure about this), this may mean that the stats say 50 million members, while that may mean 30 Million inactive, 5 million members, and 15 million multi-accounts.

Posted by Wakkarr at October 29, 2006 03:29 AM

I play as Kerebos, in bera. Look me up if you need help training, if you are level 15 or below.

Posted by Glacies at October 29, 2006 07:46 PM

Steve don't let us down again.

Things were just starting to look better.

Posted by MWest at October 31, 2006 09:09 PM

I know steve won't let us down, but will be ever start posting at least once a week or two? Please?

Posted by Evil Lil Spore at November 1, 2006 04:57 PM

Stop messing with the baby and get back on the comp.

Posted by bewb at November 2, 2006 04:24 PM

Okay I have a few things to say on this topic. I've played Maple Story for over a year now - my character is level 94 (and I am 18 years old). Yes it is hard to get experience to level up but if you know the right places to level and/or work in groups (aka "parties") it makes the leveling time seem to pass much faster.

Regarding someone’s comment on Runescape being better - hahahahaha! Maple story is EXTREMELY better than Runescape and I wouldn't wish Runescape onto -anyone-!!

This game is totally free - if you choose you want to make your character different then other peoples (appearance wise) then you can spend your money your way. This isn't the only game that gives you the option of spending real money on it so it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

The game isn't as flawed as it was when it came out – it’s patched once or twice a month! Making news things or new places for the users, which is great otherwise we'd get bored of the same old thing.

About the ages of this game, someone mentioned that its mostly younger kids playing it. But I have to disagree with that - on my "buddy list" (50/50) every-single-one of them are 18+! In fact, I think there are more teens and adults playing then there is children.

The only problem about this game is the hackers of it. Apparently they don’t think they should spend the time to earn their levels than the rest of us legit players. They make us look like a joke – but in the end hopefully we will prevail and they will get banned for their wrong-doings. But like someone mentioned before there are 20 channels in each server, so if you can’t train on a map you want to because of a hacker - just change channels and hope a GM comes by and catches the hacker.

Playing in the servers with more people does get frustrating for the users that are already playing that server because (if anyone played back when Scania got really popular remember) it gets harder and harder to log-in! But there are multiple servers to choose from now so the problem of the full server has been fixed.

The way I found out about this game was through GameFaqs.

I would recommend this game to everyone and anyone! I already have gotten my friends into this game and I will continue to spread the good word of it.

Posted by KarenCrompz at November 4, 2006 11:59 AM

ive been playing maplestory ever since it was launched.....and yes im a kid..and told my other friends about...and they told their friends...and thats how come i think that it got so popular.

note: 200 IS NOT THE MAX LVL there is no proof that there is

oh and yes join onrpg.com and go to the maplestory forum. if you do come to our friendly little forum tell them that kloned sent you. ^_^

Posted by kloned at November 5, 2006 04:46 PM

What insentive does he have to come back when ur talking to him like that bewb?

Posted by Evil Lil Spore at November 6, 2006 08:45 AM

@ Paroxysm

It's the site, not the posters.

Posted by DrJiggs at November 8, 2006 02:15 PM

I tried playing this game one day when the WoW servers were down for maintenance. For a free game, it is very good. I used to be an avid searcher of free games, everything from turn-based web games to rogue-likes like angband to gunbound. This game is great but i couldn't deal with the constant grinding. Its definitely a good time killer.

Posted by Viet at November 9, 2006 10:54 AM

What insentive does he have to come back at all, its getting annoying.

Quite blaming that you had a baby for not getting out the podcast, just make the podcast and quit messing with the family.

This is a very important time to be making a podcast with the huge game console launches. How can you not make a podcast now?

Posted by bewb at November 9, 2006 04:31 PM

Have you got any kids? If you have yould know they take up alot of time. We on the forum have been keeping track of news perhaps it is not a podcast but we know whats going on.

Posted by Shadowlord18 at November 9, 2006 09:27 PM

He needs to get his priorities straight, Podcast > Family.

Posted by bewb at November 10, 2006 01:33 PM

i am shocked and appalled at people yelling at steve. He doesnt need to make a podcast at all! But he does it anyway! His family is much more important than some whiny internet nerds.

Posted by Kabain52 at November 11, 2006 11:11 AM

Actually I saw an advertisement for Maple Story today in the new incarnation of CGW, Games for Windows.

Posted by Lingsandwich42 at November 11, 2006 04:06 PM

He NEEDS to make a podcast, otherwise he's no use to us anymore for our gaming knowledge acquisition.

Posted by bewb at November 12, 2006 02:32 AM

I have never noticed a gm while playing maple europe!

Posted by AkariNight at November 12, 2006 09:37 AM

I somehow get the feeling that bewb is pulling a few legs =-)

He's right though. If anything, make the podcast with the baby as guest star. Gotta raise 'em to geekhood early on. JOOOIN US!

Posted by Keeper at November 16, 2006 09:02 AM

Man, I hate it, but I check this site less and less. I've moved on to other podcasts, I get my information elsewhere. It was great while it lasted.

Posted by Tadale at November 17, 2006 10:44 PM

Why? There are plenty of places to visit if you want an educated opinion.

Posted by Keeper at November 19, 2006 11:22 AM

He has time to go to EA out west for a "community" outing for some RTS Lord of the Rings game (which is an event made soley to have sites like this report on it, which he quite obviously hasn't done), but he doesn't have the time to make even one show in almost 2 months. Glad to know he loves his community and fans so much.

Posted by Solis at November 24, 2006 10:44 AM

Some of you "people" are beyond sick. Of course, Steve will never return considering some of the posts I have seen here.

Too bad all it takes is a single anonymous poster to ruin a site's appeal.

Posted by Jeff at November 25, 2006 03:02 PM

Hey there Steve and I am surprised you haven't heard of Maple Story, they do advertise in fact.... Only it is online banners on flash game websites that has drawn my attention to it...

I haven't played it as MMO's are a cancer I prefer not to indulge myself to participate in... I have plenty of time I could waste, but I would rather waste it for A. non monthly cost things, and B. useful skills... but anyway

Im sure steve is man enough to withstand a few negative comments from.... UNKNOWN people, goodness, no one cares without good reason

I would suggest to Solis to start using Firefox instead of IE because IE double posts :P

Posted by Greywolf at November 25, 2006 05:46 PM

"I would suggest to Solis to start using Firefox instead of IE because IE double posts :P"

Ironic you double posted then ;)

Posted by whenyoubite at November 26, 2006 04:21 AM

Hey. Yea, MapleStory is a VERY popular game. I own a website actually for it, www.florinabeach.com , and it islike the 5th largest out there. There are several others, some with huge forums (60K on up) and others with huge amounts of traffic, comparable to www.mmorpg itself, even beating them... by alot... with on game... one.

As far as websites go though, I really havn't seen any advertisements for it other than the fansites themselves. What I find most funny is that these fansites are even more popular than the official website... Combined, we kick its arse. Yet, their official position is "all fansites are bad, they provide hacks and cheats stay away from them". HA. Now thats no way to talk to the people who can run their business into the ground :)

Posted by zerk at November 26, 2006 01:41 PM

I've played maplestory for almost 2 years now. and although I have only ever gotten to lvl 75, and lvl 40, 56, 45, and some other numbers, I find the game inmensely entertaining. With no version of ms even being 1.0 yet, there's tonnes of ms to go around. I find that people view maplestory as a leveling game, and find it boring because all they do is level. But, I say, level to 60ish, and hang out with friends, mm, make godly weapons...etc..I reccomend this game.

Posted by alex (daily) at November 28, 2006 10:07 PM

On Steve's absence:

sigh...

Posted by DrJiggs at December 4, 2006 01:44 AM

Nearing a two-month gap between updates. Yikes.

I can understand the baby excuse now though, as my brother recently had one. All he wants to do is be near it and take care of it.
I'm unsure how old Steve is or if this is his first -- but I think I can better understand his absence.

I suppose a podcast is out of the question; though, it has been brought up before -- who can't spare a moment for even a forum post on how you're doing?

Eh.
Spore draws nearer in any case. That is essentially the reason I came here in the first place.
Everything else, I Digg.

Posted by Gauphastus at December 4, 2006 11:08 AM

I have played this game for a very long time and I find it very entertaining because there is alot of stuff to do, like quest, train, search for items, hang out with friends,or when u get strong...you can go to ZAKUM!!! I'm there rright now lol Tallish scania msg me!!!! I recomend MapleStory to...EVERYONE!

Posted by David at December 4, 2006 06:27 PM

Where are you Steve? :*(

Posted by Bill at December 7, 2006 10:19 PM

Steve, I check on this site once a week for a podcast and there never is any. How do you even get invited to gaming conferences and stuff? Can I be part of the "Gaming Media" If I make an hour long podcast once every 2 months? Sounds like a pretty easy way to get invited to E3. Your excuses are lame, It doesn't take that much free time to make a podcast. You are a lazy shitloaf.

Posted by drew at December 8, 2006 11:42 PM

Let's be honest: at the height of Gaming Steve's activity, the podcast was released every fortnight, not on a weekly basis.

So when Steve faced facts and announced he would aim for a fortnightly podcast, that really meant one podcast per month.

Knowing this trend, warning bells should have sounded when Steve then said he would aim for a monthly podcast - that of course meant we'd be lucky to see a podcast every six months.

I know Steve aims for quality over quantity, but any update at this point would alleviate the groaning Gaming Steve fanboys. The fanboys who religiously buy every game Steve reviews. The fanboys who hate Sony and love Microsoft, just like Steve.

The fanboys are in pain Gaming Steve!

Posted by Laurence at December 9, 2006 08:44 AM

Sigh, we now have a full compliment of next gen consoles, and the first directx 10 GPU and vista is on the horizon, and steve is yet to make any comment on the PS3, wii or the 8800.
It's been almost two months now Steve, and you haven't even bothered telling us what is happening or why you haven't updated. For all we know you could be dead.

Posted by kibble- at December 11, 2006 07:35 PM

I don't mind that he's taking a long break, hell, I could get news elsewhere. But I actually would like a small update if he has the time. If something very serious/tragic happened I would understand. I don't think I would invest hours and hours into something and then out of nowhere neglect it. I do hope all is well, Steve. If/when you return I'll be quite happy. In mean time, relax and do what you go to do. Don't listen to these guys bitching and moaning.

Posted by robotplague at December 11, 2006 07:50 PM

Sounds like sony sent out a ninja for writing about the PS3 in a negative way lol. Hope to hear from u soon Steve.

Posted by Logan at December 12, 2006 02:40 PM

How does Steve get invites? Are you kidding?

Because he is geniunely part of the gaming industry, unlike the shills and hacks who attempt to 'write' on many gaming sites who seem to think they deserve to get invites to gaming conferences/events just because they give bloated high review scores to the majority of games which are rubbish.

Posted by swerv at December 16, 2006 04:35 AM

I have played this game for about 5 months and have many characters. I have to say that yes, many things are true about hackers, cash shop items, and lack of GMs but listen to what I have to say.

First: hackers. If you choose the right servers, there will be very little hackers, such as bera, with only a moderate amount of hackers versus scania, with a large amount (or so I hear...) However there are over 20 channels in one server, and many hidden areas for you to play that are not displayed on the world map in which to train.

Second: cash shop items. Yes, you can buy items with real money which I HAVE done. There is only one advantage with doing so. These items only mask over the items you are currently wearing and give you no advantage over the other items.

Last: lack of GMs. Not true anymore. If you play frequently, you will notice on your message board that ocassitionally the GMs will have banned mass amounts of people. Now, I myself have never seen a GM personally but yes, many of people have been banned and the GMs are working on cleaning up.

Yes I have one more boring things to say so please stay with.

While somepeople say there are mass amounts of scammers and large uses of @ signs so ou will notice your sales, stick with the game. In the beginging it will be difficult and not a lot of options and varity. If you stay with this game and get past the scammers and reach a med. level like 15 you will have a great time. Just go to one of the online guide sites for the game and follow what they have to offer (like mapletip.com and hidden-street.net) They offer lots of help and help make the game more fun.

Good luck and happly mapling! XD

p.s. I play in bera server with 4 characters

Heaan
p4vvn3r
kitris
realpwnking

Posted by Marshall at March 18, 2007 02:20 PM

Global MapleStory has died. The hackers have taken the game over. The script kiddies have taken over 20 out of 20 maps in some places. Prices have gone thru the roof for things you need in the game, as the hackers farm the in game money, mesos, constantly, and are able to spend way more than the average gamer. Nexon America refuses to do anything about the problem, and very infrequently puts on a show of a few bans in blue text in each server to incourage people to buy more NX Cash from the company. MTV Networks had a deal w/ Nexon America to start advertising the game on Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, and Spike, but has delayed the deal on the terms that Nexon hasn't met any of the prerequisites to the deal concerning the hacking problem in the game. The company has let down tens of thousands of people, and players that have been with the game for years now are walking away, defeated by lack of customer service and support.

Posted by Longtime Mapler at March 20, 2007 07:41 PM

why does everyone think runescape is awesome and maplestory is gay?! RUNESCAPE IS THE SINGLE WORST GAME EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by sam at March 26, 2007 10:38 PM

Ok, first off: this game has lost a massive amount of hackers recently, the GM's went on a banning binge. Almost every 30 minutes you would read "soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned, soandso has be banned."
Sencond, there may not be a Pvp in the global version yet but it is coming out soon.
Third, for those of you who said the controls are clunky, all off the controls can be edited entirely, you don't want to use ctrl to attack, switch it to shift or "w" or ".".
Fourth, there is no max lvl, at all.
Fifth, you don't HAVE to ever actually buy anything with real money.
Sixth, Gm's communicate, if you see a Gm make a typo in his banned people notice then you can use a super megaphone (you do have to get these with real money) to tell the entire server, including the Gm, that "Hey Gm, you made a typo," and they say "Oh, whoops. Thanks *insert name*."
Seventh, the majority of people who play MapleStory are actually in 15-25. They just act immature because they can, it's the internet.
Eighth, the monsters and amount of items is now huge, they and they have a giant economy to go with it all. Prices of thing fluctuate, prices inflate, money loses its worth sometimes.
Ninth, there are tons of places to go to, and more places are added every couple months, in fact within the next couple months a place called "Riprey" will be released, giving much higher level people a much better place to train.
Tenth, the comunity in the game is great, other than the most of the hackers the majority of the maple population if pretty nice, at least to me they are.
Eleventh, ok there wern't weapons for level 100+, eh, 6 months ago, but recently there have been many more weapons for the higher levels being released. They even have level 120 weapons now.

This game is great, fun community, great gameplay when you get to 40+ (personally) and you can meet alot of people, join guilds, party quest, guild quest, boss hunt, train, quest, item search, browse the free market (or basilmarket.com) and just talk to random people. Your stats are fully customizable, you don't level up and automatically get +2 strength, you choose what you get.

Plus, it grows in population size and land size way faster than almost any other MMO.

I recomend this game to pretty much everyone.

Posted by Graeme Hart at May 2, 2007 10:14 PM

i play maple its realy cool i lvl 38 worrier my name is flameheart47 if u play buddy me some time :D

Posted by cody at May 8, 2007 03:44 PM

No fun anymore because MapleStory is now regarded as HackerStory.

Posted by Calvin Nguyen at June 5, 2007 11:05 PM

maplestory is awesome i used to play runescape until my parents sed i cant play anymore. maplestory i think is the best mmorpg game im lvl 30 and my lvl 47 got banned my accounts name is salamania in mardia add me sumtimed to buddy if u play. :)

Posted by hsxgh at June 18, 2007 06:51 PM

I always wanted to play this

Posted by Ingrid at June 21, 2007 02:38 PM

Maplestory isn't known as HackerStory ~ Theres a program CALLED HackerStory where you can test out looks of cash shop items, and hair styles. It isn't to be confused with MapleStory, hackers are basically gone now in maplestory. (Level 126 now) :P

Posted by KarenCrompz at June 25, 2007 06:50 PM

i have been playing that game for a while. i found it by google search. i do the same thing you do wich is try to find under ground/undicovered games. thats what i was doing when i found your site. the google search that i found maple story with was the same search that i found your site with. that search is mmorpg. so now you know how i find games and i think that you should try it.

Posted by Tanner at June 26, 2007 03:19 AM

I've played Maplestory since beta. Wasn't very happy about starting over but all the same went right at it when they launched the commercial version for GMS.
The game is fun but repetitious. The same grind every day to level or however often anyone plays. IT does get boring after awhile and does become addicting in the early stages of combating various monsters.
I've manage to level a 115 priest in over a year. Tough grinding and late nights and long weekends. You burn yourself out trying to keep pace, and impossible task to continue. Overall I enjoyed the game as far as the quests and the leveling.
The game has definately come along way as well as the focus on NX Cash. For awhile it seemed as if they were only worried about the cashshop while ignoring alot of the internal flaws of behaviour.
There was at a time when this game was pretty much free of garbage, potty mouths , scammers and hackers.
The people of this game seem to have a tradeoff as to what they will tolerate and what they will let go. They have talked alot of tough stuff to correct the hacking , however the rest is pretty much left go. I can hand it to them about getting the hacking under control recently. However hacking isn't as damaging as the harrassment within the game is.
It's not a community of decent an moral people. There is constantly bullying, sexual remarks, profanity and the like.
Not much in the type of game you should have a child playing in.
There are also what I see as a higher level as to a type of mafia organization such and specifically in regards to quests. One type of example is the Zakkum quest. They are called zakkum runs which are done by a select few who request that anyone wanting in to get a hat or something will pay 100 million mesos. This is common practice which is rubbish. This practice may be deaper involved than what I have experienced. The fee is considered by some to be a fee for organizing such a group.
There are decent people in this game but you anyone will find it common to be called a dumb*ss or something of profanity than to given a thankyou or soemthing of decent respect.
I am a parent of a child who I have barred from playing based on these examples. I witnessed on several occassion someone convinced a female character in this game to undress and then say things about how his thing are doing this or doing that. Not something that children should be subject to. Yet the operators of this game seem to side step such behaviour. I even watched a person being degraded for a half hour with profanity, while with an effort to help stop it the angry one turned on me. The fact is , is that even though some of these post just glorify this game they fail to detail the social and moral piggishness that runs rampant.
Customer Service takes a failing grade and it takes an act of god to get a response from them.
Like I said the game is fun if repetitous gaming is for you. Don't take it serious or lust for higher persona because you become a slave to it. It's well designed and shows talent behind gaming and design.
As a parent considering giving permission to allow their child to play my suggestion is to open a account and feel for the social climate before subjecting your child to the things I mentioned above.
IF you decide to play have fun, do the quests as they will help you level and gain items, mesos, fame. Explore the Maple World and see the exciting things they developed.
Pheww Sorry about the sloppy spelling but in quite a hurry

Posted by Frozen Mace at July 13, 2007 09:11 PM

I've played Maple Story for a few years with my friends. it used to be fun and all but then we decided to quit because it was beginning to get a bit repetitive.
there are quite a number of hackers in the game and hacks are very easy to find. i have used them but after it crashed my computer for the tenth time i stopped and went back to the old fashioned way.
also the advertisements, if you are really one of those mmo gamers sometimes on the mmorpg site there are Maple Story ads that appear

Posted by Joe at July 16, 2007 06:14 PM

All of these free Korean-based MMOs have millions of subscribers. The thing is it's normally just that each player owns several accounts. They use one for farming items, one for levelling, one for tradeskilling, etc. And it's normally bots doing the work for them.

Remember, the number of accounts does not equal the number of players!

Posted by Dajmin at July 17, 2007 07:38 AM

maplestory is pissed off now because of the hackers now they put gamegaurd on steroids

Posted by gweenace at July 20, 2007 01:36 AM

Don't let its veneer fool you. Having played MapleStory up to level 40 I will tell you from an American perspective it's a hard-core grindfest.

I'm truly convinced that Asian gamers are wired differently than American gamers. Most American gamers HATE grinding. However Asian gamers for whatever reason regard grinding as fun. Weird. Why? I don't understand. By the way when I say Asians I mean people that actually live in Asian (e.g. China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, and so forth).

Posted by Ryan at August 7, 2007 03:14 PM

I love that game. I heard about it from a friend.

Posted by Robin at August 21, 2007 02:00 AM

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