Hey everyone,
I've been having some big mixed feelings about this game recently and I just like a few minutes to share my story with everyone. It's fine if you don't feel like reading.
Alright so my name is Andy, moved into Bera, started in Scania and even in Tespia (Beta Server!).
I shared an account with a dear friend back then, well, two dear friends: ClericManda and Mogoice. Mogoice played during Beta under the name of Mogo96 or some other numbers. Anyways, I didn't start Maplestory until a few months later when I thought that the game died after Beta.
When I stepped foot into scania, I asked around (when there actually was still a community) to see if anyone knew ClericManda since she was a wonderful friend to me. I was lucky that someone did and I reconnected with this person.
Then I tried to look for other friends,
Ronki
Cherrymilk99
However, these searchings never conclude positively.
(Just browsing through my Photobucket and man are these people nostalgic, I think I took this pic because I loved how Evil Wings looked like)
Then, my first maple drama came:
Sakuramiki was a person I married with. Even if I went out to buy Nx, she bought the wedding ticket for me and I was happy. But later on, school made me completely forget about maple and one day I came back. No one on my Buddy List was on, except her, who changed her name to OfSummer.
We MSN'd, Skype and now we even text. That's what I loved about maple before, I actually made online friends. Not that they are any substitute to real life friends, but it's good to know that there are people out there that you can confine stuff to them and it'll never affect you in your life... Or so they say.
I met BigXela one day when NLC just opened on the Pharoah Yeti. BigXela was Eldacar's cousin and Elitesquad's as well.
There was one discussion I remember us having "VANESSA HUDGENS IS HOT OR NOT". I still remember my answer, she is not hot. Thanks to him, I started watching HSM and HSM2 and, of course, HSM3.
Now why is BigXela so important? His cousin knew my cousin MechSniper, which is a big surprise. I mean, wow, the world is so small but at the same time, big. And Maplestory was quite popular amongst Asians so it's understandable. Anyways, it wasn't until 3 years ago that I found out that my lab partner is BIGXELA. Who would've known. One day we were studying and we decided to pull up the Maplestory Rankings and oh boy, as he typed in BigXela I was shocked and couldn't believe it. I mean, yeah, we failed our exam, but boy did we become good friends and hopefully, still keep in touch despite our busy university schedules.
One guild I will always remember, in Scania, was ArsenicOath. Jess, she was a wonderful leader, I remember her describing what the true meaning of a guild is in the BBS. Boy, was I touched. Of course, she made me cry a few times, but hey, those were tears of joy :).
I wish that one day I can talk to her again, if she ever reads this, yes it's me AndySlash the cry baby. I've heard rumors that she "suicided" . As much as that is hard to believe, I don't know what to believe anymore. They're online interactions for a reason, but if it's true... Amen.
As time went on, I met more people who played Maplestory and went to my High School. I also managed to make them come back.
FlyingTurto
SforStar
TNTxLegend
Azndevil0921
(I'm just naming people at this point...)
But then, one by one, from that same order, they got hacked. Nexon, I have lost all my trust in you. From cubes to shield scrolls, what has this game become? I remember people buying NX exclusively for looks!
"Guys should I get the Blue Boxing Gloves or the Red ones" we're said back then instead of "Guys should I buy cubes now or wait for the next sale".
I thought Nexon promised us that NX would not result in power. Now that I think of it, that was all a lie...
Anyways, friends started quitting one by one, guilds disappearing one by one, losing their true value of close friends and people you can actually (virtually) bond with. Now, only one of these remain and he's my best friend in real life.
Now the real dilemma is, am I playing this game because I made him play this game or am I still playing because he's playing.
What am I saying, they're both the same reasons no?
I'm trying to justify the interest I have in this game by projecting my image onto his'. I told myself countless times I should not go back, but where am I at now? Multiple level 100+ characters (they're not worth much these days anyways), always merching to get better, training to get higher...
But...
Where is the personal achievement? Is it from getting a 60% boss damage weapon or is it from acquiring levels? I know for a fact that for me, I'm drawn into this game for reasons I can't even word out. There's something about this game that keeps me in. But I don't want that, I'm in University, I should focus on other things.
I am not fully dependent on this game if that's what you guys think, I can totally control myself and my leisure time usually ends up in Family Time -> LoL with friends -> Derp on MS.
That's the thing "derp" on MS. Maplestory doesn't have the same meaning as the past anymore and my things are just worthless. this game became worthless. I regret spending every single penny for this game. This game doesn't make me smile anymore and in the past few days, I've spent countless hours training at LHC and merching just to find a bit more Mesos in my storage. Why? Why am I being drawn into this?
I feel that the only way to find a suitable answer, would be to quit this vicious cycle and quit the game. Now, I have a little relative who still plays this game that I would be more than happy to give him all my 6 years worth of "antiques", but I don't want him to lose more time on this game than I did. I don't want to put him in the same thing I am going through right now.
so, this is my question for you guys, is this the time where I should be quitting? This game consumes too much time, and I keep coming back for events and such. What would be the best course of action for me to take?
I don't mind giving my things away, but I don't want to condemn anyone in what I am going through.
This has been boggling my mind for the past few days, and if anything I should do is stop this game and move on. I enjoy reading about maplestory but the game is just as repetitive as ever.
And at the same time, doesn't Nexon realize that Maplestory has become a bottle that's down to more than half of it's content? I mean, the bottle is fully sealed so that no new comers will ever be able to enjoy this game at the current state is in. The bottle is leaking with every player that is leaving the Maple Community (I can't even call this a community anymore since, after all it's basically Scarecrows, jesters, MP3, Aliens, LHC, SH, HoH, 200GGREMAKE now...)
I'd really like opinions about what I am going through and would be happy to elaborate more and more for those who would like.
This game lost all of its integrity and I feel like I'm losing more in the end. this game just turned into whatever and there's no sense of achievement anymore.
What's holding me back... I don't know, it's memories, but at the same time, bad ones.
TL;DR: this game was filled with memories, but turned into a pomegranate hole. Kashari3 sorry for hacking you, I will always owe you deeply my gratitude.
Inspirational video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKBRG_QgEAM
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