Last Call: Let's Save MapleStory

Original post

Disclaimer: Yes this is probably crazy, yes it is 4:30 AM EST, yes this is probably crazy. Oops, already said that. Crazy. Don't shoot, please.

Last Call: Let’s Save MapleStory

Or not.

That’s ultimately not up to us, the customers. All we can do is make our voices heard and hope that a positive change is made. We do not elect the board members for Nexon Corp., nor do we vote on the changes made to this game, MapleStory.

There have been a lot of great discussions going on throughout the MapleStory community, especially on sites like Southperry and Basil Market, the two remaining major MapleStory forum communities, over the past few days and weeks. If you don’t already know, a new community manager has been named. He goes by the name Aurtax and so far we aren’t sure what to make of this change in leadership.

Over the years we have voiced our disapproval of specific changes and systems put into place through our editorial pieces. Anyone who is an avid reader of Maple-News.com has probably read one of the many articles by ICY. Many of you have voiced your opinions in the comments, mostly your dissatisfaction with the pay-to-win system that has gradually taken hold of a so-called free-to-play MMORPG. Many of you have voiced your opinions on other fan sites and forums. I’ve read hundreds of your comments all over MapleStory fan sites and communities. It is clear that a change must be made.

I want to use this particular medium, Maple-News.com, to begin to write a proposal of sorts, a formal petition if you will, to send to Nexon America. This proposal will be highly detailed and compiled of your suggestions, requests, comments, and so on that you believe outline necessary changes that should be made to MapleStory. These suggested changes must be narrowed down and then be voted on by as many people in the community as is humanly possible to ensure its accuracy and authenticity. This condensed list of changes will serve as the basis of our proposal which will then be hand delivered to Nexon America in addition to e-mailed and public forms of the proposal available online. If possible, we will also include as many comments and suggestions from players.

I am publicly asking all the administrators, community leaders, bloggers, and anyone who genuinely cares about MapleStory to be part of creating this proposal: Southperry, BasilMarket, Hidden-Street, and so on. You can reach me, day or night, at maplenewsnetwork@gmail.com. Many will see this idea as overambitious, ridiculous, or even insane, but perhaps if we submit a unified proposal from the MapleStory community Nexon will have to listen. At least we can say we gave it our best shot.

To start, below please fill out the following form in the comments. Check back for information on collaborations with other MapleStory web communities.

Your friend,

Savage

Save MapleStory Suggestion Form

IGN:
Server:
Suggestion:

Worth a try I suppose

I've stated my opinions on how to "save" maple on every occasion so far, Nexon's asking, several times on Southperry, on BasilMarket, on Reddit, Maryse's campaign and i doubt any of it has ever been read by anyone but its worth a shot i guess

'Save'? Jeez, the title of this thread made me think that something serious was about to happen.

Thing is, Nexon knows our opinions and suggestions. That interview with the guy belittling our fears of pay2win proves it.

Their old model was the "grocery store" model: thousands of customers, almost all of which buy something - even if only using food stamps - each giving a tiny profit. Right now Nexon is working on a "jewelry store" model: few people come in, fewer still buy anything, but the ones that do give a huge profit each.

Unless you can prove to them, in hard numbers, that returning to the grocery store model will increase their overall profits, they will not change. "I know lots of people who quit because of pay2win" is hardly proof.

Similarly for every other change we've suggested, from shared cash shop storage to prompt ticket handling: They know we want it; they seem to believe it will harm their bottom line; I doubt any of us has any way to prove to them that it won't.

Go ahead and try if you want. Just don't tell them what they've already heard and discarded, try to come up with proof. ("95% of Maple players polled agree this is a good idea" is not proof. Just because something is good for the players doesn't necessarily mean it's good for Nexon's bottom line).

Disclaimer: the above is my own personal opinion and does not represent Southperry's management or anyone else.

Thing is, Nexon knows our opinions and suggestions.

Especially since they just asked us to give them our top priorities by today.

Their old model was the "grocery store" model: thousands of customers, almost all of which buy something - even if only using food stamps - each giving a tiny profit. Right now Nexon is working on a "jewelry store" model: few people come in, fewer still buy anything, but the ones that do give a huge profit each.

Except Nexon still treats us like we're in a grocery store. Small, high-end jewerly stores don't survive unless they have someone there to personally greet you the moment you walk in the door, and should you need help, will gladly and promptly assist you however they can. Now compare that to Nexon's support ticket system.

Except Nexon still treats us like we're in a grocery store. Small, high-end jewerly stores don't survive unless they have someone there to personally greet you the moment you walk in the door, and should you need help, will gladly and promptly assist you however they can. Now compare that to Nexon's support ticket system.

Don't waste anyone's time and/or effort poking holes in the metaphor, either work on the issue the thread is about, or shut up and move on.
We all know what the problems are, arguing about how to describe them rather than how to fix them is even more pointless than arguing about how to theoretically fix what we have no control over.

That interview with the guy belittling our fears of pay2win proves it.

A link to this, please? Haven't seen it around, but I'm interested.

A link to this, please? Haven't seen it around, but I'm interested.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/20...ee-to-play

Don't waste anyone's time and/or effort poking holes in the metaphor, either work on the issue the thread is about, or shut up and move on.

It wasn't poking a hole. I was going with it while tacking on Nexon's failure. No drama/argument going on there.

Nexon's customer service has always been a problem. But here's the thing- if you're playing a truly free game for a week or two and nobody helps you out with your issues, it's hard to complain too much. But when Nexon is ramming the idea of buying NX down your throat and makes it seem like they expect you to drop $1000 on their game, especially when they release bosses that require you to have cubed/enhanced equipment of the highest level, then perhaps they should provide customer service suitable for people who are dropping a grand on virtual goods.

Our plan is to basically put forth a proposal outlining problems and possible solutions. The dramatic title was obviously chosen to get people's attention, which it seems to be doing.

Obviously Nexon already has gotten suggestions from SP and BM and has a lot to work with. Our goal is merely to create a document. Neither is to serve as a replacement or to be superior to the other, we just thought it might be nice since we're the writer-types at MNN, to submit a formal proposal and see if it has any added effect.

Apologies if our purpose was misinterpreted...

http://www.southperry.net/showthread.php?t=42816

IMO the only way to save this game is to have them basically give up their main source of income from in game which is oust potential and all that kind of pomegranate, and possibly even getting rid of many many things already in game. Since this would never in a million years happen, I don't see a point in trying to save the game. GMS will die, but obviously this is the kind of game Korea thrives on, so Nexon won't die.

Our plan is to basically put forth a proposal outlining problems and possible solutions. The dramatic title was obviously chosen to get people's attention, which it seems to be doing.

Solutions...for Nexon? Or about Nexon? Because Nexon itself is sorta the problem. They could have been paying attention this entire time. They could have actually fixed stuff and addressed player problems more proactively. And yet, here we are. I don't know that simply offering Nexon some solutions would even help at this point.

Honestly though, perhaps even "saving" it isn't the way to go. Sometimes you've gotta hit rock bottom before things get better. And I don't think Nexon's desperate enough to really listen and try something new yet. A lot of this recent "we'd like to hear from you" is likely getting filtered so that they're throwing out the negative and simply looking at what new sort of cubes people would be interested in purchasing. Even if they read what the rest of us have to say about the game going downhill, it might go down something like...
Nexon: "Oh we hear that you are concerned with the pay2play model and the high level content only reasonably accessible by heavy spenders."
Players: "So how are you gonna fix it?"
Nexon: "I'm sorry, we aren't taking any follow up questions. Buy NX today! (because we aren't actually going to change our business model because it's making us tons of money!)"

Sometimes I wonder how much pay there is in question dodging. Because I think I might be good at it if I were hired to do so.

This is a completely hollow shell of a post with a couple words bolded for attention. You have to define a problem to ask for community input and support. "Some people don't like to pay to win" is not a problem.

This is a completely hollow shell of a post with a couple words bolded for attention. You have to define a problem to ask for community input and support. "Some people don't like to pay to win" is not a problem.

If you re-read the original post, it is up to the community to determine the important problems and potential solutions so that it accurately reflects what should be changed and what people want. This post was merely a call to action.

If you don't like how it was worded, then sorry. But a better use of everyone's time and effort would be to actually contribute to the proposal instead of tearing down our post which is probably the least important thing.

Thanks.

Unfortunately this is something that has been tried so often, even/especially here on Southperry where we had an entire (failed) Call To Action section, that even if you do manage to get hopes yet again and participation, odds are it will just fail again. Redoing the same thing over and over expecting different outcomes is the definition of insanity after all. What's changed to make this work any better now?

If you re-read the original post, it is up to the community to determine the important problems and potential solutions so that it accurately reflects what should be changed and what people want. This post was merely a call to action.

If you don't like how it was worded, then sorry. But a better use of everyone's time and effort would be to actually contribute to the proposal instead of tearing down our post which is probably the least important thing.

Thanks.

If anyone comes up with a good suggestion for the game, emailing you is probably the least productive thing they can do about it.

If anyone comes up with a good suggestion for the game, emailing you is probably the least productive thing they can do about it.

No, email Nexon is