“There is a definite ‘MapleStory’ brand that players seek, as verified from the success across the world”
Oftentimes in the United States, when a massively multiplayer online game releases, we see what silkroad gold is only in front of us and fail to see the global nature of the game. MMOs
attract players from throughout the world, but sometimes the experience has to be tailored to suit the regional marketplace. What works in one area of the world, given cultural differences, might
not fly in another.
MapleStory is a two-dimensional, side-scrolling MMO that has been in release in the U.S. for four runescape gold years. But how is the game being received on a global scale, particularly
in Europe?
Naturally curious about the progression of MapleStory in the European market, Nexon was able to hook GameZone up with Mr. Sung Jin Kim, the director of Nexon Europe, to chat about the game.
Question: MapleStory just passed its anniversary. What have you learned about the massively multiplayer space since the game’s launch?
Sung Jin Kim: From the Europe service, we’ve learned that Europe is a very fragmented region where many variables have to be accounted for while servicing and operating an online game. From
national infrastructure, consumer behavior, general income, internet usage up to cultural differences, nearly everything is different from one country to the other. This has been very challenging
as we tried to settle down in the market. We think we have learned that Europe is still a potentially developing market where there is much more room for the online game marketplace to expand,
and the publisher has to be very flexible in order to meet the needs of our diverse player base.
How has MapleStory evolved in the two-plus years of its release and how have you seen the player base evolve?
Sung Jin Kim: We’ve seen Metin2 Yang a
huge progress in terms of the release of game contents as it has been picking up speed with more in-depth features for the gamers, which we believe is one main reason why we have yet seen a
cutback in our growth rate after its launch in Europe. In the community level, we’ve been astonished by the loyalty that our core users have been demonstrating by leading the new users,
nourishing the community and even giving us help for game operations. They also give us critical feedback as well and this is something that you can’t really buy and the degree of such loyalty
has been solidifying as we move forward.
What has been the biggest challenge in bringing this game to life and maintaining the interest level of the community, while-at the same time-trying to attract new players?
Sung Jin Kim: The challenge and key in the game service level is probably the right balancing. As you may have noticed, MapleStory Europe’s content updates were quite frequent and aggressive over
the past few months. We had major updates every month with new maps, modes and even job classes, and with each release we tried to offer a balanced portion of new content to our existing and new
players at the same time. For instance, players who have been with us for a while and who had played in other MapleStory services before know exactly what they can expect from MapleStory in terms
of content and basic modes. Knowing this, we tried to catch up with the global version of MapleStory which had been launched aion gold two years ahead of us, and also released maps and quests for our higher level players. On
the other hand, we try to take care of our new players at the same time with appropriate release of content, beginner-friendly events and updates of game tutorials. The recently launched “Knights
of Cygnus” addressed both groups of players, as newcomers can take advantage of the easier yet detailed entry tutorial and speedy level-up, while our existing players can upgrade their MapleStory
experience with a totally new, additional character and set of skills.
As said, we see the right balance of contents and events targeting each or both groups as the most crucial and challenging point to maintain and to recruit new players, and as a final result, to
nourish our community as a whole.
What do you think sets this game apart from the competition?
Sung Jin Kim: There is a definite ‘MapleStory’ brand that players seek, as verified from the success across the world, gaining more and more popularity across the world in Europe, North America,
South America, and Asia. As a pioneer in 2D side-scrolling MMORPG, the many years of development, experience, and feedback from our players enabled us to solidify our unique designs, game
systems, and contents as well as add popular and fun features that players are attracted to.
What do you find the most intriguing or entertaining elements of this game?
Sung Jin Kim: The most intriguing element of MapleStory is being able to create adorable characters that can be personalized to suit each individual’s taste, and exploring the new world of cute
and adorable themes. It is always exciting to explore new maps, monsters, and NPC’s to check out their cute and cool appearances. The most entertaining element would be being able to have fun
with friends in the Maple World community. Through parties, guilds, and families, the relationship adds a lot more fun rohan online gold to hunting, doing quests, leveling up, and participating in party quests
and competitions.
The game offers several ways to play-what have you found in studies of your game demographics are the most popular pursuits of your player base?
Sung Jin Kim: The ‘Tweenager’ group forms the majority of our player base as, arguably, they seem to have the highest desire in socializing and showing off. You don’t know who you may encounter
during your journey in MapleStory and some people can get really close because you have to party up with others to accomplish game quests and to trade your items with others, etc. This course of
interaction enables one to establish a relationship that can be firmly developed during game play. From the ’showing off perspective’, we provide a vast array of virtual items that can enhance
the avatars’ look and attributes and this is one key to online games as it allows you to create your own unique avatar which can represent yourself in a sophisticated manner.
What is in store for the game as you move toward the 3rd anniversary of the game?
Sung Jin Kim: Our best interest is to bring fun contents to MapleStory Europe that will receive great feedback. We are monitoring the opinions of our players and are inspired on which contents to
develop and introduce. We have a firm belief that our players will be able to have more and more fun in MapleStory Europe as we are planning great updates for the future.
