7) Kill Stealing

Kill stealing is a frequently-encountered behaviour in Maple Story.

Someone is busy slashing a particular monster (until they are almost done) and another person comes along the way and deals the finishing blow.

He who deals the finishing blow gets all the experience points (EXP) and the reward ($$) that comes with it. In a nutshell, "kill stealing" is simply profiteering from another person's hard work, "stealing credit", whatever else you may call it.

I experienced it first hand when I was bullied by a stronger Maple Story character. I was level 19 and he was level 27. In fact, he had a party that was hunting with him.

"ks warrior ok?" - Read Kill-Steal warrior (me) - he was beckoning to his party member.

Whenever I started on a monster, he would follow behind me and cast a spell from a distance and claim all the spoils of war! What lousy behaviour!

And what could I do about it? Absolutely nothing! Unless I come back stronger and bully him in return.

Whoever said you'll be free from bullies if you do not go out?

Comment
Questionable behaviour exist online and offline, in fact with the nature of the internet, bad behaviour can be multiplied many ways. What I just described was provocation, bullying and taunting all rolled into one.

7) Fame & Fortune

Just when you think betrayal, backstabbing and false accusations only happen in real life. Be prepared.. it happens in the virtual world too. And in Maple Story, such situations are commonized by terms such as "Kill Steal" and "Defame".

I had two contrasting encounter in my virtual journey. The good and the bad.

First encounter. We joined forces together in farming - Partying. At the end of the partying experience, "she" gave me loads of FREE items inclusive of a high level Magician cape which I could sell for 50,000 mesos! In appreciation, I increased "her" fame level. Result: Both of us are happy.

Second encounter. In the midst of farming with many other players, I took away a Fresh Chicken dropped by one of the monsters killed. Due to the commotion, I wasn't sure whether was it me or other players whom killed the monster and should get the item. Somehow I picked it up and there came an angry character whom demanded that I return the chicken to "him". I refused and immediately "he" defamed me - dropped my fame level. Result: I felt upset, as if I was maligned and falsely accused of something I didn't do!

Comment:

1. The element of anguish, grief, joy and happiness can also be experienced in the virtual world. But enhanced danger here because nobody is processing these events, emotions and thoughts with them!
2. Virtual friendships can be easily established. It comes with the "You scratch my back, and I scratch your back" mentality. However, behind each virtual character, you have no idea about the real identiy! The "SHE" can turn out to be a "HE"!

6) Milestones - Lvl 20

Milestones are great motivators in life. It gives people something to focus on in the short to medium term. So it is with Maple Story. Someone guru (teenager of course) told me to level up to 20 and then ask him for the next step.

So I did, putting in an average of about an hour a day, always mindful not to get addicted (why, it would be a disaster if me, of all people, got hooked!) Yet I threw myself to the task, realising that this may well be the research material that I need to amass for the next module in our training curriculum.

I now sport an american football helmet, an awesome mace that delivers great damage when I hit the monsters, an of course some decent armour.

Check out my statistics too. My strength is now 58 (after some mistakes in allocation initially). My dexterity is 24.

I've acquired some awesome warrior skills and can take on stronger monsters. I'll show 9another day) you the irritating tree stumps that I used to fear. Now I "own them"!

Take a look at the chart. A total of 22 hours played to reach level 20. (I have no idea whether that's fast or slow, but it certainly could have been a few hours shorter had I not gone on the quests).

So it's back to blogging about some of the experiences for now. I'll be writing about "scamming", and "kill stealing", also about the "trading fame" syndrome.

For now, it's back to bed!

6) The Pursuit of Level 20

This is my 6th day into playing Maple Story, averaging about 4 hours daily (Yes, outside of my working hours in office!). I have finally reached Level 20! Definitely a significant achievement for someone whom hasn't played computer games for the past decade. I am well pleased with this personal milestone achieved.

Now with one shot of my arrow, I can kill off those pesky little green mushrooms which in the past took three or four shots to shut them off. Having reached level 20, I was also able to try out a variety of new weapons such as crossbows, toilet plunger and hard metal briefcase. Each of these weapons I could use pending whether it was close contact combat or long distance shootout, and all able to inflict more damage than before.

I am pleased with what I have achieved thus far. I can feel myself much closer to looking like my dream hero - Legolas!

Analysis:

The achievement of reaching higher levels provide a sense of satisfaction for one to carry on. The demand for more is insatiable. Conquered Level 20, now one will desire to conquer Level 30, 40, 50 and so on.

5) Multitasking

This chair is one of the most useful things in Maple Story if anyone wants to multi-task. It basically allows a person to recover Health Points (HP) at a faster rate.

This is how it works. Every character has a certain number of HP and this will deteriorate when enemies hits you. If the HP goes down to zero, then a character will die (temporarily) and lose some time (and points) in the game.

Yet of I go rest somewhere before I run out of HP, I will automatically gain back HP with time. When I sit on the chair however, the rate of restoration increases (in this case, I recover 50HP every 30 sec).

Implication: I could play Maple Story and other things at the same time. Whenever I needed to recover some HP, I would sit on the chair (in game) and go off to do some of my other real-life tasks while the HP recovers. In fact, I got to do some serious laundry in between my "rests" while levelling up.

So this allows a person to "economise" on his time. While outwardly a person may seem to be doing worthwhile work (e.g. homework), in reality his main attention could really be levelling up his character.

Remark

1. For me to research MS while keeping up with my real life, this is pretty useful.
2. Yet for the kids to be keeping up with real life while focusing on MS, this is really useful too.
3. The difference is, which is the priority in life. Is one more obsessed with the game character or his real-life self?

5) Farming - A Great Way to Level Up Quickly

After beginning on my MS journey, I realise that this was one additional topic which I could engage youths with. Previously, I was a MS immigrant, totally knowing nothing about it and always seem like an "outcast" and being ostracized from the discussion. Now, despite still being a newbie in MS, I was slowly becoming an MS native. Now I can understand the lingos and terms used by these youths. In return, I seek advice and hear from them how to make progress for my MS character!

A youth (Level 123 in MS) told me, "Go and farm lah! Level up very fast one!"

He showed me this place in Victoria Island where there were almost like enemy hotspot! Thousands of snails, mushrooms, bubble slimes are there and they just keep spawning out more and more. Seemingly dangerous, yet this MS guru told me that this was the best place to "train" my character and level up quickly.

So for the next 1 hour, I stayed put in this lucrative spot and just went around slashing away at any monsters. True enough! I went from Level 10 to Level 15 in this one hour! And no sweat man! And not to mention the greater chance of achieving rare items too.. Check out my Red Valentine's Rose!

Analysis

1. The key for me within this one hour was to become more powerful i.e. being highly efficient within a specific time frame. Isn't that similar to our real world work? Where we are constantly striving for efficiency and our value is determined by how effective we are?
2. I can slowly begin to identify with why youths are so drawn and refuse to stop playing this game even if it can be quite "kiddish". Someone whom is an underachiever in the real world will easily be sucked in because he/she can easily gain that achievement in the virtual world!
3. Nobody in the real world, but Somebody in the virtual world! From a youth's perspective, where do we think he/she would prefer?

4) Becoming a Stronger Warrior

Look at me! Cool helmet. Nice armour and pants. A wooden shield and a double axe!

A cool level 14 character.

Off I went to take a second round around Victoria Island.

I learnt how to use my warrior skills - throwing snail shells at people and also to do power slashes. This was fun, I felt I've improved in the game and have become more powerful.

My teenage friend who frequents the cyber wellness centre gave me a few tips about the game. I learnt how to:

1. Form a party with other gamers to share experience points from our kills.
2. Assign skill and ability points to the categories that make my levelling up more efficient.
3. Buy the correct weapons and equipment in a way that makes use of my mesos the best.
   

With that, I began to "farm" - another term for repeatedly slashing at a "lucrative" spot in Victoria Island. I found this place in the tree trunk which had an endless stream of green slimy blobs converging on me. Look at the picture! All those easy prey around me!

With almost half an hour of hacking and slashing, I went from level 14 to level 15! Yeah!

Analysis
The desire in this phase of the game was to become powerful in a more efficient form - by farming some spots in Victoria Island. I felt that I had found an "secret" and just could not pass up the opportunity to milk it fully. It was non-stop slashing for half an hour!

4) Becoming a Bowman

Check out my new look after the job advance at Level 10! Well, I may not be anywhere near my dream hero Legolas, but at least I have gotten a decent bow. Not yet a Legolas, but somewhat look like Robin Hood!

There was a great sense of satisfaction after that, similarly comparable to a promotion at workplace. Now with newly empowered skills and weapons, I have a wider array of attacking moves to showcase. I don't need to do close contact combat of slashings anymore. Now, I can just stand from afar and shoot arrows, then proudly striding forward to claim my rewards.

With each levelling up, my bow skills get enhanced, meaning I take lesser shots to kill a similar monster. Those slime bubble monsters, hard-to-kill green mushrooms, which I used to struggle in killing... now I snub them and can easily crush them with two shots of my powerful bow and arrows! Quote from Pascoaman, now I OWN THEM!

Analysis

The thrill of carrying on the game was dying down until I got the job advance. Now with those new skills, weapons and armour which gave me a new look, my motivation to playing the game was renewed! I was curious to find out more about my newly empowered skills, to explore other territories in Maple Island and to gain a higher level so I can use more powerful equipments!

Addiction doesn't just kick in out of nothing. It all began with curiosity!

3) First Job Advance

After landing on Victoria Island, I went about discovering this new place. I felt thrilled about this challenge and again the desire to become competent kicked in. As I moved from place to place, I finally began to level up till I was 10.

Here's the big milestone in my "career" - I could choose my vocation!

One gets to choose from 4 possible vocations:

1. Thief
2. Magician
3. Warrior
4. Bowman

I chose warrior. Somehow, perhaps due to my sporting nature, I seem to have a preference for characters with strength. I just like them. I was thrilled - now I can start my journey to discover the special skills available to warriors.

Unfortunately, the "city" where I was made a warrior was also contained some of the more depressing landscape in Victoria Island - lot's of brownish hills and totem poles. And awful looking tree stumps enemies to go along. This was so different from the common enemies in the other towns offering job advances in the other categories.

Anyhow, I managed to level up a little bit more till level 11 and I had made enough mesos to buy some cool warrior weapons and armour.

Analysis
This phase was driven by my desire to attain the "specialist skills" of a warrior. Probably the innate desire to be strong also drove my effort. Of course I was also carried along by the desire to explore more places. However, to get through some places, I just had to become stronger.

3) I Got So Engrossed in Slashing

One and a half hour into MS, I was totally engrossed in slashing and hacking away at all the monsters that came in my way. Why I said I was engrossed? Because something happened and my reactions justified that I was pretty immersed in the game already.



Server Maintenance! Argh!!

Suddenly the feeling of being let-down just came into me. A couple of thoughts just popped into my mind then... "Gosh! Why can't this happen later? I'm almost reaching Level 8 already!"; "Not fair! At least let me level up first!"

Driven by a sense of urgency to reach Level 10, fuelled by the let-down feelings, I tried to re-log in back to the game server. Not once, not twice but five immediate times and all unsuccessful. Each try with greater frustration arising in me, boiled over by the sense of unfulfilment. But everything was to no avail.

Every 5 minutes interval, I would try to log in again. And finally after 45 minutes, the game server was up and I was in again! I had to buck up and catch up on the lost time....

Analysis: I could experience for myself the fun factor of the game. The thrill of just slashing away at the monsters and deriving mesos and items out of them is just so fulfilling. The great fulfilment comes from the seeing your experience points chalking up. Once immersed in the game, it would be really frustrating when things happen that stop me from playing i.e. the game server was down for this instance. The frustration showed when I furiously kept punching away at the keyboard trying to re-log in.

This is a first clear indicator of computer games gaining a grip on kids. No wonder many kids show their frustrations by throwing tantrums, flare temper or become moody whenever parents exert restrain on them from playing games.

2) Initial Levelling Up Thrill

I logged on for 12 hours!

No no, before you get worried that the cyber wellness champion is getting hooked on MS, fret now. I was only on it for about 5 hours and it was on the day when I was on leave. I managed to take care of the kids, send them to school, take care of their meals and all of that.

But what was not so good was that I finally quit at 5am in the morning!!!!

Yes the thrill of MS is real, even for an adult. It was just fortunate that I already have most of my life settled in order, and I simply could not afford to let the game take over my life. Not so for most kids though!

I got from level 1 to 5 in just half and hour. It's bascially driven by the feeling of getting competent at something. It was not hard, and that was exactly the point, I felt I was becoming competent and that kept me going for half an hour.

Beyond the half hour, what kept me going were the quests. I started to find out more about the game. Plenty of them in the game and it als interested me to explore Maple Island, how to get around and how to find places. Getting acquainted with the neighbourhood, I would call it.

From then, it thrilled me to head towards getting out of Maple Island. Because it wwas to be on Victoria Island that I will finally find my first job at level 10. That would be so cool, because I will get to acquire powerfukl specialist skills!. I worked hard to prepare myself for the treacherous world beyond the safe confines of Maple Island. Finally at level 8, I was ready to strike out.

I paid some money (MS "mesos") to baord a ship to roam the new world out there. Never again will I return to Maple Island again....

2) Just a Stroll Around The Park

Saturday morning 7:00AM. Rise and shine! Just when everyone should either be sleeping or doing some morning exercise, here I was, ready to strike out in Maple Island! Time to explore the land filled with snails and mushrooms!

Buttons "C", "Z" and "Spacebar". These the three basic keys that are required. All I had to do was to just keep slashing / avoid / pick up WHATEVER that came my way! SLASH or AVOID the monster.. PICK UP the items and mesos along the way.

Within 20 minutes, I had gotten from Level 1 to 5. Piece of cake. Just keep slashing.

Another 1 hour, I have reached Level 7. Still slashing away. Things are getting boring. But the motivation to reach Level 10 keeps me going. Because that's when I will get my first job advancement..... means one step closer to becoming like Legolas!

Enouugh of the friendly, boring neighbourhood. I had enough. It was time to step out and explore the "real" world.. so off I went to Victoria Island where the real fun began!

Parallel to reality: HDB estates and old fashion kopi-tiams? Time to move on Condominiums, Orchard Road and High Class Dining restaurants!

1) Downloading, Installing & Registering Maple Story

I started downloading Maple Story (http://www.maplesea.com/) overnight on 6 Dec - I was to be on leave the following day.

It's a huge download! 600+ MB! (I later tried to do it on my office Wireless LAN and it bombed out after a while). Yet downloading it overnight on my notebook at home was a breeze. I did not even have to bother with it.

Installation was easy too! So parents out there, know that it's not hard for ANY child to get started on MS at all!

Registration was a little bit more difficult and complex even for a seasoned user like me. I had to mess around with 2 registrations:

1. Asiasoft Passport
2. Maple Story Registration

The first required my NRIC, presumably for administrative purposes, to enable Asiasoft to track down any offenders and also to maintain some leads for security issues. It also becomes a gamer database for Asiasoft, to launch and gamers to access all the rest of their games (mind you, they are doing very well)

The second registration is for Maple Story proper, nothing difficult with that. My confusion was more with mixing up the 2 of them.

Yet after messing around with a few authentication emails, I was ready to go! Maple Story here I come!


Comments

1) I would think this process is easy for any child to complete on their own, they are tech savvy enough. Yet it will probably pose a problem for some parents who are not as familiar with the gaming world.

2) The NRIC part is a little of concern - giving up the NRIC can open up a host of security issues on the internet. Yet it is exactly for the same reason that Asiasoft needs this NRIC, it is a powerful piece of information if they want to do anything with the gamers.

1) Pre-planning before embarkation

Just when I think beginning on the Maple Story quest was a piece of cake, I was WRONG! I escaped my first hurdle of downloading that HUGE installation file but getting the setup file from Pascoaman.... sad to say only to realise that this file was of the old version and it took me almost 30 minutes just to patch it up to the latest version - almost equivalent to the actual download time via broadband.

Just like any corporate sector meeting, there also needs to be PRE-PLANNING in MS. Basically, in order to play this game more effectively, one has to preselect what "career path" he/she would wish to embark on. In our real world, we are talking about occupations such as Engineer, Doctor, Lawyer, Businessman...etc. In a child's Maple world, we are talking about job advancements - WARRIOR, THIEF, BOWMAN and MAGICIAN.

Preselecting occupations in life is important so that one will know what subjects to take and focus on in JC, Poly and Universities. Similarly, preselecting job advancements in MS determines what kind of statistics you would want to have. Example: Warrior must have high statistics in STRENGTH.

For me, I have always been inspired by LEGOLAS (from Lord of the Rings) - so suave and handsome espacially when blazing those arrows! Thus I wanted to be a bowman like him. Luckily, it took me a mere 10 minutes to generate statistics high in Dexterity (for Bowman).. heard from others than usually this step can easily take up to an hour or more!

Check out my NEWBIE character - RotiAhCek!

So cute right?!?!? Watch out snails and mushrooms.. Here I come!!!

Why this blog?

The maple story of a 38 year old father of 2 kids!

Why? Because this helps all of us adults out there to understand the world of our kids better.

1. Why are they so hooked on games?
2. Why are they so upset and violent when I stop them from playing?
3. Don't they have better things to do than to hack and slash in that childish environment?
4. Why will they prefer real life to the virtual world?

Come walk with me through MY own journey in Maple Story. I'm going to lead you through my own journey in it so that you don've have to spend hours finding out for yourself. (But wait, I'm not going to level up with all the rest of the young people. I'm going to do it with their help. I do have kids to play with you know...)

So what are you waiting for. Bookmark this blog and.....

"Come Slash With Me...."

Why am I joining in too?

Gosh! Considering that I have not been playing ANY form of computer games for the past 10 years, why in the world am I throwing myself into playing MapleStory? Don't I have anything better else in mind to do?

Well, a couple of reasons:

I have heard so much about this game, and I am curious to find out what's so fun?

To understand why my cousin got so hooked on this game that she isolates herself from the family?!

To immerse myself in a youth's shoes and find out what's so fun about slashing mushrooms and snails?!

To gain some knowledge about this game so as to connect with the group of youths that I work with in my volunteer work.

Last but not least, it's part of my job scope (also invitation by Pascoaman) in researching on addictive factor of MapleStory *grin*

I am inspired by what Pascoaman has written in this blog and also achieved in his virtual MapleStory character (getting higher and higher in level!). Watch out here for MY own journey too as I parallel it with Pascoaman's.

Join me in RotiAhCek's Maple Story.....