First of all I'd like to state that I have played Maple Story since 2005 so I know the game through and through.

Up until a couple of months ago I had always found ways to get NX (ingame Cash Shop currency) without spending real money. But security sharpened, the trustworthy sellers were replaced with scammers and in the end there was no way of getting NX without spending real cash on it.

I had started a new part time job in October 2007 so I had some more cash than usual so I didn't mind spending $10 on the game to get a VIP Plastic Surgery Coupon. Nothing special about it right? But heres the problem: buying NX is addictive! Once you start you keep spending money, especially because it's done within minutes with just a few clicks on the website, and before I knew it I had spend over $400 within 3 weeks on NX for multiple characters! I felt the pain in my wallet and eventually I got nothing out of it because it's just some pixels on a screen that you pay for.

So what I'm trying to say is: do NOT start spending money on NX in this game. ESPECIALLY if you have easy acces to money (you could be spending on paying the rent or groceries). It's addictive and you will keep spending more and more.

I'm not saying everyone will but they designed the Cash Shop for a reason: to get players money even tho' it's a free MMORPG. So certain players, like me for example, will fall for it and spend idiotic amounts of money on it.

How it all ended you say? I had spent all my money I had at that time on the game and felt broken, robbed even. I woke up from some sort of coma and decided to stop playing.

I just got the urge to play it again (3 or 4 months later). I checked their website and got flashbacks of how I felt and decided to post this Thread. I don't know if it's just garbage to you but I sure hope I can prevent other players from making the same mistake I did.

This is exactly why SOE is pushing so hard for new payment methods for their games.  This is the same thing as Micro-Transactions.  They sell the game as "Free to Play" but in reality, they really end up making more money than a flat $15 a month rate.

I've been against Micro-Transactions since I first heard about them, and this is only one of the reasons why.  This marketting strategy allows people to be irresponsible with their money, and what's worse, kids often times have access to their parents' credit cards.  It's not hard people - Micro-Transactions are just like gambling.  Anyone who has ever been to a casino knows how quickly $100 bucks can slip right through your fingers... even if you're being modest. In Vegas, $20 buys you approximately 30 seconds worth of fun.

Think about it in a game like WoW.  You pay for a sword you want - it costs you $2.50.  Okay, no big deal.  But you get the sword, and turns out, it sucks, or you find out it's not really what you wanted or something you can use.  That's $2.50 wasted.  Except, now you're still needing a sword.  So you get another one - you're up to $5.00 spent.  That's $5.00 in less than 10 minutes.  You play on average 4 hours a day.  You will appropriately level up once a day.  That's a new peice of equipment every day.  Assume that $5.00 you spent today, was a "light day of spending".  There are 14 days in 2 weeks, which is the usual pay day cycle.  This stuff is set up to take you for all the money you have, and they have no legal responsibility to care.  They don't even have to warn you.  At least at a casino, they will cut you off after you've been there a while.

It's all a scam - a marketting ploy that will in turn, make them more money than they already make.  My contention is this.  Why would I pay you more money, and pay the way you want me to, when you can't even make a game correctly in the first place?

Don't buy into this bogus bullcrap people.  It's a scam, and SOE is the mainstream company pushing or this payment model.  Do you ever wonder why?

I have utterly no clue why on earth you would spend money on something like this, but its good advice to those inclined to waste cash on "games" like this.

Thanks for the advice, although what happened to you was unfortunate, it's good to hear advice from someone who experienced it.

I noticed that a lot of players spend a lot on Nx which makes me really wonder if it was worth a try.But to think again, this is just a game.

The micro transaction system is a very successful way to make money out of free to play games, with appealing additions that enhance your game play, or avatar items with unique looks. It attracts a lot of ppl to spend huge amounts of money on them.

I never saw a point of spending real money on free games, If i can play fine for free, then I better use my money on something else.

lol i knew it and nice story

yeah actually im a big fan of this game. but i agree not to spend some money here. its not worth anything.

no way im gonna spend money with this crap

Hmmmm , I guess U R wrong ,

we are making money to spend on what we like ,

Games have it's fan ,

I was playing SRO , & I spent more than what any body can Imagine , Just to buy the best weapon on the game's history ,

we are making money , Just to use it for fun

Like buying Cars ,

U can buy a Bughaty , Or muzzaraty or even Bently , to have fun of being Rich , yeahh , I am wid U , Bughaty's motor is 12000 CC , WOWW , >> U still can't feel it cuz of the speed caps ,limits & laws of the government , Safety & respect ,

so , why would a guy buy a car for millions & zillions , when he really knows that it doesn't worth it ,

It's a concept , I spend money on useless games for fun :D money made for fun already

Originally posted by xXHuBBaZXx

Hmmmm , I guess U R wrong ,

we are making money to spend on what we like ,

Games have it's fan ,

I was playing SRO , & I spent more than what any body can Imagine , Just to buy the best weapon on the game's history ,

 

we are making money , Just to use it for fun

Like buying Cars ,

U can buy a Bughaty , Or muzzaraty or even Bently , to have fun of being Rich , yeahh , I am wid U , Bughaty's motor is 12000 CC , WOWW , >> U still can't feel it cuz of the speed caps ,limits & laws of the government , Safety & respect ,

 

so , why would a guy buy a car for millions & zillions , when he really knows that it doesn't worth it ,

It's a concept , I spend money on useless games for fun :D money made for fun already

This was probably more fun to translate/comprehend then playing maplestory at all.

Wow people are still playing this game?  I did for two years and then moved on to LOTRO and now AION (yes we have 3d games now).  AION is simply light years beyond MS. 

 I don't even spend cash on better actually 3d mmorpgs i am a cheapskate cause i am broke *cough 14 cough* plus i think the game is even any good sure maybe a little kid but it is just too repetitive i don't mind grinding it is just that everything is the same to me in that game i quit very quickly.

The day other mmo's decide to do the whole micro-transaction thing is the day I quit playing MMO's entirely.  !4.99 a month is enough, greedy bastards

i agree too much

 If you can't enjoy this game for free it's because the game is boring.  I wouldn't spend money trying to make it better.  Giving away all of your items to someone who wants them, and permanently leaving the game, feels a lot better.

Alright I think we ALL know, that the company has to make money somehow. Maplestory just like everyother Asain MMO uses mirco transactions to collect money. Maplestory doesn't sell the player swords or items of the nature. They sell comesmetics and other items the give users a slight leg up. Compared to alot of cash shops; maplestory's is fair and to an extent, reasonable. Now you say that some kid has accsess to their parent's credit card, they could just as easily buy a game and set up subsrciption as they could pay for some 5 micro-transaction. Except the game and the subscription would cost a bit more. Also the difference between a casino and Maplestory is; 20 bucks may only buy 20 seconds in casino but 20 bucks in maplestory cannot win you 20,000 $

It's no wonder that careless people spent a lot of money on some "game".

When you use a credit card instead of cash, there's no feeling of paying. Like, when take a piece of paper out of your wallet and give it to someone, you know there's one piece of paper less, you've lost it. When you shop online, you just press a button and nothing happens to you, you don't lose anything, the only change is your bank account log shows a different number.

If you spent a lot of cash, you see there's nothing much left in your wallet, and you might stop. When using a credit card, there's only a number changing somewhere.

That's why people spent so much, and every game developer out there knows about the trick.

This post has bothered me for sometimes ive read it a couple times on the forums and i just see as a complete troll post because as in all things companys want your money. Its like me saying Mcdonalds made me fat because they made their hamburgers tasty no I made myself fat because I chose to eat thier hamburgers. You chose to spend your money on this game self control is a virtue you need learn at some point in your and at least it was with someone minor like spending to much on game instead of having a serious gambling problem later on. However, you posting on a forum and getting a game "bad" press for you own weakness is a trash move. You can experience all of maplestory for free cash shop helps but me and my friends played for free a very long time with no real want to pay real money for the game so we didnt. If you dont want to pay for exp scrolls you can grind monster carnivals. Also with the new big bang expansion grinding isnt nearly as much of an issue. The game is addicted as most good games are but they do not force you to buy nx cash to play their game i would like to appluad nexon for their cash shops i think they are mostly cosmetic or exp based which i have no problem with if someone wants to have better hair than me they can go ahead and spend 10 bucks and get it.

Originally posted by avalon1000

Wow people are still playing this game?  I did for two years and then moved on to LOTRO and now AION (yes we have 3d games now).  AION is simply light years beyond MS. 

That is a ridiculous statement. Different audience, not everyone likes 3d.