Friday, March 03, 2006
Maple Story and my Thoughts
I've never really enjoyed 2-d games, but alas, due to unforseen circumstances, namely a viral attack on my computer, I am now unable to open certain applications on my PC. The most unfortunate thing is that my game of choice, jflyff, is listed as ONE of those certain applications. (Doesn't life really like to do this to you at times?) Except for DOD and CS, which I am not particularly euthasiastic about at the moment, I am left with nothing to do save for surfing the forums on the internet and miniclips. Out of desperation, I decided to download the popular game known as Maple Story to relieve my boredom during the school holidays.
Anyway, I fired up the program and created a warrior princess who is, at the moment, level 2x. My classmates, major maple addicts, were instrumental in maintaining my interest in this game. Without their guidance and help, I would probably have sank into a depression which would result in getting my computer kicked repeatedly until it resembled a smoking black box with an accompanying orchestra of scrap metal.
Just for the benefit of those who have not touched Maple Story before: This game is FULL OF KIDS. And I do not mean kids as in immature teenagers. I mean kids as in children who have not yet sat for their PSLE examinations. Now, I'm not a big fan of kill stealing, which is why the first thing with irked me incessantly was the rampant killstealing done by both high level and low level characters. Throughout the 3 days which I spent playing Maple, only ONE person had the courtesy to apologize for kill stealing my monster. ONE. Thats statistically like, 0.0001% of the Maple population. I tell you, I almost cried when I saw that, HOORAY! There is hope for humanity.
Don't get me wrong, Maple story is a simplistic game which, if given enough time, I may be able to grow into it. Its just that the general intelligence of the people whom I have had the misfortune of encountering are basically, lazy and thoughtless babies who are not afraid of admitting it. Since when did Singaporean children degrade into such bumbling imbeciles? (Generalization I know, as long as you know that there are exceptions no matter what.) Some interesting things to note: Maple has 20 channels. Changing between channels takes no more than 5 seconds. Yet, why do I still see people invading my hunting spot, killstealing my monsters and telling me to "change channel pls"? Failure to comply with said kid's instructions will result in a slew of hokkien vulgarities that *LOL* isn't spelt correctly.
Just 15 minutes ago, I was happily murdering piggies when a low level guy started fighting alongside with me. I was pissed that he was killstealing me (as usual) so I moved to the OTHER side. After 5 minutes, he came up with this piece of genius:
Kiddo: Pls cc. Can?
Me: Why don't you do it?
Kiddo: I'm hunting for something.
Me: All channels have the same thing.
Kiddo: ... I like this channel.
Me: Aren't you just being lazy?
Kiddo: yea
Me: You know, in the time you took to type "cc pls" you could have changed channels already.
He stuck around a little bit more and then, realising that I wasn't going to budge, he decided to change channels. Personally, I do not mind changing channels, but why should I for your convenience? I was here first and you can either live with it and stick to your part of the map or change channels. And can't you even spell "change channel" instead of cc? How the hell am I supposed to know what's cc? Curry Chicken? Command Console? In true reflection, the failure of children nowadays to differentiate between internet lingo and proper english language marks the extent in which kids are exposed to the evils of the internet. Yes, the internet can be a great tool for research and information. Yet, akin to a double edged sword, there are also no barriers to pornographic material and bad influences. The internet is to be used responsibly for kids who have the right mindset and parents should take that into account instead of allowing them to indulge in their exorbitant net activities.
I was browsing the Maple story official forums and I came across people saying that young children are spending hundreds of dollars buying ingame items. Needless to say, I am not surprised, just disappointed in the way some people allow their kids to spend money in such a careless manner when they have not even learnt the true value of money. Naturally, these are the kids who will never need to work for a single cent and will grow up with the mindset of a spendthift. I have always disapproved of my aunt buying Maple story and habbo hotel game cards for my young cousins. Thats because I have been through obssessive gaming before and once they reach that stage, they would no longer be interested in school or something more productive other than sitting in front of a box and staring at their decorated 2 dimensional character.
I can sense the gap between the 85/86s and the 87s. Seriously, it is a scary trend to behold. The IT kids. People who grow up looking at computers instead of books and field trips. People whose idea of entertainment is a PC game and not hopscotch and skipping rope. People who are proud of being lazy worms and would rather not eat than to walk to the kitchen and cook themselves a pack of noodles, all the while complaining to their friends about how their maid and their parents are starving them and neglecting their welfare. I don't care whether it is generalization or not, but kids nowadays like to be waited upon. The presence of maids within the households have intensified that kind of reliance on others, so much that it shows, even when I play with these kids on a multiplayer internet game.
"Hey, I know I got here later but I really am too lazy to cc so would you pls do me the favour?" Fuck off.
Part II
Okay I just got off the game again as I was just bumming around looking at the cash shop for the prices. Then, I decided to head off and get some quest item from some insanely hyper bubble looking monsters. So, as I was training, a level 44 wizard came to me and asked me to party him. After much persuasion, I agreed. I didn't know why the heck he wanted to party me because it doesn't make sense and I'm not accustomed to leeching experience points from others. Anyway, player1 who happened to be in that location as well saw our exchange and begged the highbie to train him as well. That dude, being a nice guy, agreed.
So, we set out on "the quest to leech as much exp as possible while doing as little as we could" player1, lets call him brat, wasn't happy with the places that the highbie brought us to. He kept insisting that highbie bring us to other places. So, after walking for god knows how long and going all the way to Ellinia, he finally decided on a satisfactory place. On the way, he kept hurrying us as he had tuition *smirks* and had to afk for 1 hour.
What is the moral of the story? Brat's behaviour is totally appalling. Someone is doing you a favour, the least you could do is to be less demanding about it. They take the kindness that others offer to them for granted and choose to top it off with their own demands as well. This is why I love to antagonize these kids in the game. Sorry, I am so not the kind hearted person who is subjected to your whims. I'm not your maid, nor your poor mother. In the game, I am at the same level as you and the least you could do is to have some semblance of courtesy. Jesus christ, I shudder to think what do foreigners think about Singaporeans when they play Maple. Seriously, it was fucked up in ROSE to have arrogant Singaporeans around, but this is 10 times worse since its kid haven and by the law of sociology, if everyone is doing it, then it must be right. *rolls eyes*
Then again, I must say that there are also nice kiddos around. Kudos to you, you're minority. I have just lost faith in our education system yet against if these are the calibre of children that is being mass produced from the factory of human resources.
Oh btw, guess what? For 1 hour I gained a miserable 3% exp. I blame it not on the highbie but the @&*!^# brat who was being a total asshole. Yaa I'm elitist, sue me.
Part III
Yo! Its me again. Gosh, this MUST be my longest post yet, but who can blame me? I just realized the reason why I keep playing maple now even if I don't really like the game. Its the kids! Thats right, the very people whom I bitch about all day long (today).
Just to share my most recent encounter today. So, I went back to piggieland after dinner, but I really wasn't in the mood to train because I just died. Changing channel didn't yield any results either as piggieland was jam packed with people. Anyway, I happened to change to Channel 13 and I saw that there wasn't anybody on the left side. As I slaughtered my way through the porkypigs, I saw this magician on the other side. Okay, fine, I prepared to change channels after 1 last kill when suddenly, a magic bolt sped its way towards my pig, frying it to a crisp before my very eyes. *WTF?* I tried another pig. Before I could deal the finishing blow, in came another bolt of magic, turning the pig into another cute piece of ham. I walked towards that guy, and gave him the "-__-ll" emoticon. It was then he said the very thing that I'm hypersensitive to: "cc".
Okaay. So, I'm not really in the mood to play anyway, and I was really quite pissed with this little boy. The following conversation ensued:
Boy: cc
Me: I don't care, I'm not really in the mood to level anyway. I think I'll just stay here to antagonize you since you like to ks so much.
Boy: ...
Me: ^_^ *goes about hitting pigs while he ksed all of them*
Boy: Warrior suck! (yeah yeah whatever!)
Me: ^_^ *lalalalas*
Boy: ... *changes channel*
Damn, he gave up too fast. So, I went back to killing piggies, wondering which channel will he be in. But ladies and gentlemen, thats not the end of the show! After about 15 min, here comes kiddo again! Not one to waste any time, I striked up a conversation with him.
Me: hello ^^
Boy: ... *begins killing pigs but makes sure not to ks me*
Me: You're 12 years aren't you, if 93 in your nickname means 1993.
Boy: 13. you?
Me: I'm 21.
Boy: don bluff. (WTF? Since when 21 yr olds can't play this game?)
Me: Want me to show you IC?
Boy: ... Why are you playing this game?
Me: I dunno, cuz I'm bored?
Boy: Are you really 21 years old? o.O
Me: If you choose to believe me then I am. I am 21, do you believe me?
Boy: ya.
Me: ^_^ *lalalas*
Boy: Can I add you as friend?
Me: haha sure.. Here, take this. Make sure that you don't ks others anymore k? *gives him an ore* I'm going off, bye!
Boy: *continues his mindless slaughter of pigs*
Ahh see? Happy ending! I admit I'm a bloody bitch, but seriously, maple is damn boring if your friends are not online and if there are too many damn kids annoying you. I'm not such a bad person afterall right? Okay, I'm still playing the damn game, so there may be part 4. I didn't level at all today! I'm a good girl. *winks*
;I CREATED A SHEEP!
2:12 PM
