Hey all, I'm sure there's a sentiment that some of the smaller communities reddit had will take time to repopulate and gather traffic in the Fediverse. I was curious if Games still served as a melting pot for game talk, and I wanted to chat a bit here to see if I can reignite some discussion about MMO content.

Exploring this new little bubble of internet has me wondering how people feel about how online games have developed over time. Early 2000's MMOs definitely had a special feeling to them, with lots of interaction between players, more obtuse(and grindy) challenges to overcome, but definitely a feeling of reward for figuring these things out or brute forcing your way through.

I'm wondering if eventually the social dynamic of MMOs will be reexplored. Parts of the game like leveling are definitely designed to be less impactful in the scope of overall gameplay, and cooperating between players is mainly focused on teamwork in the final endgame instances. I remember playing MapleStory, games like FFXI, etc where party questing during the leveling processes were huge and added a unique feeling to the social atmosphere and accomplishment at earlier levels.

If you have any thoughts about games you think still hit cooperative notes well, what you miss or don't miss about older design vs newer ones, or just have any anecdotes in general I'd love to hear it!

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[–] Leilys@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I've played MapleStory on and off for about 15 years now. I do miss when the leveling curve was so ridiculously high there was a lot more enjoyment in a type of "open world" way where you'd set your own goals in the game and that's how you spent your time.

I have lovely memories of my maple "boyfriend" at the time taking me to Florina Beach. Us desperately trying not to die because we weren't going to survive touching the jumping crabs. We ended up pulling our chairs out on a platform, and he'd aggro some crabs so they'd keep jumping up at us. It was pretty romantic, to be honest.

Then there's the ship to Orbis, the free market, the hidden paths along Lith Harbour, the slime tree, heneseys hunting ground, the sleepywood hot springs, the showa town sauna (which was notoriously hard to return from, given the level of the area, but the TOWELS). All places I remember very, very fondly.

It wasn't the way the game was meant to be played, but it's those moments that stick with you. That was in the time when MapleStory was considered more a glorified chat client.

I can still name and place most of the original BGMs, and I still keep up with the latest music (look up studio Necord on YT, they even do versions of songs in different styles!) and it's a fun Easter egg when creators use them in their videos.

I still remember the very kind people who took me along with them, even though I couldn't really type or communicate digitally at that age, and was basically a melee magician. Wish it was easier to keep in touch with them back in the 2000s.

Maplestory is more functionally a game today than it used to be, but that's also why I feel like it's lost its magic.

As I've grown up, the repetition of the grind and dailies ate into my dwindling amount of free time. With ADHD, dailies sometimes feels akin to torture you endure to get a shiny new damage skin or event cash item, and I was stuck in that event cycle loop for a while before I quit again around last year.

I still love MapleStory. The new music they're still putting out (while occasionally a miss) is still really good, and I enjoy that. But I don't think I'll ever grind to 250 and beyond (I was mostly leveling up with level potions before I quit the last time) because it's just not me.

I sort of mourn that, my loss of patience. I've become picky with the games I play, less patient to pick up and learn games that may not suit my stylistic preference.

I've tried some MMOs, a bit of Guild Wars 2, some Archeage 2, Eden Eternal, Eve Online (ok Eve is kinda cool but I'm not smart enough for this game) but I think I'm no longer an MMORPG person :(

I don't have the time to invest in them anymore, and I now prefer singleplayer indie games (because I have no friends, lol).

I also avoid gacha MMORPGs like the plague (Yes, ironic considering MapleStory is often cited as the first gacha game, but to my credit I still have never spent a cent on it), so I've never touched Genshin and games in that vein and risk developing a gacha addiction. A gaming dependency is enough for me.

I know my comment wasn't fully answering what you asked, but thank you (if you've read this far) for letting me indulge in my very fond, even formative memories of MapleStory.

[–] paprika@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Wow, this brought back memories. Thanks for that!

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