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Hot damn. When I click on Maple Story, I see a pixelated chibi girl whoring herself out to Microsoft. Without IE, I can't even go to an "about" or "screenshots" section and figure out if their game is worth playing. Well, too bad there isn't a single copy of Windows in the building where I am sitting right now. Congratulations, Maple, you've just lost yourself a potential customer.

Since my budget does not include "gaming expenses" in it (games are purchased on a "Yay, we've got some extra money" basis), I only play MMO's that are free to play (such as MapleStory, Fly for Fun, and Space Cowboy Online)

Maybe someday I'll prove that the model works by buying something...

Ok, so this isn't really "ugly", but the way that they designed the website forces you to use Internet Explorer only? That's just down right dirty.

http://www.mapleglobal.com/

Technical reasons, my ass!

http://www.mapleglobal.com/ if anyone wants a quick link... but beware, for here be browser detection and an IE bias.

Also, MapleStory has a halloween quest going, where you kill zombies and ghosts to get candies, which you give to an NPC for a little pumpkin basket, which you can hold like a shield.

Maple Story is free (client and gameplay). However, they are going to have a real-money item shop. This will be for special items. Most regular items can be found or purchased in the regular shops.

There are various sites/servers depending on where you live. For everywhere outside of Asia, the site is http://www.mapleglobal.com
It is unique in the fact that its a 2D side-scolling MMORPG.

There's this game, which is for PC called Maple Story. Every girl I know is playing this right now, and enjoying it. It's a traditional RPG, but a sidescroller where you walk around and beat up cute little monsters for experience points. You can become a magician, a warrior, a thief, or a bowman to begin with. It's very cute, and addictive.

Another big one is Gunbound, in which you pick a little robot, and use angles, force, and wind to shoot other little robots down. Pretty childish and "cute" also.

Both are online games which came out of Korean based companies.

There are two points that I would like to make: 1) As some have mentioned, not all games have monthly/yearly charges that are required to play. Games such as http://mapleglobal.com/ and http://gunbound.net/ opperate on a differnent model. The game is totally free to play (you don't even have to pay for the game itself, you download it). However, if you want spiffy enhancements (such as cool outfits and weapons) then you have to pay a one time fee for that item (like going to a store). This model is very effective for low bandwidth games like gunbound and maple story (low bandwidth compared to, say, WoW). Because you don't have to pay, you CAN play only on weekends when you have free time without feeling you aren't getting your monies worth. 2) Some games are experimenting with the idea that although you the player don't play 24/7 your character does. In http://atriarch.com/ your character stays in even while you log out. While you aren't playing your character does whatever tasks you want it to while you are gone (like practicing skills). This allows people who don't play very much to keep up with players who do play alot. Granted, players who actually play level up faster then players who let thier AI do it for them but they don't fall nearly as far behind.

I recommend Maple Story. It's free, fun, addicting, and great to play with friends. :) Note: If you're ok with 2D side-scrolling games, that is~

i personally like the MMORPG maplestory, yes, it's a silly name. the site is here one thing i like about it, is that it is free, at least to play. at present, it's in public beta for the global version, but if you understand chinese, japanese, or korean, there is a release version of those languages already, which can be found here as i said, the game is free to play, but they have a creative idea on making money off it. in the game, there's something called the cash shop. there, you pay real world cash to be able to get unique items. go ahead and give it a try. you've got nothing to lose, except maybe time, as this game is addictive.