MapleStory

MapleStory (Korean: 메이플스토리) is an online computer game first developed by the South Korean company Wizet in 2003. It is a side-scrolling, 2D MMORPG. It is client-based, which means that you must download the software in order to play the game. The software can be downloaded at the official MapleStory website. However, at over 1GB, it is advisable to use a download manager to download the game. MapleStory is completely free to register and play, although there is a "Cash Shop" where players can use real-world money to buy items that aren't available through the in-game currency, Mesos.

Beginners find that the game is not dark or violent, and that the environment is actually a sunny, friendly place with small snails and mushrooms as some of the monsters. Overall, gameplay is fairly simple: attack monsters, gain levels, attack stronger monsters. As players spend time in game level up, they can equip new weapons and clothes, gain more Mesos, and interact with others. Participants can also receive tasks, known as quests, from NPCs (Non Playable Characters) to earn additional rewards. MapleStory is noted for its statistic intensive planning, where one wrong allocation can set your character back a few levels, or infinitely at higher levels (the wrong choice in a skill, for example, can be completely wasted). Fortunately there are Cash Shop items to help undo the damage, but it comes with a price.

In 2009, a mobile spin-off appeared for AT&T devices: MapleStory: Warrior. A version for the Nintendo DS, titled Maple DS, is currently under development. This was originally projected to be released in September 2007 but was not. Maple DS is scheduled to be put on the market in 2010.

Although new players may think that MapleStory is only about leveling up and hunting monsters, MapleStory is also a place to socialize. With the Maple Messenger, buddy lists, guilds, and family system, MapleStory is a typical MMORPG, where users don't always have to hunt monsters and level up; they can take a break and chat whenever and to whomever they like.

Versions
Several versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions, and each is published by various companies. There are localized versions for South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, South East Asia, Europe, Brazil, and Vietnam. All other players play on the Global version. Within each version are various "worlds" that characters exist in. Players may create up to fifteen characters in each world. All players are only given 3 slots in each world, to have another character, players must buy a character slot from the Cash Shop. In most versions, characters, items, and mesos are not transferable between worlds, but Global was the first version that added the ability to transfer characters between worlds with a Cash Shop item.

The following is a list of the game versions, their publishers, and their region(s) of interest: