Maple Story fan

My kids have been playing Maple Story over the web for quite some times, they are really addicted to it & I do wonder why. So I decided to setup a character in the game (when you can't change them, you join them) & started playing with them (there are 4 of us so we have to take turn to play & each entitled to 40 mins only).


The game can be quite boring sometimes, especially when you don't have a quest to complete or it is too difficult to complete (lol, that's me, how to collect 99 green mushroom caps & 99 bubblings' bubbles). You have to go around Maple island/Victoria island to kill monsters (eg red or blue snails, orange/green/blue cap mushrooms, ribbon pig, slime, etc) to gain experience & after you have attained 100%, your character will be levelled up. You will start as a beginner & you can choose to become a warrior, magician, bowman or thief, once you are trained in certain "profession" you cannot change "job", unlike real life, you can be a warrior today & be a magician the next day. I have trained my character to be a warrior (now level 18, going to level up very soon). It can be quite exciting especially you knew that you are going to level up soon & you can change your weapons to something else (different level can hold different weapons) & as you levelled up you are getting stronger & stronger & you will be able to kill stronger monsters/creatures.

Now I know why they are hooked to it, especially when most of their school mates are also playing this game & it is kind of challenging to see who are of higher level & what kind of weapons you have. You can also "trade" (buy or sell) items that you have collected to others, eg my character is a warrior, I can sell those arrows which I've collected on my way to bowman. So I feel this game is ok for kids to play however I'm surprised Nickson has ever requested to get a Maple cashcard to buy engagement ring so that he (his character in the game) can get married with a girl character in the game. Headache!!!