MapleStory is also a masterpiece.
The development of online games in China has been brilliant, and there is one game that holds many stories for many players born in the 80s and 90s. This game may be completely unfamiliar to those born in the 2000s, but for players born in the 80s and 90s, it is a symbol of their youth and even childhood.
That's MapleStory Online.
As a side-scrolling RPG online game, MapleStory can almost be said to have reached the pinnacle of this type of game. Even now, there are very few online games of the same type that surpass it.
At its peak, MapleStory was played by more than half of the people in internet cafes, and Shanda made a fortune again, following the success of Legend of Mir.
Besides offering an addictive combat experience, the game's main appeal lies in the meticulously crafted and impressive maps.
To give a simple example, you might experience the fear of being dominated by an armored boar while leveling up on the Pig Coast, the feeling of helping Aiwen find her glass slipper while listening to beautiful melodies in the Magic Forest, the lonely yet leisurely mood of watching the sunset in the abandoned city, the feeling of hunting green mushrooms in Archer Village, and the feeling of finding fire boars in Warrior's Village.
Or perhaps back then, when you didn't have any money, you would travel from Pearl Harbor through the Nien Forest to the abandoned city, dodging dangling pigs and various mushrooms along the way.
Does a picture immediately come to mind?
The charm of this game lies precisely in the fact that even if you haven't played it for many years, you can still immediately recall all sorts of interesting scenes when you mention it.
Most people were probably students at that time, and many didn't even have a ticket to Sky City. They would press the kneeling button and beg for money everywhere. On the ship to Sky City, they were both curious and afraid of the outside world. Sometimes they would secretly peek out from the deck, and if they saw the bat demon, they would quickly run back.
There were even many people who, back then, would tell their parents they were going to stay at a friend's house so they could play Zakum all night. They would then go to a small internet cafe with their friends and play all night for just seven or eight yuan. If they managed to get a Zakum item, they would be happy for days.
As one of the few side-scrolling MMORPGs at the time, MapleStory, despite being a side-scrolling game, offered players a level of exploration and gameplay experience that many 3D games could not match.
However, this wonderful period only lasted before the Big Bang. Before the Big Bang, MapleStory was the pinnacle of side-scrolling RPG online games. But after the Big Bang, the game's stats collapsed, the classes became homogenized, and the game lost its sense of adventure, ultimately becoming a pure grind game, and a grind game with collapsed stats at that.
Besides the major changes, I personally believe that the rampant use of cheats and gold farming operations also contributed to MapleStory's rapid decline.
Let's talk about cheats first. When I saw a friend using a monster-attracting cheat that allowed him to stand still and have monsters continuously drawn to him, and his account hadn't even been banned, the game's appeal instantly diminished by more than half.
The studio further fueled this cheating behavior. After the numerical values collapsed, the economic system and items collapsed, and the entire game had reached a point where its remaining value had been squeezed dry.
In fact, if Shanda had put in a little more effort, MapleStory might not have ended up like this. It might even have become what Dungeon Fighter Online is to Tencent. The charm of this game is no less than any other game.
Chen Yidan handed the project proposals for the two games to Shen Fang, who glanced at them briefly.
"Brother Chen, I trust your judgment. We must secure the distribution rights for these two games."
Chen Yidan smiled and poured Shen Fang a cup of tea: "Mr. Shen, aren't you going to take a look?"
Shen Fang waved his hand: "If you doubt someone, don't use them; if you use someone, don't doubt them. Brother Chen, you're a professional. There's no need for us brothers to say these things. As the head of Penguin Games, you have the final say. Little Ma and I will fully support you."
Chen Yidan laughed: "The agency fees for these two games are quite substantial. I was worried that Xiao Ma wouldn't agree, but now that you've spoken, I feel reassured."
"What's there to disagree about? How much is the agency fee? What Tencent lacks most right now isn't money, but blockbuster products. Fatty Ding has already secured the agency rights for the wildly popular World of Warcraft overseas, plus Fantasy Westward Journey, a money-making machine. As the leading company, Tencent can't fall behind. Brother Chen, send more people out to look around. If there are any good games, we'll buy them."
"How's the game development team recruitment going?"
"It went relatively smoothly, but it's an international job, which is still a bit difficult for foreigners. I'm considering whether to have our domestic game teams come here to learn."
"You decide what to do. Our game development team at Tencent needs to be trained quickly. After all, while relying on distribution can quickly absorb funds, we still need to be strong ourselves. If you have a good game team, just throw money at them! Tencent's game development team must become one of the world's top tier. Only in this way can Tencent's path be stable. This is our foundation."
Chen Yidan nodded: "I know how to do this. Give me three years, and I will definitely build the team up!"
"But seriously, Fatty Ding's got some skills. I heard NetEase's stock price has risen to $32 a share. Not long ago, Fatty Ding was showing off in the group chat. Mr. Chen, shouldn't you teach this fatso a lesson? He's so arrogant!!! Now he can go out and pick up more than 20 girls by himself, damn it!!!"
Shen Fang was overjoyed. This was the fat guy's only hobby. But one should enjoy life while one can. Ding Pangzi had suffered so much before, so it was normal for him to show off a little now. After all, the fat guy had earned him a lot of US dollars.
"It will be difficult for Tencent to surpass NetEase in the short term. The fat guy now has two powerful weapons, Fantasy Westward Journey and World of Warcraft. If nothing unexpected happens, he will probably become the richest man next year."
"No way??? The richest man???" Chen Yidan, Shen Kun, and Huang Bin were all dumbfounded, especially Huang Bin. Are all the big boss's friends this awesome?! His underling is about to become the richest man!!!
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