General

Helpinglys Rant

Hi guys, my name is Helpingly (ign: Verdancy) from Bera. For those of you who don’t know me, I am that random guy who always posts the helpful tips on the story section of Basilmarket. However, where I help doesn’t end there, I try helping people anywhere that is needed on Basil and in the game. I help not for fame, but because I get a satisfaction from knowing that I made someone’s day a little easier, even if some of my tips are random and not (gasp) the MOST helpful or relevant. Anyways, I am writing this to address an issue that I’ve noticed; it is by no means a recent revelation, but I’m bored and just felt like addressing this now. So if you would, please bear with me on my rant.
It is no secret that this game is no longer in its glory days. As Maplers get stronger and stronger, people who are new to the game just become more discouraged play. The majority of people who play this game at the moment have been playing for years, or played in the past and are just coming back to relive their childhoods. Very rarely do I meet a person who is new to the game, it’s always just people who come back after a hiatus and just need a little help learning the ropes. I think this is a direct result of the community of this game. Sure, we are super close to those people we are close to, but when it comes to people who aren’t necessarily our �"friends” we tend to ignore them. This game has become so fixated on making oneself stronger that the community aspect that was prevalent in the old Maplestory died. No longer was working as a team necessary to defeat something (Ursus doesn’t count because nobody attempts him), and we often blame Nexon, saying that they are the ones who ruined the game and thus the community. However, we have to keep in mind that we are the ones who asked for this, the players wanted stronger classes, the players demanded higher damage, the players started to choose their numbers and stats over getting to actually know people and build a friendly community.

In a thread earlier today, someone recommended that someone not play the game because the community was �"dead”. This is far from the truth. As long as you take the time to get to know people, and not just isolate yourself around powerful friends, you’ll always have people to play the game with. I log on everyday and always have someone to talk to if necessary; sure there aren’t that many players anymore, but that hardly means that the game is dead. As long as we the players continue to play, there will always be a community, and thus a beating heart in Maplestory. Also, as someone else pointed out, people complain about the �"inactivity of the game” yet every time people coming back from a hiatus ask about the status of the game, hungry sharks always come and tell them off, warning them that there really is no more �"game” to get back to. To me this is nothing but counterintuitive, and the people who constantly spam and complain about the status of the game are just trying to jump onto some nonexistent bandwagon of typical responses in order to sound knowledgeable. If you want the game to get better, you have to learn how to accept people.
Now, if you have read it this far, I must congratulate you, for now you have reached the meat of my argument. After reading the preceding paragraphs, you may be asking yourself �"what was the point of all that?”. Well, that is precisely what I plan to discuss. I believe that the solution to the community’s problems is simple: we need to help people out. As I mentioned before, the players nowadays are typically too busy trying to make themselves stronger instead of playing the game for fun. Half of the threads on this site are just people asking what classes are �"stronger”, and we flame @wall for this, but the truth is he is right; you should play the class that you like. Before I digress further, let me return to the topic of helping others. I believe we should all have a new goal for ourselves, and that is help at least one person out a day, whether it be in the game, on Basilmarket, or through the story section. The size of the deed doesn’t matter, it could be as simple as giving someone some pots/mesos, or drastic as giving them a free hellux carry for the gollux coins; either way, I believe that it is imperative that we start this trend. However, simply helping people isn’t enough; it is easy for someone to just help one of their friends, and be done with it. No, there must be a catch, something more than simply just �"helping”, even though that within itself is a lot. If we seriously want to fix this community, we can kill multiple birds with one stone: help somebody, but the catch is that this person has to be someone that you do not know. Unfortunately, yes that means that sometimes you have to go out of your way to find someone to help, but this is good, for it means that now people will actively be searching for ways to help others, and thus, at least a little, revitalize the community that we all miss.

Now, just because we are helping people does not mean that you have to maintain an arrogant or superior attitude towards those that you help. If someone is not appreciative of the help that they received, that is their loss, and you have to be above them. Simply smile, say that they are welcome and move on; you don’t even have to see them ever again, the point is that you tried. Yes, there are some toxic people out there who hide behind their computer screens pretending to be tough, but arguing back to them only adds to the toxicity of the entire community; instead, be the cure and do not try to instigate fights.

All the time I see people wasting their nx on smega wars. They do this to flaunt their power and wealth, all over a discussion that could easily be done in the maple chat system. The mesos they wasted on a smega the majority of people don’t care about could’ve gone to helping a returning player get some gear or potions. The people who waste smegas in such a way are like rich people throwing their money everywhere; it’s an utter waste of resources.

Remember this, just because you have a high range does not mean that you are better than those who don’t. If you do have a high range, prove to yourself that you are a good person, help out those who are not as strong as you, doing so will show them that not all �"strong” people are arrogant snobs. We can break the stereotypes of this game as long as we try our best, and the first step of this is helping others out. Please, spread the word, start a chain of helping so that the community can improve overall. Just because someone says a comment that you don’t agree with, don’t flame them and call them an idiot, instead, calmly state your differing opinion. Not only does this solve the problem of fighting, but it also makes you look like a better person.

Please join my on my crusade to help our community (and its members), and I hope you have a nice day.

Btw, thanks for all of you who decided to read that entire thing; sorry it came out longer than I expected it would be (that's what she said).

March 3, 2016

54 Comments • Newest first

Helpingly

@galbatore:

I'm sure EMS sounds nice! Good job realizing your mistake and trying to maintain a positive community! I've been trying to do some helping on my end too, but with all of the school and stuff that I've had recently, it's become a lot harder for me to do this.
Have fun in EMS and thanks for the story! Sadly, I doubt anymore Pianus exist over here anymore.

Reply March 4, 2016
Galbatore

I just feel lucky that my server's blessed with such a compact, but lovely community. I try to contribute to that where I can - I think most would say I'm a good gee-upper for Demethos' conversations, if nothing else - but it can be easy to be a jerk on a game without even intending it, by virtue of ignorance and thick-headedness if nothing else.
I mean, very briefly: I've said to Hell with Level 200, instead, I'm going to collect 200 Pianus miniatures! After all, in DemeEMS he's almost always free - I loved farming him for EXP and Mesos back when I was new to the server, now I fight him for fun and for Miniatures. But over the past week or so, someone'd been one step ahead at me with all points, leaving me with no damn fishes to kill. I was quarter-jokingly fuming, thinking it'd likely be one of my friends playing a bit of a trick on me - they all know I hunt it.

Then I head to Pianus earlier than usual, run into the cave CC1... straight into the elusive Pianus killer! In disbelief with my luck, I quickly CCed and gleefully wiped out the full spawn before they'd figured what I was up to (she headed to CC14 just as I got there, I bounded over to Pianus before she could lay a finger). I was ecstatic.

Well, ecstatic until I realised that I'd just deprived some low-level solo Demethosian whom (unusually) wasn't known at all to the community of at least a couple levels and a few million mesos. Too obsessed with taking down 'my' Pianus' to use my common sense, and what a charming welcome to Demethos courtesy of me!
Lesson learned. I've been checking their usertag every once in a while, next time I see them online I'll apologise and help them out with a few things by way of recompense.

Anyways, that was a bit of a ramble by me. My point is, all the best with this grand ol' iniative. I'll try my best to play it in my home server; too, but it feels we're already quite near fortunately.

Reply March 4, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@xfallingdreams: Yeah, people are like this in all worlds, not just Windia. It's all about meeting the right people, and the only way for one to meet the right people is if everyone maintains a friendly attitude, and if they make it a goal to try to help others.

Reply March 4, 2016 - edited
xfallingdreams

If people were like this in Windia. I do admit that if you meet the right people, they help you but after coming back from a break, I feel like the entire community of Windia changed. Rip.

Reply March 4, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@potatoelg: Feel free to buddy me if you want

also, if you are considering Bera in the long term, you should consider joining the UNITY alliance. We are all cool an we're all very helpful. Just tell me if you're interested.

Reply March 4, 2016 - edited
PotatoeLG

bera ! here i come !

Reply March 4, 2016 - edited
rixworkwix

i try to help a lot of people in maple. il give them all the info they need il give them mesos and il buy them cra. not much but it goes a long way for them. my buddy list is mostly people who i met months ago and i forgot about but i told them any time you have question wisp me and il do my best to help. if i dont respond that means im afk dont worry you are not annoying me is what i tell them. i get probably 3 wisps a week and i help. always tell the people i help "happy mapling" and for them to help someone else when they can because thats what keeps this game fun for most. there is an extremly unfair damage curve along the way. you can get yourself to 1m range without spending money and with hyper stats maybe 1.3m depending on class but you will not be able to beat cvell without putting in money. we are also at that point where they cant really change the game now without making it unfair for everyone who did put in money

Reply March 4, 2016 - edited
PotatoeLG

There are some Other heroes out there i guess, SAVE THE GAME !

Reply March 4, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@liteprotoss: Oh dang, I never knew you had a Basil. o-o

But yeah, you and your 2m-2m should help out nubs like me.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
liteprotoss

Kudos Steve. Will try to help more noobies.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@highqualityz: I have no clue. You could try messaging him on Basil using the messaging system, but other than that I have no real clue. Try checking the official forum out to see if you can find anything.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
highqualityz

@helpingly: not only that, when ms came out i was "a young child" too, yet ms was the most apealing game of all BECAUSE the community was great, it was simple and challenging. If i grind alone now i get bored. But its strange that if a friend grinda with me, even if we don't talk, i have alot more fun. This just comes to show how its important to make friends and play together. Not to forget before, the game was more Pq based then anything till high lvls. Boss required huge parties witch made it fun (im talking to @dliu456 btw).
Also helpingly, do you know of anyway i can directly contact the CM? I have something to ask him.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@dliu456: Although I respect your generalization of children in this way, I have to disagree with you.
http://www.basilmarket.com/How-old-are-you-Thread-b5EKG

According to this small sampling of people, a lot of the people who play the game are actually young adults. The youngest I saw was 16, but for the most part people who play this game now are generally much older than the age where they need to "beg, cry, and flail around in order to get their parents to buy it for them".

Had the age demographic reflected a younger audience, I would have to agree with you.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
DLiu456

Gotta also realize that the players of the old days have grown up and don't play as often if at all anymore and Nexon's been trying to appease to the younger children because they're the target audience for almost every game no matter what the age rating is. Kids are easily swindled and spend their parents' money and that's what companies want. It is much more difficult to persuade an adult than it is to have a child want the product in which they will beg, cry, and flail around in order to get their parents to buy it for them because they're rotten, spoiled brats. It's also not just the community in Maple - there are other games whose communities make Maple's community look like a godsend. Although you have good intentions, with the current generation of kids, changing the community for the better will be a struggle and may be impossible.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@joshua418: No problem. You're from a different server from me, so hopefully you can have some influence over in Scania.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
joshua418

@helpingly Wow I can verily agree with you in that. Thanks for a nice thread

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@highqualityz: Couldn't agree more. When I saw he made a basil, a major outlet for players to communicate their thoughts, I was extremely pleased.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
ImaClubYou

Great thread. Needa read more of it later

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@highqualityz: The CM is actually trying his best to connect with the maple community. I mean, never before has a CM made a basil account that is semi-active that he can use to communicate with the players. Hopefully @kthxbainao can see this.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
highqualityz

@helpingly: i wish there was a way for nexon to hear us "make the game great again" and how to do it. Isn't the CM suppose to be that Voice?

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
carlosdp

I've been guild hopping just to find a guild full of nubs to help take on boss runs :C its difficult

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@rokani: yeah, advice is the thing I'm most inclined to give as well.

@senopai: Yeah. Good luck on your end.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Rokani

We need a crusade for this now? I never give people meso's, that's like that phrase "teach man to fish blah blah blah" lol however every week or so I'll have someone chat with me asking for advice. Sadly most quit after a short time, of the few who do keep playing I find they start to help others with some advice, so that whole daunting "but there is 100 more for each!" could eventually fix itself.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Senopai

feel the same way, i try to help new and or returning players by pointing them in the right direction (giving them meso (i always give at least 10m, more when i can afford it), tell them how stuff work and tips) to try and make em stay, sometimes i buddy them if they ask to do so, and although it works, most of the time they slowly become inactive which sorta sucks, but yeah we can only try and hope :x

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
supmanlol

u suck

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@stoker: Yes I was referring to you. lol

@aeraxis: Yeah the task may seem daunting, but I figured that it was sort of like a train. You help one person and they go help someone else. Impractical? Maybe. But I'm willing to give it a shot.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Decensy

helpingly is very helpful
+1

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Aeraxis

@helpingly: I don't disagree on that front, as i've stated in my post (or maybe that was my first rendition of it, I don't remember what exactly I wrote in that one), I'm all for making someone's day a little bit easier by small gestures, whether it be carrying people through a boss, giving people free CRA, or just by giving advice.

It's just that for every person you help, there's a hundred more in the back that need the exact same thing, and it's just discouraging when you look at the big picture. Maybe you don't feel that way, and it's perfectly fine, I'm just giving my thoughts. That's why I said in order to help everyone, you need to have a lot of power yourself, and even with a large amount of resources, you still won't be able to help everyone. The world is just too big, and everyone has their own issues to worry about to worry about others as well.

That's my point, sorry if I didn't get it out clearly.

And thanks with that link, though I use Firefox and not Chrome, and though there's probably an Add-on that does a similar job, usually I don't post things this long on basil, today was an exception, but again, thanks nonetheless. =)

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
uwotm9

@helpingly: bera's got a lot of pro legendary king godly people who would dump over 100 dollars in a smega fight and item smegas on their 30% items as if it's a brand new ferrari
i would just let this burn because come on, it's maplestory, it is never a community important enough to get fixed, there was never any need to pour an ounce of energy into this

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Firebolt

<3. I don't play this game enough to comment but I fully support it. Maple's community has been pretty ish for a long time, probably due to the type of game that it is. Your goal seems to be a bit too idealistic but the sentiment is on the right track. I'll be forever hanging around the fashion section for anyone who needs advice.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@muk96: Of course, but this thread was specifically designed to address an in game issue that I found.

The more helpful you are in all aspects of your life, the happier you'll be.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@joblessjim: Yeah, I can't deny that, that is human nature. But as cliche as it sounds, I hope that we can get a "with great power comes great responsibility" complex going on around the community.
If we can get a few strong people make it look cool to help people and not come off as arrogant, I'm sure others will follow suit.

@rtyu: It's fine that you don't wanna join; it's the fact that you agree that helps!

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
joblessjim

@helpingly: To be fair though, the driving factor that leads people to act arrogant as a result of having higher damage ranges is a result of some underlying superiority/inferiority complex. And that complex, in some, not all cases, is usually the driving force that causes them to strive for the higher damage ranges to begin with.
So what I'm getting at here is, the whole reason a lot of them have the damage range to begin with is because they want to feel stronger/better than other people. Whether it be for competitive reasons, or simply just to compensate for something. And if this is the case, the arrogance goes hand in hand and cannot be abolished.
I'm not saying all people with high damages go for them for this exact reason, but those who act like trashy individuals/think they are better than everyone else, have high damage ranges so they CAN act that way towards other people.
That was probably their goal from the start, get better than everyone else so they can talk down to others.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@aeraxis: You have to keep in mind that when I refer to helping a person a day, I'm not talking about anything like donating half of your mesos to them, that is something you can share with a close friend.

The types of acts I am trying to highlight are smaller acts, one could argue, gestures of kindness. For example, letting someone come along with you for a boss that they can't solo, or giving some pots to a person who doesn't have any mesos or left them on another character. I think it is these small steps that will ultimately improve the community as a whole.
I do agree with you though. I too have a certain extent to which I am wiling to give, that's human nature. But just as you probably wouldn't mind giving a couple cents to some random person in line, I'm asking people to do the same in Maplestory.

Also, I recommend that you get this: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lazarus-form-recovery/loljledaigphbcpfhfmgopdkppkifgno

It'll allow you to save long docs so that you don't lose it all when you type something long.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Aeraxis

@helpingly: Ugh, I just typed a post that was about as big as your OP, and I forgot basil likes to time out when typing long posts and forgot to copy it. Let's see if I can reproduce it on take two...

I apologize for the length, but this topic is something that means a lot to me, so there's quite a bit I want to say.

First off, I want to say that for a long time, I've tried to adhere to your sentiments, I've helped a lot of people whenever I could, within reason of course, and I've made some of my closest friends ingame that way, one of which from the simple act of kindness such as giving someone a few mil for pots.

Though now, I've grown a bit jaded and cynical: I can see why most people don't give out their hard earned cash to random strangers.

That isn't to say that people don't help others, but in the majority of the time, people tend to give assistance to others who they're already connected with, such as a friend, alliance-mate or a friend of one of their friends.

It's easy to understand why, it's the same reason you wouldn't give money to a homeless person (well, most wouldn't, I'd say), but you might give a close friend a few thousand if they were in debt.

I feel that there's just too many people in this world to worry about, on top of your own life's troubles.
I think that in order for you to help everyone you possibly can, the only way for someone to do that is if they had a vast amount of resources. Most people do not, in my opinion.

It would be nice if society adhered to your idealizations, but the world just doesn't work that way, and I consider myself a very optimistic person, but it's just the cold hard truth.

Now, I'm not saying that people are selfish and never care about others if it doesn't benefit themselves. That's just headed into the extremes. All I'm saying is, this is just how our society works, it just can't be changed that easily, as much as we'd hope it would.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@uwotm9: Perhaps I should've been more specific. Although we can't fix the game, we can attempt to fix the community. You're from Bera, please take me up on my offer. @ericmart, you too.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
uwotm9

not our job to make the game great again, let the neckbeards feel superior about their pixel fame

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@raphie: Was I finally helpful in your eyes? <3

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@joblessjim: After reading through my post, I do agree that I came out like that. My main beef was the fact that so many people are hypocritical and try to come off as arrogant just because they are "stronger" than the average, and I believe that as a community we can do a lot to fix it.
However, I do agree with you that we can not leave this responsibility solely upon the community. There have been many mistakes made by the devs that I have overlooked in my text, and you have pointed them out. However, I think a more active community that follows the "helping" principle will lead to a stronger community that will be more seriously taken by Nexon. I know that this seems improbable, but a guy can dream right? I feel like Nexon typically ignores its palyers because we are too busy complaining all the time. I totally agree with you; thanks for your insight!
@highqualityz: As a member of Reboot server, this really does apply to you. The lack of trade function makes it so that one of the only ways that you can help people (other than giving some advice) is by providing help during runs, and this alone is really helpful for those who are not strong enough. Thanks for taking the time to read at least some of it!

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
highqualityz

@helpingly: i will support this. I have to be honest, i didn't ready the hole thing but i got the point. I hope the game becomes what it used to. It has SO much potential but, idk man. I also help as much as i can on maple i give free carries when i can. Feels great.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
joblessjim

@helpingly I'm all for your idea of helping people. I think it's a great thing to do when at every chance you can. But I strongly dislike the fact that we as players have to fix an issue that was brought about due to negligence of the devs.

We have such high rates of inactivity due to the course of action that nexon has taken in trying to make the game "better." And the fact that people have devolved into the state that they have in terms of social interaction is yet again a direct result of nexon trying to gear the game towards those who have the bigger wallets, and louder voices.
Instead of being responsible and making decent long term decisions, they chose to satisfy the "majorities" wishes for certain aspects of the game to be changed. Most notably, more damage, more solo, less interaction.
But you can't blame the community for not knowing what they truly want, because it is human nature to want what we don't have. We never think of the repercussions that follow as a result of achieving what we want. In this case, higher damage ranges and solo content resulting in a less new player friendly game environment, and pro anti social atmosphere.

So while i do agree that helping people out is a great idea, and no doubt can lead to some nice result, I don't agree that the burden of fixing the game should rely on us. Nor do i think that your ideas would bypass the greater flaws that turn people away from the game. If anything it's more so a band-aid fix. You can help a person over and over, but it should not be our responsibility to do so to keep them playing the game.
The game itself should be inherently fun, and that should be the driving factor that keeps people playing the game. The game should encourage social interactions rather than allowing a stigma to build up and result in the aforementioned issues. The core problem that needs to be addressed is the state of the game, and from there on it's the community that will improve as a result.

Like i said, I like your ideas, and I agree 100% that the community can help shape itself to a great degree. But Realistically speaking something has to change, before we the player base can begin to change.
It's all about the environment that shapes and dictates the actions of those who are in it.

And if I missed the bigger picture of your post, please point it out to me. For the most part I interpreted it as we are the problem, and we should fix ourselves. So that's kinda the mindset i went in with while typing this out.

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
audio

i don't make sincere posts on this website very often, but real talk i think this is a kind and noble sentiment and although you're obviously not gonna get this on global news outlets, i'd consider it a success if it manages to change even just one person's outlook on their treatment of others. the world could use more people like you

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
markred626

I heard you were ashleyattack male version!

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
Helpingly

@wall: Although many people call you a troll, I gotta hand it to you man, you're pretty dang helpful. Thanks <3

Reply March 3, 2016 - edited
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