The Shame
I am finally old enough to be so comfortable in my own skin that I own all my faults. There are only few things left to which I must shamefully admit to, one of them being my late night addiction to Maple Story.
This began some months ago, when a good friend of mine approached me with a business preposition as a potential investor. For the uninitiated (ie everyone above the age of 15), Maple Story is a free 2D Massive Online Multi-Player RPG from Korea. You control a character, choose its class (Fighter, Rogue, Mage, Archer) and grind up the levels.
I said yes, and have been doing my "market research" most nights ever since. Add to that, I have asked every single patient who is a teen if they play the game, and every single one of them do. Big market.
The graphics are simplistic, the interface easy, and the characters cute. Because the game is a free download, every kid with internet is able to play it. How the company makes money is by distributing Cash Cards to all 7-11 stores, costing $10.50 each. Every card bears a code which when entered, gives a player an amount of virtual cash.
Virtual cash is used to buy accessories like clothes, hats and capes, allowing you to personalize your otherwise generic character. You can change hair colour, hairstyle, eye colour etc. Cash has no effect on how powerful you are whatsoever; it simply affects the way you look.
And kids go crazy lapping it up. The first time I bought a cash-card I sidled furtively into a 7-11 and pretended to dredge the word from the depths of my memory, as if it were wedged there amidst the day's busy schedule by an irritating younger sibling waiting anxiously at home. Yesterday I bought 5 without batting an eyelid.
It usually takes something big to break the chain of compulsive addictions. I can truly say that today I sit here, rid forever of my MS fervour. I have just been scammed by another player into giving her the codes of all 5 cards. Outwitted by a 15 year old Normal Tech girl from Bedok View Sec who has had 20 boyfriends and counting.
I sit here, and marvel. My thoughts oscillate between hunting her down in the dental van so I can maul her gums with a sickle scaler, to how low I have sunk. Thankfully, the latter takes precedence. I have done my part for this game; as to the business aspect of it, I entrust it entirely into the hands of my friend, for the health of my soul.
The cash should start rolling in soon. Now, World Of Warcraft anyone?
This began some months ago, when a good friend of mine approached me with a business preposition as a potential investor. For the uninitiated (ie everyone above the age of 15), Maple Story is a free 2D Massive Online Multi-Player RPG from Korea. You control a character, choose its class (Fighter, Rogue, Mage, Archer) and grind up the levels.
I said yes, and have been doing my "market research" most nights ever since. Add to that, I have asked every single patient who is a teen if they play the game, and every single one of them do. Big market.
The graphics are simplistic, the interface easy, and the characters cute. Because the game is a free download, every kid with internet is able to play it. How the company makes money is by distributing Cash Cards to all 7-11 stores, costing $10.50 each. Every card bears a code which when entered, gives a player an amount of virtual cash.
Virtual cash is used to buy accessories like clothes, hats and capes, allowing you to personalize your otherwise generic character. You can change hair colour, hairstyle, eye colour etc. Cash has no effect on how powerful you are whatsoever; it simply affects the way you look.
And kids go crazy lapping it up. The first time I bought a cash-card I sidled furtively into a 7-11 and pretended to dredge the word from the depths of my memory, as if it were wedged there amidst the day's busy schedule by an irritating younger sibling waiting anxiously at home. Yesterday I bought 5 without batting an eyelid.
It usually takes something big to break the chain of compulsive addictions. I can truly say that today I sit here, rid forever of my MS fervour. I have just been scammed by another player into giving her the codes of all 5 cards. Outwitted by a 15 year old Normal Tech girl from Bedok View Sec who has had 20 boyfriends and counting.
I sit here, and marvel. My thoughts oscillate between hunting her down in the dental van so I can maul her gums with a sickle scaler, to how low I have sunk. Thankfully, the latter takes precedence. I have done my part for this game; as to the business aspect of it, I entrust it entirely into the hands of my friend, for the health of my soul.
The cash should start rolling in soon. Now, World Of Warcraft anyone?