The Unbelievable Story of a Gamer: Over 10,000 Hours on a Video Game and What Happened Next

Released in 2003, MapleStory is a free online role-playing game (one of the first of its era) developed by Wizet, a South Korean studio, and which owes its popularity above all to the Korean and Chinese public: very quickly, its influence grew all over the world, with goodies, music videos, comics and even a series lively. Several other games – a sequel and spin-offs – have also seen the light of day, but the fact remains that this first episode remains a very big pillar of video game culture. Still active todayi, by the way.

10,000 hours of play and a goal: level 300

So to speak, its biggest player, nicknamed niru, has been fighting for the title for… a long time. If a precise figure were needed, know that'he spent over ten thousand hours on this title where you have to beat monsters and develop your abilities over time across numerous worlds, governed by different servers. An impressive longevity that he enjoys to illustrate on Twitch and on April 25, it had to reach a historic milestone: reaching level 300. A great first, also highlighted by the studio itself.

The problem is that niru did not achieve its initial objective. No, instead, he stopped at exactly 99.993% of level 299 before strongly criticizing the game's economic system for a good hour, in front of 25,000 viewers live. It's all the more ironic since his stream was promoted by the developers just before.

He points in particular too slow progress – for its part, a rate of progression of approximately 0.13% of a level every two hours – and an “Horrible free game experience and needs improvement right now.” Outch. He pursues :

I'm not advocating that anyone be nerfed, changed for the worse, etc. That's not what it's about. I'm not trying to compare this server to that server. That's not what it's about. I'm not trying to talk about this region versus that region versus that region. That's not what it's about. (…) I probably have the most playtime in this title in general, out of anyone. I know what I'm talking about here, and there are all these misconceptions and weird systems being thrown around here that just don't make any sense. So I'm going to tell you and show you how bad it is and I hope people can finally understand.

After which Niru demolishes, one by one, each of the cogs of the game: the number of servers for certain worlds in particular, which would spread players too thin and harm the vital economy, while certain upgrade items should be exchangeable at all costs when they are not. Overall, it attacks the economic system of the title as well as the store: moreoverremember that last January, the studio was charged with a fine of 8.9 million dollars… for having rigged the lootboxes.

A player out of breath

Another question then naturally arises: had Niru totally planned his rant and not to move to level 300, as initially announced, as a final protest? At one point in the stream, after looking at his XP counter still frozen at 99.9993%, he declares, beside himself:

I'll be honest, I don't even want to level up anymore because of how bad it is. I feel like it's not fair to everyone, so I'm going to level up today for all the other players. I really don't want to play this game after today, I'll be honest, it's not even like I've played it so much for so long that I'm exhausted… I'm not. The more I think about it, the less I want to play the game after today and I won't, until they fix these issues. I'm done with this. It is pathetic.

Then, Niru walks away before returning in front of the camera, without saying a word for a long moment, before releasing his final verdict: no, he won't even pass level 300.

I'm just going to end the stream. I don't really want to play this game or level up anymore. I'm sorry, guys. Thank you all. Sending you lots of love. I'm done with that, I'll come back I don't know when.

One thing is certain: the developers have received quite a cold shower here and for once, it is indeed possible that they will take into consideration the remarks of their number 1 player. Besides, the latter is now playing a very different game on stream: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, on which he plans to spend as much time as necessary until the MappleStory problems are resolved.