MapleStory

Changes are afoot in the Korean gaming industry in the wake of last month's massive Nexon hack that cost over 13 million MapleStory users their personal information. NCsoft has decided to stop collecting its players' Resident Registration Number (which is a Korean analog to the American Social Security number) due to concerns over privacy issues.

Korean gamers will still need to fork over the number to play NCsoft games, though, according to a report at ThisIsGame.com. Players need only an email and password to register for the PlayNC portal, but the RRN may still be required to verify that new registrants aren't bots, and NCsoft has handed off the collection responsibilities to a third-party agency. "We have acknowledged the importance of personal information for a long time. So we have collected minimum personal information and have asked another agency to do the sensitive information work including the RRN on behalf of us," said an NCsoft official.

ThisIsGame also reports that NHN Hangame has decided to stop collecting personal information, while Nexon and Neowiz are formulating new collection policies.

[UPDATE: All winners have been selected and contacted. Thanks to everyone who entered!]

On the fourth day of giveaways, Nexon gave to me... four pet items!
On the third day of giveaways, Wargaming.net gave to me... three premium years!
On the second day of giveaways, BioWare gave to me... two warring factions!
On the first day of giveaways, Turbine gave to me... a lifetime VIP!

MapleStory fans, your day is here! Nexon is joining the 12 Days of Giveaways event again this year with some fun MapleStory pet packs. Each package contains four items: a permanent pet (either a White Bunny, a Mir, or a Jr. Reaper), a permanent pet equip, pet food, and a pet scroll. We've got 20 of these pet four-packs to hand out to our readers, but that's not all!

If Dragon Nest is more your speed, Nexon has you covered as well! We have four Dragon Nest prize packages, each containing 10 Dragon Eggs. Each egg opens to reveal a random prize -- anything from yellow or black Cupid wings to a Royal Crimson Stallion, and many other possibilities.

If you want to pick up one of these prizes, just enter by leaving a comment to tell us which of these two games is your favorite and why. The entry deadline is tomorrow, December 17th, at noon EST. Check out our contest rules to make sure you're eligible, and best of luck!

Are you ready to solve all of your problems with the application of cannons? Up until now, MapleStory has allowed players to solve maybe a fifth of all your problems via the application of cannons. But the newest character type in the game, the Cannoneer, solves the vast majority of his problems via... well, you can guess. He also makes use of bombs and perhaps the odd aerial bombardment as well, just in case you wanted to diversify your problem-solving skills a bit.

To show off this first update in the Legends patch, we have posted not one, not two, but three videos just past the break. There is, of course, a gameplay trailer for the Cannoneer and a trailer for the patch as a whole. But there's also the "audition" trailer for the Cannoneer as the staff at Nexon tries to decide on the next class to add to the game. Check out the videos just past the break, and get ready to open fire.

[Source: Nexon press release]

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The famously hacked Sony has a sympathetic shoulder this week, as Nexon recently discovered a massive breach that's exposed over 13 million MapleStory player accounts to cyber ne'er-do-wells. Discovered this past Thursday, the breach was solely limited to South Korea, as Nexon hosts separate countries on their own servers.

This means that any South Korean MapleStory player's information is at risk, including user IDs, names, passwords, and residential registration numbers. This information could potentially be stolen and used for a variety of crimes.

While there's been no word whether actual personal information has been stolen, Nexon nevertheless urged these 13+ million subscribers to change their passwords. The company has contacted the police to ask for a formal investigation.

This comes at an unfortunate time for the company, as Nexon is poised to present its IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in December.

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Monogamy isn't in the cards for most MapleStory players, and neither are faithfulness, silver anniversaries or alimony-free lifestyles. You see, MapleStory boasts an incredibly high rate of divorces with its marriage system, as a whopping 75% of players who get married in-game end up getting those unions annulled.

MapleStory's marriage system is fairly popular, with 26,982 such events occurring last year in North America alone. Each marriage costs $25 for the couple, but it seems that the initial investment wasn't enough to keep a majority of the players together for long. Within a year, over 20,000 of those marriages broke up.

Due to the high divorce rate -- much higher than the real-world version by far -- Nexon investigated individual stories of in-game divorce trying to figure out why these virtual marriages aren't sticking. One player named Seth realized that his "Maple spouse" was merely using their relationship to bum free items off of him, which led to their break-up.

Marriage in MapleStory is a detailed process involving an official engagement, two rings, real-world cash, and a spiffy in-game item that gives the happy pair a big boost to stats. However, if a marriage is annulled, each partner has a 10-day cooling off period before he or she can remarry.

[Source: Nexon press release]

This week's MMO Report finds Casey Schreiner in a celebratory mood, and why not? After all, G4TV's massively multiplayer-focused video blog has been entertaining work-bound slackers for four years now, and it's his birthday tomorrow.

The show hits all the MMO news highlights for the past week including DC Universe Online's new content pack, Minecraft's new adventuring trailer, The Secret World's sub-plus-cash-shop business model reveal, and Star Trek Online's foregone conclusion of a free-to-play announcement. Casey has a bit of fun with fans of the F2P model, saying that STO is "answering the call of thousands of underpaid comics and collectible store employees who can't afford 15 bucks a month."

If that's not enough for you, consider that Casey also spends a bit of time talking about the merits of in-game marriage, and more specifically, why so many of MapleStory's pairings end in annulment. Seriously. Check it out after the break.

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Last week, Nexon announced the conclusion of the Chaos series in their free-to-play fantasy side-scroller MapleStory -- Age of Triumph. Today, the studio offers Massively an exclusive video trailer for a peek at the action that is scheduled to release on August 17th.

The video highlights the three main features coming up in this patch: The new PvP game Capture the Flag; footage of the new Silent Crusade story line, a full-length quest for players level 37-110; and even the new Crusader Codex, a book highlighting the various monsters that roam Maple World which players can add to after defeating new monsters.

Click past the cut for a look at these upcoming features in Age of Triumph.

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MapleStory's Big Bang patch series is reloading for a second round of content updates, and this time the new stuff includes a new map, two new classes, and a new story.

Nexon's free-to-play fantasy side-scroller now features the Wild Hunter and Battle Mage classes, which players can commandeer in an effort to stem the tide of the relentless Black Wing menace that threatens to destroy the Resistance. Surprisingly, the Battle Mage isn't a bring-up-the-rear kind of DPSer like most mages you may have met. Nexon's press release says he'll be "the first into danger, placing himself between his teammates and the forces of darkness."

The Wild Hunter, on the other hand, is very much a keep-'em-at-range kind of gal who "will shoot down her targets with deadly accuracy [while riding] on the back of a jaguar." MapleStory will also be featuring another Hot Time event on August 6th, so mark your calendars and be sure to log in, grab an SP reset scroll and get some double XP. Finally, don't forget to click past the cut for a couple of videos focused on the new classes.

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Nexon, the creator of the action-based MMOs Dragon Nest and Vindictus, recently invested a significant amount of money in the Hong Kong-based social-gaming developer 6waves Lolapps. Gamasutra quotes Nexon CEO Seung-woo Choi as saying, "We made this investment because we believe that 6waves Lolapps places the same value that we do in providing exciting games to our players and driving growth for the company by doing so."

There is no direct link between this partnership and Nexon's announcing that its flagship MMO MapleStory will be spun off into a Facebook game called Maplestory Adventures, but 6Waves CEO Rex Ng believes the relationship between the two gaming companies can only benefit the player with great content and adventures in the long run.

This news comes on the coattails of another MMO developer, NCSoft, buying a smartphone application developer. The MMO space is expanding well beyond the at-home PC. The MMO gaming industry is integrating itself into more and more aspects of our daily lives, stretching the definition of "living world."

It's been a while since we've heard from MapleStory, but today the free-to-play side-scroller from Nexon has taken the wraps off its Chaos summer update plans. The next two months will bring major content updates to Maple World courtesy of the Age of Heroes patch that drops on June 29th. New quests, zones, and a new high-level boss are all on tap, as is a battle through the Henesys Ruins and the Knight Stronghold that Nexon's press release describes as "the most formidable challenge in the entire game."

The Age of Heroes update will also bring about a hero class re-balance, and restrictions for creating Dual Blade, Aran, and Evan classes will be lifted. Explorers, Cygnus, and Resistance classes are also being tweaked, and players will find them "more powerful than ever" due to main skill enhancements.

Later in the summer, the Age of Artisans update will unveil a new level-based crafting system, and the Age of Battle will bring a PvP mode to MapleStory. Head to the official site for all the details.

It's a stupendous month for MapleStory as the obscenely popular MMO not only dinged its sixth year in operation but also racked up over eight million accounts and 24 million characters created. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Nexon is throwing a joyful celebration for the game code-named Jubilation.

As the name suggests, Jubilation is all about partying, and party the players shall. For starters, there's a dual-raid for two teams of three competing to down a balloon first. Those looking for more relaxing activities may want to help grow a small maple sapling into a mighty tree by collecting sunshine, assembling an anniversary jigsaw puzzle by collecting all the trees, or simply logging in every day to earn enough stamps for a loyalty medal with spiffy stats attached.

MapleStory's sixth anniversary events are going on now through June 14th, so there's plenty of time to check it all out! You can read the full details of the game's Jubilation at the official site.