Tag: Maplestory

The Future of RuneScape’s Cash Shop Is In MapleStory


Whether you like it or not, Jagex is taking its cues from majority stockholder Insight Venture Partners, the American investment group and 55% share holder in the British developer. Luckily for me, IVP is turning out to be a pretty predictable company. The path that RuneScape has taken is not unique, and is one used (rather successfully) by another well known publisher and investment of IVP: Nexon. So if you want to see where RuneScape’s cash shop will most likely evolve into, just take a look at Maplestory.

Maplestory also started its shop with gambling, followed by the introduction of a cosmetic only cash shop, blossoming into what it is today. So let’s take a look at what you might see in the cash shop of the future!

  • 2x Experience: This is a given, and should it be included in the near future, completely unsurprising. After all, Jagex stated recently that they would be getting rid of bonus experience weekends just before they opened the cash shop. After all, why give the milk away for free when you can sell it at market?
  • Cosmetic Pets: This is also a given. It is a cash shop, after all, and what would a cash shop be without the ability to say “I paid $10 on a virtual talking, floating pancake with cat ears.” I have no news that Jagex plans on adding a floating, talking pancake with cat ears into RuneScape but if they do, it was completely my idea.
  • Bound Equipment: Remember how Jagex explained giving high level equipment in Squeal of Fortune? That’s right, it can’t be traded. If (and this is a big IF) Jagex does indeed update Solomon’s Store to include high end equipment, you can bet that you won’t be able to trade it. It will likely also be expensive relative to whether or not the item can be lost when you die.
  • Many More Membership Bonuses: This one is a prediction of my own. Jagex has been running numerous membership bonuses designed to keep people subscribed longer (90-120 day membership card vanity items) and throughout months (bonus experience for members). Expect many more free items to come as a benefit of membership. This will likely include powerful equipment, following the rule stated above being bound to an account.

Just a reminder: These are all my predictions and may be completely wrong.

The Future of RuneScape's Cash Shop Is In MapleStory


Whether you like it or not, Jagex is taking its cues from majority stockholder Insight Venture Partners, the American investment group and 55% share holder in the British developer. Luckily for me, IVP is turning out to be a pretty predictable company. The path that RuneScape has taken is not unique, and is one used (rather successfully) by another well known publisher and investment of IVP: Nexon. So if you want to see where RuneScape’s cash shop will most likely evolve into, just take a look at Maplestory.

Maplestory also started its shop with gambling, followed by the introduction of a cosmetic only cash shop, blossoming into what it is today. So let’s take a look at what you might see in the cash shop of the future!

  • 2x Experience: This is a given, and should it be included in the near future, completely unsurprising. After all, Jagex stated recently that they would be getting rid of bonus experience weekends just before they opened the cash shop. After all, why give the milk away for free when you can sell it at market?
  • Cosmetic Pets: This is also a given. It is a cash shop, after all, and what would a cash shop be without the ability to say “I paid $10 on a virtual talking, floating pancake with cat ears.” I have no news that Jagex plans on adding a floating, talking pancake with cat ears into RuneScape but if they do, it was completely my idea.
  • Bound Equipment: Remember how Jagex explained giving high level equipment in Squeal of Fortune? That’s right, it can’t be traded. If (and this is a big IF) Jagex does indeed update Solomon’s Store to include high end equipment, you can bet that you won’t be able to trade it. It will likely also be expensive relative to whether or not the item can be lost when you die.
  • Many More Membership Bonuses: This one is a prediction of my own. Jagex has been running numerous membership bonuses designed to keep people subscribed longer (90-120 day membership card vanity items) and throughout months (bonus experience for members). Expect many more free items to come as a benefit of membership. This will likely include powerful equipment, following the rule stated above being bound to an account.

Just a reminder: These are all my predictions and may be completely wrong.

Nexon: $1.2 Million and All Proceeds


I’ve said it already, and I will continue saying it: The outpour of support from MMO developers and the community toward Japan has been absolutely overwhelming. Already we have seen support from Square Enix, Sony Online Entertainment, CCP, Hi-Rez, and NCsoft, and the list just keeps on growing.

Nexon today announced a two-tiered plan to send aid to Japan, via select relief agencies including the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. On the first tier, the company has donated $1.2 million USD in initial corporate contributions. But that’s not all. Players can have a direct effect on the second tier of contributions via the game’s cash shop:

In addition to Nexon’s donation, from March 14 through March 20, Nexon America will be donating 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of many of our in-game items to the Red Cross for the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami disaster relief efforts.

The following games are included in the charity movement:

 

Nexon Botches Maplestory Sale: 2x Exp Cards


Forget legalities, goodbye player trust!

As you can see from the top notice, on the 5th of this month, Nexon began a cash shop sale on their game Maplestory in Europe. The details are sketchy, and seem to change slightly depending on who you ask, but it appears that a 90-day double experience card found its way into the same area as the 24-hour double experience cards. Of course, in a world where we are brought up to understand that if a deal feels too good to be true, it probably is, the pricing was a mistake. Nexon fixed the price, and all was alright in the world, right?

Of course not, that would be too easy. After a week, Nexon fixed the cash shop item, and replaced the already purchased cards with 24-hour cards, which sent the forums into an uproar. The opinion appears to be split over whether or not players should be compensated or if they should have been aware that the sale was an “obvious bug” (their words, not mine) in the first place. According to a few members on the forums, this is not the first time Nexon has had such a cash-shop fluke, but apparently this is the first time they had responded by removing the items post-purchase from a user’s account.

Granted, we could yell until our faces are blue about the legality of this change in product, given the many loopholes and issues that would be raised from commerce laws between European countries, to exemptions in place because the product was purchased with Nexon Cash instead of real currency. I see a lot of people using examples of tangible purchases, but the two have separate laws that govern each form of commerce.

Of course, for those of you who did purchase the bugged card, there is still the option of reversing the charges on your credit card, if you are unconcerned with your Nexon account being banned.

The question now, as always, rests in the hands of the Nexon European community. I think it’s safe to say that, despite what the trolls say, players won’t be reeling in fear that their items are going to suddenly start being replaced en masse. You can buy that pack of regularly priced potions without worrying about them being turned into weak potions. I would, however, take great caution when buying something during any sales on the cash shop, as this is not the first time such an error has occurred. Nexon does not appear to be taking as much leniency with those who purchased the bugged item, maliciously or not.

I believe Nexon should have at least refunded the cash shop points back to players, and perhaps next time not take a week to implement a fix that should only take a few minutes.

http://forum.nexoneu.com/NXEU.aspx?g=posts&t=302702