Yep I’ve finally decided to abandon this horrible game once and for all, and it is not because I was hacked. Chancing upon that devious miscreant was only a minority in this. Cogitating over the unfortunate turn of events in the recent months, I realised that all this while I had been wrongly blaming my gullibility as the cause of my downfall. Staring blankly at the computer screen each time I opened Maple Story, my beloved fire mage idling away on the screen without his pots nor scrolled equipment to train with, I would just curse my stupidity in a fit of rage and close the game moodily.

I knew that I once took great pride in my extensive efforts to strengthen my characters and started a new assassin, hoping for the better. Soon I forgot my sorrows and became glued to the game, just like in the old days when I valiantly led my noobish fire wizard into a huge mob of Buffies and cowardly fled after the first one fell to my swarm of rampaging arrows, the rest of the enraged clowns preparing to unleash their deadly magic. Then it happened again.

Emptying all the resources my storage characters could provide, I was happily strolling along the streets of Showa on my mage, who was clad in a dark anakamoon with a stubby cromi in his arm. It was not exactly the best equipment for me to be using, especially after almost getting my hands on Annikabelle’s beautifully scrolled Kage, (A staff bearing such power should be given a capitalised name, should it not?) but considering my state of poverty I had to make do with it. Well back to the topic. Anyway halfway along Street 1, where the Granpa, who liked to unsuspectingly brandish his lethal machine gun and destroy the unfortunate passer-bys in a barrage of ammunition, resided, I heard the familiar sound of an explosion attack and an Old Man being given the hell he deserved.

Teleporting a bit further, I stumbled upon a fire mage and barely caught a glimpse of the level 9x boss conceding defeat and relinquishing his treasured pomade (I’d rather take the gun any time). The fire mage appeared to have suffered the same fate as I did; he was naked with only an umbrella in his one arm. We immediately exchanged F2s and I felt a warm feeling of acceptance, knowing I was not alone. This mage was level 100 and naturally received my respect in order of hierarchy.

We chatted a bit and shared our views on hackers. The fire mage, although mostly speaking with broken English and bits of the infamous Ah Lian, or twit, dialect, managed to cheer me up with many F2s and F5s (at the appropriate times, of course). After a measly duration of 30 minutes, I told him I had to leave. Suddenly moulding his face to form two sympathetic teary eyes, he asked me to lend him my only cromi. Almost at once flashes of the hacker asking me pitifully, literally begging to trade accounts crossed my mind. I was aware of the chances of the mage actually turning on his previously friendly personality and selfishly keeping the wand to himself.

‘I’m sorry, but after being hacked, I feel really paranoid now.’ I begun, wondering if he would understand. The F4 still remained on his face, as he started bending down on the floor. That move, coincidentally, happened to be the exact same approach the hacker used. I told him how I could not afford to take chances, but he just kept pleading, with the familiar excuse of, ‘Of course I will return the cromi by today! I swear I will! I only want to borrow it for a few minutes!’ yet with each passing second I felt my weakness building up. Eventually, I complied to his request. Following that, I continued on how gullible I had always been. Me spamming the F4 this time round, I complimented him to be a true friend and told him that if he did not choose to return the cromi, I would quit Maple Story for good and he could keep it. He reassured me with an F2. I released my tension and dropped my cromi, my spirits high and full of hope.

And like normal scammers, he picked the wand gleefully with a, ‘Haha noob! Go quit lar! As if I f**king care!’, and left with a new cromi in his possession.

A cromi. A level 48 wand. As my assassin had already gained 10 million mesos by then, should I have still been sad that I lost my cromi, which was probably worth only 300k? Hell no. But my heart had been filled with much pain and sorrow. I knew that I had failed. This was not the first time I had been scammed. I had experienced this situation almost too many times. And each passing day I told them of how I placed my trust in them, yet turning around they just shoved me with a, ‘LOL YOU NOOB!’ and logged out.

I had tried many times, and continued to, until this was my last straw. Why did he not realise that such a measly gain could cause so much more pain? I know that there are good people in Maple Story, but those are of a rare kind. Those people would not even think of asking for the item as they do not really need it in the first place.

But for those who really did, could it be so difficult to just return the smallest bit of gratitude? I was kind to lend them the equipment, and yet all the way through my speech the person would be thinking, ‘Oh when will this fool be done and pass me the stupid cromi? I need to go to bed already!’. I even practiced this at the expense of my own mage, and did I receive any gratitude? Oh yeah I guess the hacker left me 50k, which was good enough as a thanks because I lent him my character. I do not even want my lost mesos back any more. I just want my hacker to realise that the simplest of actions could have the heaviest of effects on someone else.

Maple Story is a wicked society. Since I don’t want to change myself and become a really stingy guy, I’m quitting. It doesn’t matter if I had been hacked or not; I would have it coming my way sooner or later. Perhaps someday, I will return to find the community has changed. Perhaps. But for now, goodbye Wizet.