An Early Leave From The Game

The title says it all.

I have absolutely had it beyond my temper putting up with my internally decaying machine of a laptop. For the past week, I have endured a much more constant lag, along with even more disconnections than I have ever been forced to face. I have tried to defy my fate countless times, but after today it simply cannot be avoided.

Due to technical difficulties, my new nickname for my laptop(along with craptop, piece of junk, wimp, maple hater, lagtron 5 billion, and Laggy McSlowloader, along with some that this site won’t let me post), I have decided to temporarily bow out of Maple Story 2 weeks earlier than I previously planned.

From the beginning of my 5th semester onward, this game has begun its slow descent into becoming effectively inert. No amount of fist-slamming or name-calling seems to rouse this thing, instead encouraging it to loosen keys from the keyboard.

It is something I never understood. Two and a half years ago, when this thing was first in my hands, I enjoyed it greatly. It played many of my games with no trouble. It was even tons faster than the age-old Gateway at my house. I was simply enamored by the thing.

I was even more admiring of it when I discovered Maple Story about half a year after Global was released. I registered for, downloaded, and installed the game, then threw it on.

I enjoyed it so much, I ended up playing for around 14 hours without a single break. That’s right, FOURTEEN hours; according to a walkthrough I read, thats the minimum amount of hours you need to play to officially become a Mapleholic(although that may be an average weekly amount). I also sucked at it back then, but hey, I was new back then-ignorance was bliss for me.

It performed superbly back then. Occasional small pockets of lag were all I had to suffer. That was it.

Now, I have to suffer something I have called “the invincible lag,” or TIL lag(I hope this term becomes official someday!). This is the kind of lag where your game runs so slow, monsters are “frozen” in a running animation, where they “move,” but don’t actually go anywhere. During this time, they take damage and get knocked back, move an inch or so, then freeze again. They stay this way and, while doing so, DO NOT DIE(hence thename) until the game speeds up to normal again. Other side effects include not picking up items when the z key is pressed, effectively halting your attacks and abilities until the freezing stops. That’s right, all you can do is move around.

I have put up with this performance from a Celeron processor for long enough. There is no sense in me enjoying my favorite MMORPG if my computer won’t let me.

As I said, thought, this will be temporary. In the time to come until Christmas, I will do what I can to ensure my parents get me a desktop, and a powerful one(Pentium 3 at least) with excellent graphics capability. This will ensure not only peak performance from Maple Story when I return, but also excellent performance from two other games I have seen as potential awesomeness: Pirate King Online and the critically acclaimed Guild Wars. I WILL get that desktop one way or another, even if I have to buy it myself(though I’m certain it won’t be that difficult).

Also, this leave from the game will NOT halt my blogging. I already know tons from the game to continue my story, and I have lots of sites to reference to in case I forget anything.

Thanks again to all who read and support my blogs. Without any sort of audience here for me, I wouldn’t have been here long. Thanks again also to my big friends in the game, whether you visit this site or not. I will be back again in the future with myself and a new computer in full fighting form. Until then, this game I know and love….well, I really will miss it. Constantly.

Things may change, though. I’ll test out Maple Story on occation on the chance that it MIGHT work if I’m really lucky, but I’m sure that’ll never happen.

Technology really sucks sometimes.

3 thoughts on “An Early Leave From The Game”

  1. I pity you. I’ve been using a laptop I bought early this year to play MS too, but I’ve experienced the lag of the computer.

    Is it the hardware problem or is it the problem with the software? If the latter, I suggest you back up whatever irreplaceable and important information you need, then recover your system using recovery CDs.

    As for the lag problems, it can’t be helped if you’re using wireless. But how about this: try attempting to connect your laptop to the Internet directly, by just using LAN (wired connection)? The game speeds up a little with smooth connectivity, although you have to avoid touching the wire lest you lose connection.

    As for the keyboard problem, try not to slam the keys too often, particularly when you play the game and gets fustrated with the lag. Your keyboard will be spoilt earlier than you expect. (I’ve got a couple of old keyboards at home that has been useable for more than 5-6 years.)

    If everything else don’t seem to work, get a new computer/laptop. Laptops don’t last long unless you don’t use it very often.

  2. Nice words from both of you.

    I’ve actually used LAN my entire time playing the game, and it worked great.

    When I did slam the thing, I didn’t slam the keyboard directly(I knew that would be real bad), but where I did slam did cause a few keys to pop anyway. I guess any force is excessive force.

    In any case, I will be going for an actual computer. Guild Wars and its expansions will need it, and I can guarantee myself flawless performance from Maple Story, even play with Global and SEA if I want. One thing about it, desktops are even cheaper than laptops(or so I’ve seen on commercials).

    Of course, overuse isn’t a bad thing to consider either. I did play the game a lot, but only because I found plenty of time at college. Plus, even before Maple Story came out, I got a lot of use out of it anyway. Computers are a hobby of mine 😀

    Thanks again for the comments. I can’t wait for Christmas!

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