WoW vs Maple Story

In every really big pile of $hit there is a diamond somewhere. Some people find the diamond, most just get their hands really dirty and get nothing.

As I have argued many times in the past, while there are people who have the self-control to play Maple for free, the vast majority of Maplers do not see it that way. The flourishing of Nexon as a for-profit corporation has happened for precisely that reason. If they're really "free" as they say in all their commercials, how the hell are they getting so rich then? The proper definition of things such as safety charms, shop permits, 2x cards, owls is "luxuries" or "options," but a person addicted to Maple will see them as "necessities." It is a very easy leap to make, and with people spending all around you nobody will question it. If you're grinding on Maple 12 hours a day, those things are a comfort you'll go nuts without. Nexon knows this very well and does its best to encourage reckless spending. I might add that Nexon makes a fortune off people that stay at lvl 31 but squander money on smegas and multiple NX outfits. In the end, it is not intrinsically the path to higher levels that enriches Nexon, it's NX charging, and a lvl 31 CAN charge as much as a lvl 16x. As a former Maple addict I can't say that Maple is in the end a fun friendly game. More like a stressful full-time job where you pay someone to be working.

As for Maple being valuable in terms of learning to code, you could say that about any game. For example, a game (for adults) that I found has very rapid real-time PvP combat, and coding skill accounts for victory much much more than expenditures on their version of NX or even experience level. You literally program your character using strings of code to take actions or react to other people's actions, and when combat happens you don't have much input at all.

Put simply, a person that is addicted to either WoW or Maple could in the hours spent playing engage in more school work or gainful employment. If we use players such as FangBlade or Tiger as references, if a person worked at a job as hard as they did at grinding, they could quite possibly end up with a down payment to a condo, or good grades and advanced degree from a college. With Tiger and FangBlade, we're probably talking between 12 and 18 hours a day grinding. I maintained a 3.78 GPA in the first two years in a mediocre college, assuring me high dean's list standing there, and a transfer to a much better college, (their transfer program had a 9% admission rate,) but even THAT didn't take me 12-18 hours a day studying. To use a computer science comparison, if a person were to practice coding for 12-18 hours a day for 3 years straight, he'd probably end up at Google or Microsoft, (or an equivalent employer,) working equivalent hours for a very nice salary. One of my friends DOES work that much, he earns 80,000 dollars a year and has a cushy position in his Silicon Valley company, and that salary increases on a regular basis. Another one of my friends abandoned her rapidly leveling pro mage account and put her skills to work at a fast-food chain. Less than 1.5 years later, she's in training to become a full manager, (a VERY fast rate of advancement given the time she's spent with the company, very good salary and full control of her restaurant,) and her employer is so satisfied with her skills and work ethic that she is certain to get promoted much higher. Isn't something like that a greater achievement than a lvl 200 night lord?

I have no clue why the truly "dedicated gamers" don't with equal fervor study or work. They would be at the top of the business world in the end because of it.

Quoting for extra emphasis. You make a great point. These people who have lvl 200 chars or even 180+ chars. If they focused all of that effort into something that will profit them in the future, they would probably all be rich. Us "hardcore gamers" have shown that we have the stamina to do things for long periods of time without getting bored. Whereas someone who likes to go out clubbing, drinking, and smoking probably couldn't do the same thing. My little sister is in her upper teen years and she is one of those people who you will only seen home after 10 o-clock at night. All I ever hear her talk about after doing something for 15 minutes is how bored she is.

Maple is a free to play game. Anyone who argues against that is plain ignorant and that's it. The strongest players I have ever met haven't payed a cent on this game. They have more NX and more mesos than any person I know who spends money. Of course I do know some people who have spent THOUSANDS of dollars and are up there as well.