Maple+Story

- All the names of your group members! David Noonan, John Rampersaud, Zach Fritz, Michael Larrabee, Matt Burroughs

- The name and description of the space you are examining

Maple Story is a cutsie, anime-like game, where the player's character is a knight who goes on quests to save MapleWorld.

- A discussion of the apparent target audience of the space and any anthropological notes you've made while there

The target audience for Maple Story appears to be anime fans and people who enjoy cute video games. Everything in Maple Story is made to be adorable and everything has this anime style. The low system requirements allows Maple Story to hit a huge audience because there are no technology bottlenecks. While the game seems geared toward anime fans it should be noted that the game is very approachable for any audience and that people from all walks of life play this game.

- Parallels between this space and Stross's vision of future virtual interactions

There are few parallels between this space and that of Halting State. While players can play as creatures of fantasy in Avalon 4, they don't necessarily do so. In Maple Story, you are always in a fantasy world. However, in both games, real money can be spent to purchase goods, which is probably the biggest similarity.

- A comparison between this world and Second Life. What, if anything, does this space offer that is unique?

Second Life allows for custom generation of content and totally unique characters. In contrast Maple Story gives the players three options for any choice at character creation. For example, in Maple Story you can get one of three faces, one of three skin tons, one of three shirts, and so on and so forth during character creation. Second Life's character creator gives people huge freedom. So much so that the system can be rather obtuse and hard to understand. They do have a few similarities. Both games allow for micro-transactions with real money, however Maple Story's in game currency has no direct exchange rate. In fact the creators of Maple Story frown upon anyone turning real money into game money either by purchasing game money from a farmer or even by buying an in game item from another person with real money. This is completely counter to the Second Life paradigm of endorsing player-to-player transactions.

- The commerce model of this world. How is it profitable? How is it sustained?

Maple Story maintains its profitability by making the majority of its real money items limited time only. Most of the items purchased in Maple Story only last for under 90 days. So if someone wants to continue using an item they purchased they will often have to purchase it again. This model has been successful in the 10 plus countries it is available in and it does not prevent non-paying players from enjoying themselves as well. This model is sustained by getting players to continually buy and re-buy items. It appears to also be sustained by the simplicity of the game. The simpler the game is the lower one can get the load on the server and if you can reduce stress on servers you can reduce your costs. Low cost servers with consistent income creates a profitable system. On top of that Maple Story puts money cards in establishments like 7-Eleven and many other stores. This serves both as advertisement and it helps anyone purchase Maple Story content. Even children who do not have credit cards can scrounge the five dollars for a Maple Story card.