the unfortunate Maplestory situation

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[@DavidJohnson-fc9bn]

What a shock that the game that literally spent years outright lying about it's own gacha odds didn't see the value of an honest review.

[@fujster]

Real. They're scamming losers. ruined the game.

[@momoaa]

To be fair they only scammed koreans, global ppayers keep ((((winning))))

[@dragtox]

i only know that was part of south korea so far but still bad edit: becus global and other country version were allowed to go abit diffrent direction

[@momoaa]

@@DavidJohnson-fc9bn like the other comment said, that was a KR only change, global version has better rates that (probably arent) rigged. Also just play the f2p version. Nexon is bad but lets be honest about it

[@user-wj6jh1cd5n]

@@fujster Honestly you have Nexon to thank for it. This isn't exclusive to Maplestory, Nexon does this with all of their games. Maplestory might not have been as big of a game with nearly as much content without them, but at the very least it wouldn't have a reputation of lying to its playerbase.

[@DonTinker]

Game: gives player an option Gamer: takes the option Company: _Hey, that's the wrong option_

[@KnownAsKenji]

Imagine having choice in how you play in a video game.

[@dimwarlock]

@@KnownAsKenji If a company doesn't tell you how to play it, then backseaters, spoilers and expertso on the game will tell you that you're playing wrong. You don't have really any choice when playing a videogame unless you're not telling anyone that you're playing. not many are respectful on that matter and they will be offended anyways beause "their intentions were good".

[@NipplesTheEnchilada2323]

The fact that they think that new players to their game wouldn't choose an option that is able to be picked from the start is pretty disingenuous of them, and makes them look incompetent as a company. Like, if given the choice at the start, odds are someone is going to pick it, regardless of your opinion on the matter. It's basic fact that people like to play a game for the first time as characters that look interesting to play as, are cool looking, or are difficult to play. If the character only was playable via playing for a bit as a beginner character, then sure, I'd understand, but the fact of the matter is that isn't the case, and they should realize that there exist such players of their game that would play a non-beginner friendly character for their first time playing the game, if given the option.

[@Luke-cp9to]

"Then why give me the option in the first place"

[@litergod]

if i wanted a completely controlled experience, I'd watch a movie, not play a game

[@mattw6705]

How dumb, give players options and then say "Oh that's not how you're supposed to play!" What a joke

[@larsg.2492]

That is pretty common with mmos, especially if classes, regions, etc. get introduced in later expensions. The companies expect you to know all the little things, because you are a lifelong fan and just want to try out the newest model, for sure. Josh mentions it in all of his videos, onboarding is key, and some developers want to cut costs by not putting tutorials in every possible permutation.

[@Serin9X]

It happens all the time in software development. The only problem with this interaction is the company insisting that his experience is somehow just wrong because it's not what **they** intended the new player experience to be. He was a new player. This was his experience. Therefore it was a new player's experience. Pull your head out of your ass and just accept that this happened.

[@doomcookies]

Especially in an RPG! The one exception I can think of is difficulty options. Not many people will pick the hardest available right away (some might, not me for sure).

[@susano-wo1570]

​@@larsg.2492 What gets me is that you don't even have to put tutorials. All you need is a flag or pop up that says "this is an advanced class. You are expected to know game basics before selecting"

[@isbilen1000]

It's the same problem Path of Exile 1 has. It's a game that has good or great content and information *for people who already know the basics*. The game went from 4 classes on release, to, I think we're 23 deep now. All of the "new" classes that aren't the classic or Cygnus Knights (another story) have skills or abilities that work weird, but in a way that's familiar to an experienced player. The onboarding is decent, but only if you go through the "new players" queue. The problem is all the queues meld together.

[@Doctorgeo7]

Kain story: About a government authority editing the player's memories so they stay a loyal servant forever Company representing Maplestory: "We need you to edit your video so it looks like how we want it to." I love this coincidence.

[@Momogamer9]

The most agregious things are always right below our noses 😞

[@yb3604]

Well spotted.

[@VirtuousWanderer]

I was thinking the same thing too... Coincidence? I THINK NOT

[@kigamezero8636]

Not a coincidence. Obviously they used themselves as inspiration

[@kingjabronie2261]

Guys, it's called "Irony" lol

[@samundef3500]

The one detail Nexon didn’t want people to see in the video is now the only detail we know about the video. Love the Streisand effect

[@Falling_Down]

yep now we know nothing of the good parts and only know nexon are assholes... once again

[@Zflayre]

Maplestory player checking in. -Yes Kain story is epic -Our entire community loves the game but hates the company -They have done similar shady/disrespectful shit to their own CMs, ambassadors etc We maplestory players still respect you a TON, infact we agree with you and your course of action. Esp me as someone who's been quietly watching and supporting your content for a while. Your integrity should not be sacrificed, especially for a company with no integrity themselves. The lack of integrity from Nexon and their many scandals as well as their general disdain for their own playerbase is so egregious that most people have left the regular server where it's optional to spend irl $ for in game gains and opted to play the f2p server where the only thing you can get with irl $ is cosmetics for the most part.

[@amanpaul6881]

One hundred percent, this! Nexon literally does not give a single fuck about us as players.

[@MichellGutierrez-h8g]

What it like inside the mind of someone who loves eating shit and willingly asks to be served more shit?

[@Buddy_Squirrel]

Too bad everyone spends thousands on cosmetics 😭😭

[@amanpaul6881]

@ not me surprisingly in all my years of playing, I feel like I’ve spent under $100 on cosmetics, and I feel like that’s pretty good considering it’s been about 20 years lolol

[@salami155]

Is the game still really laggy? Is that like by design or something?

[@Zidanesco]

Josh, as a Lawyer, thank you so much for giving me hope that people actually read the Contracts that they sign.

[@Broockle]

i throw it into chatgbt and have it interpret for me xD

[@kentonroush]

@@Broockle Aaaaand there goes that poor lawyer's hope.

[@SuperDuperHappyTime]

@@kentonroush I dont think you should hire a lawyer who relies on “Hope”

[@Grigeral]

I feel most will read a contract if it's something of importance for them. A general 'sign this or don't use the thing you bought' though, most will just sign on autopilot.

[@RobleViejo]

The problem is always the MONEY. People see the paycheck and they're like "Omg I need to sign this Contract right now so I can get that Money fast" yeah... thats not how it works buddy. If you're signing a Contract you are selling yourself, its a BINDING agreement, the Company offering the Contract can do whatever they want. Money should be the LAST thing in your mind.

[@Dupliaxe]

>Good companies are confident with their product and accepts criticism Wow, who would've thought?

[@DanteL1983]

There's not such thing as a good company. Maybe less virulently subhuman and disgusting companies, but that's the difference between lung cancer and COVID

[@Vassilinia]

Jagex knew that their game delivers and so they gave Josh full license to say what he would.

[@momomomomogi]

Props to them

[@JimboSlice-t5i]

​@@VassiliniaJamflex is widely hated by the sweaty ones, but as an older guy who doesn't have time to grind but played RuneScape as a kid, I thoroughly enjoy(ed) (haven't played for over 18 months probably closer to 2 years) being able to buy my way halfway through skills that were a paid to get up to par. Bonus XP and all that lowers the cost of entry and makes the game more widely available, increasing player count, reducing the cost burden on each player individually.

[@Tyyin.]

That’s literal common sense. Let them play the game and change it from constructive feedback. Bro wtf

[@SkylorBeck]

"The player wouldn't do that" "I am the player" "No"

[@WastelandChef]

I worked in the video game industry and players WILL play games in a way that was not intended by the devs. If it’s too far off what they were expecting it tells me that the game was not in a finished state. Feedback is essential to game developers.

[@Altharionn]

100%. There is no such thing as playing a game in the "wrong order" the way it was described here. If you don't want players to do it in the wrong order you have to make it so they can't.

[@neoqwerty]

Honestly if it's too far off from intended that's when you ask the reviewer if they want a playtesting job

[@sola7112]

I exist as a human, and I would also like to point out that the sky appears to be blue.

[@crowdemon_archives]

​@@sola7112 unfortunately, some companies apparently don't think a clear cloudless sky at 1pm is blue so 😅

[@calvinwilson3617]

Making a great game is about creating opportunities for the players IMO. When developers try to shoehorn their players into certain things it hurts the player experience. There is no right way to play a game, other than having fun. Because if you arent having fun you should be doing something that is

[@Vanix9696]

6:10 - Their argument here made me actually laugh. As a software developer you are explicitly required to add guard rails to things if you want people to do said things in a certain order. There will ALWAYS be people who poke around or just don't follow your ideal usage. Can't believe a grown adult gave you that response

[@Wyzai]

What would be my first attempts to "railroad" something without railroading it? Main quest: It tells you what to do in what order and gives you appropriate rewards as an incentive. I guess in this case it would be a warning notice "It is recommended you try X class before playing this one. Are you sure you wish to continue?" If all else fails, mobile games literally prevent you from making choices until they're confident you understood the game. They failed at everything, apparently. No sense for game design, only sense for corporate greed.

[@OwlskiTV]

Yeah, I'm surprised that if they didn't want players to pick Kane, that they'd simply expect players not to chose him. People will find the most creative and unexpected ways to do (what would seem like) the most obvious things. Be that intentional or accidental it doesn't matter, but you (as the developer) have to take such things into account, or at the very least learn when players do them and address it accordingly.

[@NihongoWakannai]

Because the person he's interacting with has nothing to do with development of the game. They probably barely understand videogames and are trying to follow some vague company guidelines.

[@ahverypro]

as a lawyer i agree with you

[@PokeMan69]

@@ahverypro you aint a lawyer lmao

[@Anergyne]

What gets me is that a simple 'not recommended for new players' tag next to the Cain option would've prevented all of this.

[@lucrative6477]

Plenty of logical steps could of been taken by either party to prevent this. But that doesn’t make for good content.

[@meisterband8603]

I seem to not understand what mistake the player who chose something that looked interesting did wrong. Kan you elaborate on your point

[@qwerty3793]

@meisterband8603 In this case, I think that choosing Cain's campaign first, one apparently meant for advanced players, made the game look unfairly difficult. Choosing this campaign would give the impression that the game's tutorials aren't thorough enough so a new player will probably struggle through no fault of their own - not a good look for the devs. The company is arguing that this apparent problem wouldn't exist if Cain wasn't chosen first, and because they want their game to look better (i.e. make the tutorials look sufficient for a new player), they wanted the video to be changed to present this narrative.

[@PointsofData]

​@lucrative6477 Not sure what "logical steps" Josh could have taken when he was given a choice of character options and no indication any of them were not meant for new players? They asked for a review, he made one that apparently was largely positive but was tempered by how large a learning curve it was, then they asked him to outright lie about his experience and argued that new players wouldn't do the exact same steps he did. Josh was trying to make it work, Nexon was the one to tank the deal.

[@xXEmo54Xx]

@@PointsofData if you dont follow maplestory or havent been a dedicated player for many years its basically impossible to know that as time went on entire mechanics and game systems were added solely for specific characters as the demand to innovate the game basically meant making every new character extremely in depth and complicated. A new player around the first few years of the game definitely had many options but none of them went above mashing a few buttons here and there compared to current standards that consider combo's, spacing, area control, buffs and all sortsa character specific mechanics. In a vacuum being told "youre playing the game wrong" sounds incredibly stupid and ignorant, there is actually a level of truth behind it. But yeah I definitely blame the fact there's no future proofing that either makes characters rated by difficulty or locked behind hitting story checkpoints.

[@absalom2500]

As a maplestory player of the last 12 years i can tell you this is definitely on brand for nexon or associated companies. Also out of the 54~ classes in the game only the explorers go over the basics properly, everyone else jumps straight into their storyline and good luck. Respect for not bending over for them and sad to know there won't be a maplestory video.

[@theyellowmeaning]

did they scrap the aran tutorials? those were pretty in depth

[@absalom2500]

@theyellowmeaning yes, both aran and shade got way less archaic in design for their questline with their remaster

[@ShiningDarknes]

Yup only the most boring classes cover the basics and NOT the main advertised class(es) for whatever the most current added story is.

[@Roflmao6173]

To be fair a big portion of maplers hates those tutorial sections, and its not like maple is getting many new players to begin with, its almost entirely made up of returning players/long time players

[@dusksentry5836]

genuine question, how does an MMO have fifty four player classes?! the mere concept of balance must be a purely theoretical by forty, surely

[@baovtuber]

My team and I had a nightmarish experience with Maple Story sponsorships, so much so that our mental health was shattered for months over it. Not surprising to see more negative press about them.

[@Chomperling]

that absolutely sucks to hear

[@davidaugustine399]

Lmao

[@RetroZetShow]

It's such a tragedy too. I remember playing Maplestory for most of my childhood, but the game is a shell of what it used to be and the social aspect is dead.

[@hichichic4262]

@@RetroZetShow It’s actually a much more fleshed out game than it was in the past, and the social aspect mostly takes place off-game in discord. You just won’t see this until you hit level 260. But yea fuck Nexon

[@Moped_Mike]

This isnt press, this is an anecdote

[@yarrflee]

really liked the part in this at 5:15 when the gameplay messages in the top centre of the screen said 'an old man is telling a tale.'

[@johnmcconnell7052]

Yea nexon in general isnt really consumer friendly

[@richardhicks5031]

Nexeon is nasty

[@fenix3370]

Nexon is not only a really shitty company that treats its costumors like fodder, but they are insecure as fuck

[@r3zaful]

i mean blue archive dev is arguably one of the most respected dev in korea, and they are nexon's employees. still remember how they kicked out any magellan feminist supporters months ago and demote them to desk job only and protect their actual loyal employees, no amount of western studios would even have balls to do that.

[@SatoshiAR]

​​​@@r3zaful as someone who recently looked into the "finger controversy" with maplestory & nexon, korean incel culture is absolutely schizophenic. so pretty weird flex if you ask me

[@MichellGutierrez-h8g]

You don't fucking say, any more hot takes?

[@orbusg8451]

"players wont do this" "well I did that, and this is why you should design the game around people doing it" "WELL YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO AND WE'RE NOT GOING TO" And they wonder why the game is leaking players.

[@honeybadger6275]

Well, nexon is an awful company, they're like the EA of korea.

[@secularteejay]

I played the game Pre-Big Bang, and when I returned, I made sure to do a lot of research on how the game changed. Playing the game "optimally" sure as hell saved me a lot of time because I wanted to play Illium first. That's a hard as fuck character without link skills and legion.

[@Aetolus]

The company that introduced gacha system, time limited cosmetics, and general abuse of fomo to the gaming industry is unethical?! I can't believe it!!

[@Plsrateeight]

​@@Scrattoshh they don't realize there's two different ones, they are fresh out of the echo chamber.

[@spankyjeffro5320]

There's nothing wrong with a gacha system in general, it's a form of gambling that adults can opt in to, it's optional and entirely their choice. Nobody gets to claim to be an adult and want to have their freedom to gamble taken away because it's deemed "unfair".

[@JosephDavies]

@@spankyjeffro5320 "it's optional and entirely their choice" Except that's almost never the case in any meaningful way.

[@anonimus370]

@@spankyjeffro5320 forgetting the fact that gambling is in fact illegal in many countries.

[@pirateizzy]

Also microtransactions as a whole.

[@Sicknerp]

Hey Josh first time viewer here. The music in Maplestory is timeless. If you pay close attention to a lot of KZbin videos they will use default town music from Maplestory! Elinia and Kerning are the two I hear most often.

[@yampastewastaken]

Also the OG Henesys map ones!

[@Sicknerp]

Another classic :)

[@Flynnly]

MapleStory and osrs have the most charming timeless tracks of all time in mmorpgs ever

[@NugKnights]

Maplestory was the most beautiful simple MMORPG for kids made by Wizet. Nexon bought it and turned it into a casino.

[@secularteejay]

Pre-Big Bang was glorious MapleStory.

[@MooMilkMilk]

The scorching heat of the sun bleaks in comparison to the pure hatred I have for Nexon.

[@Epic501]

yup, sad, I have such fond memories of the Wizet maple days

[@lilpullout]

hey bro you realize nexon bought wizet in 2004 and released GMS in 2005? over 90% of the people that have seen this video haven't played the game since then

[@vats386]

The idea that most players aren't going to pick the edge lord is so silly. Very few players are going to see the fun looking special classes and go "uh no thank you ill be the boring one instead"

[@sorsu]

if i was given a choice between the magical girl class and some random knight apart of a faction i can care less for, of course im choosing the magical girl. i think they know that though, since thats kinda the point of modern maplestory is to be *like* that yeah? still lol

[@NimhLabs]

Hey! This is Human Fighter Erasure, and I completely stand for it!

[@Yetis-o3z]

I miss old maple story

[@liben5052]

Kain does look pretty boring compared to the other characters tho, just a guy dressed in black turtleneck

[@creed8712]

@@liben5052Steve jobs simulator

[@Lordhakai241]

Nexon = Scam artist pretending to be game pub/developer

[@SuperHexer123]

Exactly, ive been burnt by every Nexon touched so the moment I see thier name, that game is dead to me. Turns out it pays off everytime as I see the "next big game" that has nexon attached to it, it crashes and burns.

[@thaddeusgenhelm8979]

I'll admit, I never kept up with a lot of their other works, but the sheer time investment and stuff that went (and still seems to go) into Mabinogi makes me, at least, hesitant to write off everything Nexon touches. Part of it might be nostalgia on my part, I originally played it a long time ago when it's janky structure was pretty novel, but.. Well, honestly, it's *so* jank that there are things about it that are still novel (albeit because some of those things were probably bad ideas). And I've heard the Blue Archive game isn't bad? But I think that was a Yostar production Nexon took over later for global publishing, so could also be a difference there. ... Though yeah, I wouldn't trust them generally even if they're occasionally better than their reputation would suggest.

[@MichellGutierrez-h8g]

The bots coming out with the hot takes

[@rjwaters3]

@@thaddeusgenhelm8979 all, universally, ALL of their good games are made by someone else, and then nexon just takes over global publishing, theyre good at publishing, any game they actually develop flops hard, Both Mabinogi and Blue archive are made by others, devCat for mabinogi and as stated Yostar for Blue Archive. Honestly cant say much about Blue Archive, but yeah, Mabinogi was a massive pile of jank but I'd probably still be playing it if I didnt have 3guilds collapse in the space of a year and I just couldnt find a group to sit and talk with, The game rewarded grind, effectively anything you could buy from the cash shop could be found in the player market, for exorbitant prices yes, but they could be found, and youre talking 2-3 weeks of grind for something thatll last years. Gdammit need to stop clicking on nexon game videos it keeps making me nostalgic and sad and stuff

[@Michael-bn1oi]

@@MichellGutierrez-h8g Are you a idiot?

[@thehuskofamontillado]

The thing that upsets me the most is it would have been so much better for them to tell Josh to mention that choosing Kain first isn't recommended to start with due to the tutorial focusing on existing rather than new players. That would have kept the integrity of the video and been a great source of advertising for them.

[@michielankersmit8656]

it wouldn't be though, then he would be picking another char because thats the experience they want him to have, not because he chose that character himself.

[@imadudeplayingadudedisguis5842]

@@michielankersmit8656 I think he means adding that bit after playing the game. You can look back after the experience and say it was not recommended to start him as a new player.

[@quixotix9540]

​@michielankersmit8656 yeah, I think the point hes making though is that they shouldve asked Josh to put that disclaimer somewhere in his video. Not sure if he would've accepted though, it still seems a bit disingenuous from Nexon.

[@tzaphkielconficturus7136]

@@quixotix9540 I mean, a disclaimer that that character isn't made with new players in mind, and would be very difficult to get the hang of as a first time character isn't "disingenuous." Asking him to lie and pretend that he played another job first would be.

[@jewhoe]

@@tzaphkielconficturus7136 Yeah, as a MapleStory player, each class in the character creation screen does have a "difficulty level" and a bunch of other stats like "damage, defense, mobility" so just adding a disclaimer to take note of that area when choosing a class should definitely have been the move rather than trying to get him to start over and pretend to pick an explorer or cygnus where their Lv. 1-10 is actually a tutorial rather than a prologue to a story line.

[@ColeSATurner]

This rant about the MapleStory situation and how Nexon screwed you over has weirdly become one of the more important videos to watch for anyone getting into content creation on KZbin and the internet. Along with others such as This Is Phil Fish. So many great lessons to learn about reading sponsorship contracts, not clicking on things without checking them, the time you put into things, the reception of being the underdog and an angel until you slip up once and lose all momentum, etc.

[@UltimaKeyMaster]

Nexon: No one is going to pick Caine first. Josh: Mate, I literally just did.

[@Jeroen-IT]

"When you get involved in legal battles only lawyers win" Wise life lesson there.

[@Kaiza5150]

Amen. And Lawfare is a very decisive way to ruin yourself financially. It should always be treated with the utmost caution.

[@twerktospec]

yeah if you lack integrity. that's what a selfish person says. "Well I don't win so it's not good" Uuuuugh NO

[@asteridshydrangea-jt2hf]

The first time I heard that was literally a grim warning from a lawyer

[@chritlevgaming9297]

>They won't pay for the content because you won't lie about your experience >The contract states you can't falsely ruin the integrity of the other party >Lying is the nr. 1 thing that ruins integrity, and would be a breach of contract to request you to do >They won't pay you for your work because of their own breach of contract, but claim ownership of the product ???

[@klyxes]

From what I understood, the agency josh works for is the one who would be in conflict with him by releasing the video made for a sponsor after the sponsor has withdrawn. Josh thinks they won't allow it after checking in first with nexom to see what they should do

[@cptnkaladin]

He said in the video: he’s in the right but that doesn’t mean he’d win a legal battle. Law is a siege, whoever has more resources can stall long enough to force a win.

[@trianglemoebius]

It's two different contracts, with two different groups. The contract saying his integrity can't be harmed is with the dev company, while the contract saying who owns the video is with the representatives.

[@stevecole90099]

@@cptnkaladinit doesn’t even matter if he believes 100% that he is right AND would win the legal battle. Companies like Nexon or Nintendo or Google have the money and lawyers to keep the battle going with appeals and whatnot until you literally die of old age and it just goes away altogether.

[@user-zu1ix3yq2w]

There is no contract. The lack of logic is very worrying. You guys are very silly.

[@XanosKnyghtshade]

Nexon: "Do this thing for us that completely breaks our contract." Also Nexon: "Don't do that thing or it'll break our contract."

[@VirtuousWanderer]

Except Nexon can do that because they have the money to do it. Usually contract violations result in legal recourse BUT the legal power of a company is always going to be better than that of an individual.

[@Lysande1337]

@@VirtuousWanderer I'd take the battle out of pettiness and win hugely in terms of respect and support. I was more let down by his weakness/cowardice than I was impressed with his integrity.

[@clocksprocket]

@@Lysande1337 most people can't afford it financially to fight legal battles even if they're in the right (morally or even legally sometimes). if you are an individual with a lot of funds then by all means go fight the good fight but sadly the system works against most people in cases like these.

[@Lysande1337]

@@clocksprocket So, he doesn't have an audience already supporting him with the possibility of it increasing EVEN more if he did something great? I think you are being shortsighted. Is there anything we rally around more than injustice?

[@clocksprocket]

@@Lysande1337 Are you willing to pay his legal fees and living expenses as part of said audience?

[@Spisie]

I love that you mentioned how good the music is in Maplestory because it TRULY is. There’s something different about it, and it in fact is so good it keeps me coming back to the game. Every time I get burnt out and take a break on the game I eventually come back to it because I hear someone using the music as background music for a completely unrelated video. I hate how me on operates the game, I’m constantly in fear that due to their mismanagement the game will lose so many players that it stops being supported.

[@tacenda3250]

Yes, they need to keep making music forever

[@GooTheMighty]

That is wild for them to do. “A new player wouldn’t do that.” “But… but I did. I made a whole video about it. You watched it.”

[@Kastanja92]

Nexon is such a shameless rat of a company. I recall back in the day I used to play Maplestory they sold a double xp ticket in the cash store for cheaper price than usual, I think it was half or 1/5 of the usual price. When I bought it and used it for a while, Nexon just suddenly deleted it and I was never refunded. When I complained they just told me according to TOS they can do just about what they want. Disgusting.

[@TuffMelon]

You'd be surprised how many games have a TOS that basically says "Yeah, we can just do whatever we want, lol. Get rekd." It's why its so useful these days to have all these streamers and youtubers and stuff that spread info about these sort of events, since terrible PR is gonna harm these companies more than one angry person that stops playing. They also never reinbursed all the people who lost their hair colours back when they added that beauty parlor place that gives you a 'hair style change' ticket that doesn't say anywhere it changes the colour, too.

[@Kastanja92]

@@TuffMelon Yeah I bet and at least it was a cheap lesson for me that most things you buy digitally online you don't own in the end. Caution to stay away from microtransactions.

[@Spiritfoxgaming]

I mean, that might be your fault also tho, EXP Coupons only last 1hr/3hr. iirc, only the 1-hour coupons actually ever went on massive sales similar to like you're stating, So the item wasn't deleted from you, You probably just didn't know it wasn't permanent and ran out of time, The time started when you bought it and would end exactly an Hour/etc after the fact. Even if you bought it and logged off, that still counted as your time being used.

[@Kastanja92]

@@Spiritfoxgaming It could have be a likely misunderstanding yes, but this one was multiple days. I think 7 days but I'm not certain. Edit: and I am pretty sure they would have told me if I had bought a shorter expiring ticket than what I claimed. It must have been an accidental too low pricing on their part but I don't think it was handled fairly.

[@Wolta]

In EU games have to state whether or not they can do whatever they want. And they have to show their casino odds as well. It's why LoL, for example, recently had you accept a new ToS that stated you don't own anything you buy on your account. And also show the odds for gachas in their client.

[@annarenfold438]

"No reviewer, players will never play in unpredictable ways, like you did! Players only play in specific (corporate) order and only do what WE expect them to do, because WE made the game!" lol

[@jedh3721]

there was probably a little blurb saying, "This character is not recommended for new players." which, I myself have ignored in several games because that character looks cool and sounds fun.

[@secularteejay]

I played the game following guides and I followed them strictly. It saved a lot of time on deciding which characters link skills I actually need, and after that foundation is set, then I can play a harder character.

[@death299]

@@jedh3721 there isn't, you can look up the character creation/selection screen. it has a difficulty thing but you wouldn't really assume that any of them would just casually omit the basic tutorial without warning either but rather that the class/story/whatever would just be more difficult and require better play and planning i exclusively jump into the hardest difficulty offered on game start, and i can't think of many that omit it without warning the player on selection that it is for advanced players and lacks a tutorial

[@ArtDadDraws]

Time to add a line "if you fail, or decline to pay based on concerns over the content produced, this contract is null"

[@635574]

Thee real problem here is that any content made about the game even if it wasn't made during the contract is still considered made from them.

[@HermanManly]

any and all contracts are only as powerful as the lawyer representing the contract holder, and and the amount of money available to fight in court.

[@Wolta]

@@635574 Ah, so they got the Nintendo logic. Do they also take down videos with their games in it if they never gave consent to make it? I think at least Nintendo stopped doing that.

[@MoistYoghurt]

​@@HermanManlyit's kinda sad how legal battles are just who has more money and time

[@lilwyvern4]

@@MoistYoghurt There's no legal case that's bulletproof, if you catch my meaning.

[@NyeoniOni]

It’s so out of touch for them to say “Kain will not be the first character players choose.” I can tell you with 100% certainty that if you make something available to new players, some of them will do it. If you don’t want them to start with Kain, you need to make Kain unavailable to them at the start.

[@ramblezreader8019]

"The law doesn't favor who is right. The law favors whoever is wealthiest, and has the time and the resources to engage in a long drawn out legal battle" is an extremely profound quote in itself

[@Wyzai]

6:00 Easy solution. Add a multi-choice tutorial. You click on a class, you are given the options of doing a full tutorial, a simplified tutorial or skipping the tutorial. I've seen other games do this and it makes sense to me. You don't want to make a veteran player play through the tutorial and you don't need to teach universal MMORPG mechanics to someone who's played several.

[@Rosebom]

iirc they do this, but not for Kain haha. They have so many classes the new player experience is really odd/different depending which one you pick. Like the graphics etc. will look/feel really different depending when they released or when the overhauled the class. Like if you play Zero for a first character, it'd be a nightmare for a new player imho.

[@marnenotmarnie259]

either that or make it so you have to unlock characters that aren't meant for beginners

[@IfritBoi]

Pretty ironic how the worst part of Maplestory is Nexon itself. Even the GMS dev team want to steer away from these guys but can't. Awesome game though, sad that Nexon doesn't try to even grow some balls for one of the best MMOtubers to review their game with honesty

[@hafirenggayuda]

Heard about Project KV? Yeah, Nexon is awful, but their -followers- audience wont tolerate traitors

[@pinkleWeenkies]

josh strife hayes quickly became one of my favorite content creators, he is an amazing person and i feel like i can see that with full confidence and hope, even though i dont really know him. thats how incredible he is , really . what an awesome guy

[@comyuse9103]

nexon owns some really cool stuff and its just a tragedy. like, i'm super interested in mabonagi, but i don't want to fuck with nexon's bad business.

[@Crablover132]

@@hafirenggayuda Rip Red archive 😭🙏

[@LeonmitchelliGalette]

@@comyuse9103 There is private project to maintain old mabinogi without Nexon stuff. You can easily find it. But yes - it's shame how such atrocious company got such brilliant projects under their control.

[@pedroveras12]

MMO players explaining anything: so, imagine a currency

[@nurgle-j5n]

haha

[@elgatochurro]

I just have fun

[@eon6274]

A bit of currency, as a treat

[@CPRANDOM2428]

Treating goodwill/integrity as a currency is actually a pretty common thing in a lot of business!

[@ckxii122]

@@CPRANDOM2428 It shouldnt, thats just toxic capitalism.

[@iPawsKatyt]

Thank you josh for being so transparent with sponsorships like these .

[@Gamerboi99]

Situation reminds me of another YTer who I no longer watch, strictly because they compromised their integrity, and the integrity of the games they were "reviewing". They started playing special builds of the games that the dev made exclusively for them, that included special powers just for them that were not available to normal players. It was a game and a channel I had been enjoying, and that made me not touch either again.

[@aleckbo]

LazyPeon?

[@NovaSnow8]

As someone that has played Maplestory off and on for years and seen how Nexon treats it's community, I'm absolutely not surprised on how Nexon and the agency reacted. Disappointed, but not surprised. Glad Josh held onto his values, even if that means we never get a worst MMO ever for Maplestory.

[@TheTingcat]

We may well get a Worst MMO for Maplestory. He'd just have to start from scratch - the content he made for the review video specifically cannot be released. He could absolutely make new content to dunk on Nexon. Not for a while though probably? I wouldn't blame him, this kind of stuff is exhausting.

[@PopeMical]

It's funny how they could of simply said they'd add better warnings to help newer players and get even better publicity for listening to feedback instead of what they did.

[@The_Azure_]

But that would mean spending money for something current customers would never see... Which is sadly a common thought process for most companies.

[@pushkar000]

No they can’t do it based on his comment. He’s a big influencer but he’s just an influencer. Then they’ll be on the hook for everything everyone says. What they should do is actually measure player base statistics, figure out where userbase drops happen, interview players and get their experience, playtest new and fun changes, then implement what they feel is best

[@oldred890]

@@pushkar000 "Then they'll be on the hook for everything everyone says" No... they won't? Why on earth would listening to one person make you beholden to everyone? This is like a slippery slope fallacy on steroids.

[@PopeMical]

@@pushkar000 Id argue there's a pretty decent difference between just listening to what an influencer thinks and listening to the feedback given by the person you were hoping to pay for their opinion on the game. Plus having Josh give a pretty positive review and saying you are looking into one of the main issues he had with the goal of ensuring new players have the best experience with the game is pretty a good advertisement without costing that much more.

[@KitsuneTheFighter]

​@@pushkar000 how does that make sense? by your own logic, if i told you to change you profile picture and you did so, does that mean suddenly anytime someone tells you to change something about your youtube account, you have to change it now? critical thinking: use it.

[@jyria4827]

Ez guide on how to sponsor Josh and have him make a video about your game: - Let josh do his thing and let josh give his honest feedback

[@MrJinglejanglejingle]

And then, as best as you can, take his feedback and try and implement the fixes and changes into the game.

[@MaelZack]

The problem is they got lawsuited for like 8 million for their shitty lying abusing gambling and reducing rates which earned them 400+ million… alone… its shame…

[@b1ackwa1tz2]

You said the contract was worded to define work produced by them and "paid for." In other words, if a painter is commissioned to produce an oil painting on a 10x10 canvas and completes the work as directed... but the commissioner REFUSES TO PAY.. that ART is the "PAINTER'S CREATION." That painter is not then required to throw all their time, blood, sweat, and tears into the trash!! JOSH!!! Don't let them do this.. you have enough currency in integrity to have everyone Fight this battle with you.

[@FalteredGreed]

I’m kinda bummed out that we won’t get the maplestory video. That description of the storyline sounds awesome. I’d rather Josh stick to his principles rather than just lying about things. There’s very few creators that I can think of who wouldn’t just remake the video asap.

[@ServingCuntOverCountry]

it's such a shame because as a Maple player that's one of the best starter questlines and it's off the table now for a future video.

[@Aurirang]

Maplestory has alot of good points, one being the story of the characters (the older ones actually getting one/getting a glow up) and the new ones being absolutely great. you have a good mix of teenage edge (Kain), overload of cuteness (the sheep-one) and generally epic (like the 6 hero-classes). The music is great, the artstyle is very coherent (even if some older maps do show their age) and alot of areas downright georgous. I'd love a video of maplestory and i always wondered why isn't there one? This is the prime example of the type of game for Josh to review. It's just sad, that the company making this game is nexon and they have absolute 0 integrity. They only give handouts if shit already hit the fan and even then it's a backhanded attempt at getting people more hooked. As example, there was a (for many games cataclysmic) lie about the rates of some gacha elements. Nexon willfully lied about the rates in which certain stuff appears (the truth being the rarer stuff being way lower). After a massive backlash, they gave everybody a new type of pet, for 30 days. (and only 30 days) You also had a very limited timeframe to accept it. (You got some more stuff, but the pet is the eggregius part) Basically, this pet had the ability to kinda vacuum all drops in a certain (rather big) radius, making it incredibly usefull when farming or leveling. And farming and leveling is a big part of the game, mind you. So.. later on, they released this pet in the cash shop. For 100$!! They got people hooked on the convenience of this pet and then sold it for an.. i'm failing words here.. blasphemous price. And many people bought this pet. And the worst part is, it's not permanent either. I'm not sure if it's 30 days or 90 days like other pets, but it was not permanent. So basically you bought a subscription to be allowed to vacuum up items for 100$. And they blatantly misused their apology for this scheme. That's about when i stopped playing.

[@SilphBoss]

This IS the maplestory video - it's the only way he can show it, by showing how shitty nexon is. It's perfect.

[@user-zu1ix3yq2w]

He totally could release the video but he’s being an ignoramus.

[@MrXwatcher]

I think a video would encourage people to play the game which is the last thing they deserve. Even if he made it super critical, existing players are too addicted to quit and some people would still be encouraged to try it out

[@lightningxiv-eb9rv]

It’s basically what happened with Lazy Peon. I still like him, but I don’t actively seek out his content anymore - I only watch it if it gets recommended. I understand his sponsorships with mobile games, but there were times, like when he was sponsored by Tarisland, where he completely avoided discussing the one issue people cared about: the cash shop and whether the game is pay-to-win.

[@giokun100]

Yeah, LazyPeon has been sold out for many many years now. I don't blame him for wanting to make money but as Josh said, he did it by sacrificing his reviewing integrity.

[@TomJakobW]

@@giokun100 gold-pilled and integrity un-based.

[@LeonmitchelliGalette]

Yes. He sold his reputation and got something valuable for him. But reputation is gone. His opinion on anything is just not worth anything anymore.

[@aurawolf664]

why am i not surprised a guy named "Lazy Peon" sold out? "For the Horde! (when it suits me)" amirite

[@5chneemensch138]

I'd argue it's worse that TLP just doesn't do good content anymore.

[@Evanz111]

You nailed it with audience trust being a currency. I think a lot of creators need to pay more attention to that, otherwise they can end up in some dangerous cycles.

[@IncredibleScott]

Truth. There’s some creators I follow who will go to all-expense paid sponsored events from the publisher, publish a glowing preview, game releases and as soon as the embargo lifts they trash the same game with multiple click-bait rage videos. Like really…how am I supposed to take these creators seriously when they don’t hold the same standards that they claim to stand by.

[@Evanz111]

@@IncredibleScott You just described Luke Stephens perfectly :’) but yeah pretty much, it’s such a shame to see.

[@TheGreyShaman]

A lot of the OGs already fell but the casuals are what keep them alive now. They used and abused us and got their target audience.

[@GarrettStelly]

I love the idea that "A new player" wouldn't do these things, but where they're shortsighted is the distinction between "A person who has never played Maplestory before" and "A person who has never played any MMO before" since I think we can all agree there are common tools and parallels in most games that share a genre. Did they even do any research into their audience?

[@LOL_BOTS]

Maplestory isn't the same anymore anyways. It went from a fun game to just grinding bosses for mesos once a week in hopes of getting lucky with your potential slots aka weekly slots. RIP free market

[@secularteejay]

MMOs were always grindy, but MapleStory is the king of grind.

[@Chyeahokay]

A video like this is far more damaging than the video made for them.

[@crowdemon_archives]

Oopsies

[@BryMoks]

Then it will be a good lesson to Josh for future contract. There should be a line in the contract, that if they do not like the video, they can reject to pay it but it can still be posted regardless. Since it is still hours of work he spent.

[@user-zu1ix3yq2w]

He doesn’t need their permission nor commission to make a video on maplestory. The contract doesn’t matter because there isn’t one.

[@AnotherAustin-z7b]

Then they will just ask him to make it and not pay him and get the video for free.. lol

[@vhfulgencio]

"the law doesn't favor who is right, the law favors who is wealthiest and has the time and resources" -´Strife, Josh ,2024

[@PrayingForTruth]

My take? Everything that we label as a "system" in this present world has a shady/ evil underbelly: legal *system*, educational *system*, financial (or banking) *system*, religious *system*, medical *system*, etc. Anyone paying attention is seeing the underbelly of each of them being exposed more and more by the day, which is refreshing.

[@Punkqurupeco]

@@PrayingForTruth It's not for the sake of being evil or shady It's all about money and it's the direct result of letting the most Greedy in charge

[@PrayingForTruth]

@@Punkqurupeco Those at the top of the heap don't need anymore money; it's power/ control that "they" desire. "They" make the rules, by which the masses are told to abide--and said rules are designed to keep us on the hamster wheel: downtrodden and poor. (But, again, it's not that "they" need our money; they just need us *not to have* money, because it's required by the rules/ systems that "they" have set up.) From my vantage point, there are evil ones running amuck, not even pretending to hide among the rest of us anymore; thus, I still contend that "they" are evil/ shady. (That description doesn't do justice to how bad "they" really are--and I'm not talking about people, but the evil ones who work with/ have control of them.) Perhaps this isn't the comments section for this subject matter, but I want more people to wake up and *really* start to see what's going on.

[@jadedstonedmonkey]

+1 subbed. Ngl don't know how I haven't watched your channel before. Well & clear cut, precise and efficient in getting across the video and authentically honest love it.

[@thepeoplesXD]

I just wish maplestory wasn't under Nexon's leadership. Shit was my childhood.

[@MrKlarthums]

If I had gotten into MapleStory, I'd almost certainly be playing private servers. It's what I did for Ragnarok Online because Gravity is pretty bad, too, but not as much as Nexon.

[@YToucat]

true I miss playing ms with my bros 😭

[@Epic501]

​@@MrKlarthumsthey do have their own solo self found servers but it does take something away from the experience

[@Georgeveen]

It has been a few years, but finally the MapleStory story has been revealed!

[@SleepyPitou]

As someone with Maplestory stockholm this situation sucks quite a lot. But i'm happier with you sticking to your guns and keeping your integrity than being able to watch a worst mmo video about Maplestory. Glad to hear that you enjoy the music btw. cuz thats the best part of the game

[@tobyteng7522]

I love the music too!

[@Jupex]

uninstall and get out, now. game was ruined yeears ago anyway

[@AngelScolarus]

This experience overall ties quite nicely with the quote from Josh's recent upload. *"Where ambition meets industry; passion is poisoned by greed"* MapleStory community are (rightfully) outraged at decisions and implementations done to the game at the corporate level, while the community team of CMs and *volunteer* moderators are caught in an impossible crossfire. Yet what keeps such riled up gamers playing? What drives the Community Team opening Discord one more day interacting with the playerbase when their collective pleas up the chain may feel doomed to fall upon deaf ears? It's everyone's collective passion for an overall better world, the vibrant stories told, the music invoking powerful emotions, and love for their individual studio of characters granting one another strength. Each avatar becomes a blank canvas to give a unique esthetique, name, and headcanon when experiencing a fictional world in endless adventures. Such devoted love is ripe for exploitation out of pure greed with every gacha pull after gacha pull, gear prog systems only missing a slot machine handle, and highly coveted prize events for those who do not miss a SINGLE consecutive day of attendance.

[@yungleary]

Maplestory is the most perfect example of how a company destroyed their own once highly enjoyable product.

[@JTruong3rd]

There's a slang we use as mabinogi players. It's called getting Nexowned.

[@AlanakaBlackCat]

those exist still!?

[@SemiOmni314]

@@AlanakaBlackCat There are dozens of us. DOZENS!

[@Rikarikun]

Can’t say I’ve ever heard that… and I’ve been around since g3

[@JTruong3rd]

@@Rikarikun I'm kinda surprised, it was a thing for the longest time on the Nexon forum whenever something goes wrong on Mabinogi or DFO, especially DFO.

[@Rikarikun]

@@JTruong3rd man... if what you're talking about is what I think it is, it's been a LONG time tbh. what you're talking about dates back to when maplestory was still misappropriating huge chunks of the budgets and resources from other games (including mabinogi).

[@SidMajors]

I don't think 'audience trust' is something they understand at Nexon....

[@McCaroni_Sup]

Depends _which_ part of Nexon you are talking about. The Blue Archive dev team under Nexon has a very high level of audience trust, to the point that the community took their side over some employees that left a while ago when controversy arose between them.

[@LunaPPK]

@@McCaroni_SupBA's community is kinda cringe but yea them taking nexon side didn't really matter much anyway since legally and KV was never going to pop off

[@McCaroni_Sup]

@@LunaPPK It does matter when we're talking about the trust of the audience, they're pretty well regarded in KR and JP. Plus the fanbase being cringe is irrelevant.

[@CybersteelEx]

Nexon Netmarble Netease the three Ns

[@RachelRoseMitchell]

'the cash shop was a bit egregious' understatement of the century ahaha. This whole thing is soooo typical of Nexon! As someone who's been Mapling on and off for literally eighteen years and has wanted to see Josh roast it for a long time, this is such a shame but not a surprise in the slightest.

[@secularteejay]

When he said "the cash shop was a bit egregious" I was waiting on an eloquent roast of the predatory practices used to get money through the cash shop.

[@TheMad78]

Never has an Google ad insert been more perfectly placed! "I checked the contract, and it said 'I am Invictus, by Paco Rabane.'"😂😂😂

[@adrenalineliberation]

Something that I was told was to get them to sign your contract vs. you signing theirs. That way you have the protections in place and don't have to add addendums and such

[@FishyFish-nm7nl]

Thank you for keeping it real in all your videos. I have played the game, got hooked throughout my life because I was a depression ass. It is very easy to get hooked, trying to catch up with people, playing 10 hours per day just to keep up with the content. So let me tell you what Maplestory is about in one sentence. Maplestory is a brilliant casino simulator

[@KnownAsKenji]

Pretty much. It used to be more of a game, but these days, them mass AoE spams be lighting up the screen like LED fireworks at a casino machine.

[@S.O.N.E]

Dodged a bullet, that online casino doesn't deserve grabbing more potential victims

[@MK_ULTRA420]

Woah dude, online casinos aren't as bad as Maplestory.

[@yksol8649]

maple is completely f2p in the west

[@KptnYggdra]

​@@yksol8649I can second this, nearly at 300 with my first ever character, Ark, though most level ups was during Events where I can just buy an item to instantly level up and I have a few cosmetics earned from prior events and I haven't spent a single cent on the game nor do I plan to.

[@secularteejay]

I only spent $20 on it, just for pets before you can get that shit with reward points. Now you can also revive your pet with reward points.

[@IanWeaver]

9:21 DEAR GOD THIS IS 100% TRUE

[@nayuta_23]

Imagine refusing free advertizing

[@marcturmel924]

'Sponsored video' reallyusually means; 'lie for us'...

[@nurgle-j5n]

yep the wise ones know to never buy something a streamer is selling

[@zac-1]

well no shit why would they pay someone to talk shit about them

[@looker999997]

Sponsorships are the "I have to advertise shady shit now to pay the bills, feel free to skip" segment, and by now the average user knows it. It's just a shame they can't have a little disclaimer for the kids, elderly and mentally handicapped who might not be in the loop.

[@umbaupause]

@@looker999997 It's really funny that for 99% of youtube sponsorships, the cynical question of "Okay, so now we avoid this product but how long until we know why?" is pretty much valid. Sometime later then, there will be an actual non sponsored review, and most of this stuff turns out to be horrible in the end.

[@howareyoumoreofaclownthanme]

@@zac-1 This is true on a surface level, but the answer is exactly what Josh said right at the very end: people who are confident in their product will pay even if there are criticisms of it. You can pay someone to talk shit about your product if you know full well you're capable of fixing it and will do so shortly afterward, and that only adds to the sense of legitimacy not only to your company, but to the reviewer as well. The problem is that there are a lot of companies like Nexon who simply want that legitimacy but don't want to improve their product at all. They just use a recognizable face and leave it there.

[@Nithraniel]

Josh is wise to not do anything risky with Nexon, seeing how much of a pain in the arse they've been with Ironmace (Dark and Darker)... Pure legal harassment

[@azazeldeath]

You are 100% spot on that who is right doesn't win. It's who has the most money that wins. I've experienced this a few times my "favourite" is; Renting a house here in Australia. We ask is the house in a flood zone? No, has it ever flooded? No. So couple of months later it rains, house is flooding. Not from the creek rather uphill. Next door tells us last floods in 2010 the house was completely underwater. All drains in the house backlog if it rains. The bath/shower combo takes hours to drain if you take a 5min shower....whilst human goop comes up through the drain. Black mould starts growing all through the kitchen. Bathroom. Loungeroom. We are reporting all this to the real estate. Then we ask for the back fence to be fixed. As its crumbled and anytime the wind blows it floats off into the air as little particles, looked stunning ngl.... fence guys come out to quote. Come into the back yard, colour drains from their face and they RUN. Turns out it's abestos. Was abestos corrugated sheets used as fencing. Fence is replaced but yard not cleaned we are over it. So many issues always promised to be fixed. We serve a breach. Nothing. It goes to court. We HAVE to represent ourselves due to some stupid legal bs. Buuuut real estate is large, so they can use a lawyer as the property managers, owner of the house and owner of the branch are too busy. We somehow win, great, they need to fix all issues, we can pay extremely reduced rent and get damages. We keep paying full rent as I felt something was off. Damages was to be 3 grand. They appeal. We lose, why? You used the kitchen, you should have cooked outside on the barbecue (that was tied into the mains without any regulator all homemade, was reported ofc), we used the shower (should have showered outside using the hose.....in winter... with no back fence and a clear view to neighbours), we used the house to live in we should have kept paying rent and got a hotel.....despite both of us being on disability pension. Not only did we have to pay back the damages that we hadn't received yet. We had to pay their court fees totalling 80k. We had to pay back rent for the entire time we lived there despite not only never missing a full payment rather paying an extra 70 a week to make a safety net for ourselves. We also had to pay THEM damages of 200k. I'm still deeeeeep in debt from that. We also got kicked out of the house mid term as "the owner is moving back in" didn't matter we showed it was being advertised for rental. Thats just SOME of it. So much more was wrong with that house. The list of dangerous or illegal breaches totalled 7 pages of single line faults. The rich always win. Yes the court is blind as they love to claim, blind to the suffering of any of the poors.

[@IDOLL_Dev]

omg I am so sorry! That's crazy, I can't believe they made you pay for all that - I really hope you don't get health issues from the mold and asbestos! 🫂

[@Altharionn]

This was infuriating to read. Justice is dead.

[@taienv]

Justice is dead, and Trump isn't going to fix it. If anything, he'll make it even more of a tool of the rich.

[@Elyseon]

Sounds like they need a visit from the UHC vigilante. Scum.

[@azazeldeath]

@@IDOLL_Dev it looks like I do, but for better or worse a workplace injury I got 10 years ago as a mechanic (forced to do something dangerous and all that very long story) will make my life shorter than the progression of either the asbestos or black mould, and yeah I've been trying to fight for that in court for 10 years, well trying to even get into court once would he great, between my lawyers and my old bosses lawyers it's been delayed over and over. As I said justice is only for the rich, no matter how right you are it means nothing.

[@wigleymusic]

I can't believe Maplestory is still around. I started when it came out in 2003 and played every day for 6 or 7 years, then on and off sporadically after that. I spent all my birthday and Christmas money on friggin Gacha hair coupons lmao.

[@doomsdaydreamer]

to be fair its really hard to not waste your time in early game, it's always good to have a guide if you're new since you can always miss some great stuff from events

[@facehugger8995]

Game companies don't realize even negative criticism helps improve their product as someone who works in and owns my own business I welcome feedback like this because if people never pointed out flaws how would I improve my product and ultimately make more money. There is no product or service provided by any company to this day that is 100% perfect you can always make something better. So when i see companies like bioware, ubisoft, ea and blizzard who seem to push back against their customers as soon as they get negative feedback I really think they stopped caring about growing their brand and just looking to make their portfolio look good for investors/share holders.

[@Altharionn]

So many game devs now freak out when they receive even constructive criticism, it's insane to me. The first thing you are taught when making art is that criticism is CRUCIAL to improvement and without criticism your chance to improve in a meaningful way is much smaller. When I criticize some of my favourite games because I want them to do and be better, people always instantly take it as a personal attack. I wonder when people forgot the meaning of constructive criticism...

[@JustinHampton-l5j]

They become so large that corporate interest takes over and you can no longer hear the voices core to improving the game.

[@VicPaganiTTV]

Played maplestory for years, music is BRILLIANT, artwork is absolutely STUNNING, the skill animations are fucking amazing. The core gameplay loop is really addictive and comfy. Problem is the game is EXTREMELY, RIDICULOUSLY grindy. Game also is an overdose of daily/weekly tasks.

[@RezaQin]

I remember going from 49 to 50 on my thief killing some small clock monsters for HOURS. Glad I dropped that game, way too much grinding.

[@wilkinlow]

You forgot p2w

[@shoking2677]

It's a shame because there's nothing really like it on the market. If only nexon wasn't such an awful company.

[@VicPaganiTTV]

@@shoking2677 YES. It's completely unique. The 2D game, the chibi art style alongside IMPRESSIVE character and monster designs. The music is so damn unique too.

[@VicPaganiTTV]

@@RezaQin nowadays you go from lvl 1 to 200 in a day, then grind until your fingers fall from 200 onwards.

[@typeomaiden4038]

I love GOG! I'm glad that you have a good relationship with them. Their games preservation focus is something more companies need to do.

[@BinhuBlues]

honestly, maple story should be demonized. They created the gacha in games, they should be heavy critizied and they had mutiple ilegal activities promoting "gambling" in gaming. so please take this in consideration when promoting one of the reasons we are living in an awful gacha/loot box ecosystem

[@RetroMaticGamer]

8:08 They had to pick one here. Either they paid you for the video, thus they owned it, or they refused to pay you, thus it's not their video. Does not matter what the contract says when they broke it - no money = no contract. No long legal battle will happen - just show the contract to the judge and he'll throw the case out and be done. Judges don't like to waste their time regardless what the expensive lawyers want.

[@DanielVisOneCade]

You know well it doesn't go that way. There'll be filings before it gets anywhere near a judge. It'll be cost in time and stress there's no way you wouldn't engage a solicitor/lawyer from the appropriate jurisdiction during the process. Even if it does get thrown out the time and money invested will not be returned too the content creator. The business wins by default simply by having both the retained legal department and the time in resources to expend in bringing the arguments. Josh has made the right choice scrap the whole project employe more appropriate wording in contractual agreements in the future. Make a video later with as much "monetisation" directed to himself as possible what ever that may be but not related to Nexon or it's representatives.

[@GGG_gaming]

i think the best argument would be the fact they "own" the video because he agreed to make it for them, BUT he was never paid so i could be considered a violation of labor laws since he made it for them and was unpaid, and the fact he pointed out in the contract being told to edit it was a violation of the contract now as he said... he does not have the money to fight a legal battle meaning he has no way of surviving long enough for that

[@cyh6092]

Shout out to bottom text.

[@ShadowRulah]

The point about "consideration" was that a contract where nothing is exchanged isn't enforceable. A contract that gives them the video in exchange for nothing is not a contract.

[@leetmaster1]

Totally respect what you said about currency and social currency. It's like you read "The Prince "

[@Spammit-ye4vw]

honestly I should watch more josh strife videos, your stuff is always super quality. loved your review of GW1 in particular because I have huge nostalgia for that game

[@bertyamgeebler1865]

This was like a lesser devil trying to con a fkn ascended paladin - josh's honor is beyond reproach

[@LordVerkins]

I do admit I love the MapleStory character designs, all of the artists who were hired to work on that IP did an amazing job. Nexon who owns the IP, well you know how most people feel about that company.

[@user-wj6jh1cd5n]

Funnily enough, Maplestory's artstyle wasn't even created by Nexon. Though it is impressive they've managed to keep it fairly consistent with how it was at launch for all these years.

[@LordVerkins]

Indeed, Wizets created the IP. At least the newer artists Nexon hires are doing a good job too.

[@Ysildea]

That all sounds about right and the maplestory experience when almost no one reads too and blazes to endgame and just gear progression is what most people care

[@Wrathful_Scythe]

You always have that one awful contract clause that makes you learn for the future. Heartbraking that a finished video had to be scrapped due to ownership issues with you getting fucked over for your time and effort.

[@SlusheeSSB]

What’s funny is I have never seen your content but this is the first video of yours I’ve seen. So you’re still making money off of this situation, regardless of the shitty circumstances, good stuff man.

[@candleeyed]

this is a big reason why i trust your reviews and content so much! you don't compromise your personal beliefs and values for money. it's a position not everyone can be in, sure, but i do appreciate that you put in the time and effort and sometimes even give up lucrative opportunities to preserve your integrity. it does suck about the maplestory video though :(

[@NxtReaper]

"Nexxon, not worth it." If I'm remembering correctly I knew that back in 08 or whenever when MapleStory had "purchases" for clothing that had a time limit, so I rented a fucking outfit for my digital little jackass.

[@Heriarka]

30 days with no option to keep it forever. The only cosmetic thing you could keep is a haircut. They were pioneers in the microtransaction world, meaning there was no real limit to what they could get away with yet.

[@ravenreignn]

This video and the one you made a while ago talking about the integrity to monetary value of sponsors is why you will always have my viewership and respect. The rest of your catalogue is just a bonus.

[@karotconcarne3325]

This right here ladies and gentlemen, is why Josh is a valuable content creator.

[@LucifeRxGoSu]

Because he doesn’t work well with advertisers ?? That’s kinda the opposite of a valuable content creator

[@karotconcarne3325]

@@LucifeRxGoSu Depends on what kind of "value" you are going for. If you want to make monetary profit off of the man and use him as a billboard, then I fully agree with you, he isn't valuable, but at that point, I don't care for that kind of... "content", you have game journalists for that. If you actually value truthful information on the other hand...

[@657fowler94]

First video I've ever seen of yours and honestly really enjoyed it. Subscribed instantly! Loved maplestory years ago!

[@nrcsean]

I watched your Albion review and that was what got me to try it out for the first time! So it's foolish of nexon to ignore that. Although I don't think the review of maple story would be as favourable of albions... Despite it's charm.

[@Multarix_]

Reminds me of Black Desert's starting regions. A new player is expected to start at stone chamber, but they give 3 options. 1 is expected, one is ehhh but it works well and the final is questing hell. 10+ hours of mindless talk to npc, run to next npc before you can get to anything worthwhile.

[@GeeGe.]

One of my favorite online games ever, Mabinogi, is owned by Nexon and I always get a bit sad when I'm reminded of that, because Nexon fucking sucks. Nothing surprising in their corporate holier-than-thou approach to Josh's contract, unfortunately.

[@LeonmitchelliGalette]

Ah~ If you want to know how Nexon sucks - just remember Mabinogi EU story~

[@kirbyman100]

When reforges got added to Mabinogi and them removing buying new pets outright made me just not wanna play anymore

[@McCaroni_Sup]

For me it's Blue Archive, which restored my faith in Nexon.

[@fr_og]

nexon is horrible they fumbled mxm and medal masters by being so profit driven and scummy

[@Readesu]

4:22 This is literally the movie paycheck. I thought I was having a stroke when you started describing this.

[@mikedrew604]

I was getting the backstory to Valiant Comics character Bloodshot. He's a nanite enhanced assassin with no memory. The early reveal that has him going rogue is that the memories that drive him to carry out assassinations aren't real. His handlers keep implanting new false memories that give him a reason to do the next job. Not quite the same, but a similar set up.

[@jessg3533]

idk why youtube is telling me I should watch Mr Darcy play video games, but I very much enjoyed the vibe.

[@plat6164]

Might I suggest doing a collab with someone who hasn't played maplestory and through their experience, compare yours with theirs. That way, you can still get your thoughts out about your experience while showcasing another new player's experience.

[@ziljin]

This Maplestory Situation is Insane...

[@OneMoreDesu]

Is it? Is it really? Tell me more.

[@limner123]

❤👏

[@Aurirang]

@@OneMoreDesu You could fill multiple studies with this game but to name a few things: - It's the birthplace of gacha. - If the famous horse-armour was eggregious, Nexon managed to make it worse by having a time limit on the purchasable cosmetics. (There's also permanent ones, but they have to be bought in expensive packages or gambled for in random boxes) -You can buy better upgrade materials in the Cash shop for real money (regular server) or ingame money (reboot server). - They lied about various rate of stuff like gacha rates, rank up chances etc. After massive backlashes, as in MASSIVE, they did give an apology gift. - said apology gift being my biggest gripe. It was a new type of pet that would vacuum up all drops around you. MS being a game where loot drops on the floor and you (or your pet) having to walk over was quite timeconsuming. So having a pet just vacuum it up, was very, very, very convenient. The pet had a timer of 30 days. - They later on sold this type of pet (about 1-2 months after they gave the gifted one) for a whopping 100$. And of course, it's still limited. -There are many more points like wanting to delete the reboot server (a mostly p2w-free server except for said pets) but that would pretty much kill off the entirety of NA and EU-Maplestory. But that would require some research i'm not quite willing to make for this game.

[@lilpullout]

bot comment

[@dragonproductions236]

"Media paid for" You were not paid, they voided the contract willingly.

[@SillyTillar]

He said in the video that if the company went after him, they have enough money and resources to bury him even if he is totally in the right.