[쿠키뉴스] Reporter Moon Dae-chan = “Casino is a probability disclosure, Maple Story is a trade secret. Explain the probability manipulation and disclose it transparently.”
On the morning of the 25th, a truck stopped near the Yeongdeungpo Parliament Building. This truck raised by users of Nexon’s PC game’Maple Story’ contained a strong message of protest against Nexon.
On the 18th, the game update of Maple Story started.
Nexon announced that in relation to the item called’Fire of Reincarnation’, which improves weapon performance in the game,’we will modify all kinds of additional options that can be granted to items with the same probability’.
Accordingly, users raised the question of whether Nexon has been performing a’probability manipulation’ that gives options with good performance with low probability and poor options with low probability, rather than assigning probability as’random’ as previously known. The dictionary meaning of’random’ is’to make everything that can happen in the sampling of statistics happen with equal probability’. Nexon explained that there was no probability manipulation, but the opinion of users is that it has actually admitted that the probability was not’random’ through this update. Users have been raising suspicions of probability manipulation for years, and at that time, Nexon has stated that it is “applying the same probability.”
This is why users left a meaningful phrase on one side of the truck, “On the outside, the story of the sea when I opened the autumn leaves story”. ‘Sea Story’ is a speculative arcade game released in 2006, and it became controversial as it became known that it was possible to manipulate the winning probability and content of each player.
As the voices of users increased, Nexon announced an apology on the 19th.
Kang Won-ki, director of Maple Story, said, “For those who could not use the normal function of the Flame of Reincarnation item due to an error, we will investigate the existing usage record and provide a compensation plan as soon as possible.” On the 24th, a detailed compensation plan was also released in relation to the controversy.
However, users are firmly horned. Those gathered in the Internet community related to MapleStory are actively taking action against Nexon. He is pressing Nexon by participating in the ‘0 KRW Challenge’, which lowers the limit of charging his game money to 0 KRW, and the’Truck’s fundraising campaign’.
Due to this situation, it is highly likely that the passage of all amendments to the Game Industry Promotion Act (Game Act) recently issued by the National Assembly will also receive momentum. Amendments to the Game Act, initiated by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Sang-heon, included contents such as’mandatory display of probabilistic items’. Although the Game Industry Association protested that “the revision of the game law was focused on regulation rather than industry promotion,” there is an observation that it is difficult to prevent the passage of the law as users have consensus on probability-type items that promote excessive speculation. Some believe that Nexon’s sudden disclosure of controversial probability information is a move conscious of the amendment.
The National Assembly began a full-scale review and discussion on the amendment to the game law from the morning of the 25th. This is why Maple users chose the National Assembly instead of the Nexon office as the place to send their trucks for the first time.
Representative Lee Sang-heon said, “There has been no opportunity for domestic game users to come together and make a voice. It’s happening like a wildfire this time, but I heard that the game companies are very nervous.” “The game is made with the users. “I think users must speak out in order to make game companies respect users as members.” In addition, he expressed anticipation for the passage of the bill, saying, “Due to this incident, voices mixed with concerns that excessive regulations hinder commercial development even within the National Assembly have decreased.