A sad 75 percent of (expensive) MapleStory marriages end in divorce

And you thought the 50 percent divorce rate of real marriages in the U.S. was bad. Nexon reports that, of the 26,982 in-game MapleStory marriages, 20,344 (or 75 percent) end in annulment. And those in-game betrothals aren't cheap--each union in the free-to-play MMO (massively multiplayer online game) costs $25 in Nexon Cash, the South Korean developer's paid currency.

After seeing the massive (and kind of depressing) divorce rate, the Nexon community team turned to its players to find out just what was up. And while the company didn't find out much, it did uncover some hilarious somber stories. Take Seth, a 19-year-old MapleStory player from Colorado Springs, Colo:

    My former Maple spouse and I started off great; going on party quests together, boss runs, training, helping each other become better Maplers. Then I realized after a while that she was only out there to get free things off of me and we got in this conversation where she admitted to this accusation, so I decided I would have to annul our Maple marriage.

MapleStory matrimony
Here's a pro tip, kids: Think hard before marrying someone online whom you've yet to meet in person. Sure, it's all in good fun ... right until you start to share account information and lose all your goodies. (Another major no-no.)

"Getting married in MapleStory can be quite a fun event for the happy couple and their friends," MapleStory producer Crystin Cox said in a release. "While it looks like our players break up at a much higher rate than people do in real life, at least our players are not on the hook for alimony."

Fair enough, we guess. I think it's safe to assume this feature won't make it into MapleStory Adventures, which debuted on Facebook just over the summer, a version of the game I enjoyed immensely (and so do over 3 million monthly players). But with stats like this, consider it good news that this feature won't see the light of day elsewhere.

[Image Credits: Ylwong, Phame]

Have you ever married someone in MapleStory? What do you think of marriages in games like MapleStory, and would you like to see this feature come to the Facebook version of the game knowing the risks? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment

Other Games, News Add Comment MapleStory Adventures hits over 3M players, new classes coming soon

You'd think an astronomical divorce rate would scare players away, but nay. Nexon announced today that its first crack at Facebook games, MapleStory Adventures, has touched the chibi-loving hearts of over 3.2 million monthly players. While this number pales in comparison to the 100 million players that have jumped into the original game, it's impressive considering.

But not necessarily surprising. First of all, have you ever met a MapleStory fan ... or should I say fanatic? Second, the "click things and cute things happen" approach could certainly keep players hooked. Now that the Facebook version has roped in a few million, we imagine the Korean studio looks to bring its 414,000 daily players, according to AppData, up closer to six digits.

And what do you know, the company just announced that new classes are coming to MapleStory Adventures to give players more variety to work with than merely "Magician" and "Warrior." (Admittedly, classes are a bit lean at the moment.) While Nexon didn't reveal any specifics, we hope the new classes somehow involve adorable dragons ... somehow.

In addition to the recently-introduced Sky Scraper area, Nexon plans to add multi-character slots, personal spaces that players can customize and to localize MapleStory Adventures in Spanish, French, German, Chinese and more. In short, this is Nexon's way of saying: Stay tuned, because there is plenty more to come. We guess some 400,000 of you have no issue with that.

Have you been playing MapleStory Adventures on Facebook? What do you think of the game so far, and what classes do you hope Nexon adds to the game? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment