Growing up in the early 2000s, MapleStory was the one game that everyone was playing.
Those were undoubtedly the best years of my lives, except for when I struggled to plan my MapleStory training schedules around the endless maintenance breaks.
Like many others, I also recall my parents nagging about how MapleStory would never be beneficial to me in real life.
Well, I’m here to debunk those myths once and for all.
Here’s a list of 11 transferable skills I’ve picked up, thanks to all those years of Mapling.
Online dating was already a thing before the swiping frenzy that is Tinder.
Things back then were far simpler. No Netflix and chill, no Din Tai Feng (DTF), and definitely no need for individuals to ‘match’ before they start interacting.
All Maplers had to do was proceed to Channel 18, Room 18 at the Free Market to start chatting with their prospective online partner.
While there were no display pictures that gave us a glimpse of our partner’s looks, most of us simply appreciated the company.
Plus points for the heart-shaped animation that appeared every time we’re in close proximity to our virtual partner.
The party quests at Kerning City were a hot favourite among Maplers, but they also required Maplers to click like a fanatic to enter the quest,
Well, those clicking skills I attained through MapleStory are very much transferable to my life now.
Remember when tickets were first released for JJ Lin’s concerts? Well, like many of you, I didn’t manage to get them.
But I only have my slow fingers to blame, for MapleStory prepared me for that years ago.
Hands up if you’ve stalked some of the famous Maplers on MapleStory like MrYaNdAo and Ossaris.
Come on, don’t be shy. I did it too.
Even though we do not have the /find function in real life, we can all agree that MapleStory has sharpened our stalking skills.
Be it tracking down your partners when they fail to reply your messages at 2am or stalking celebrities in real life, we have so much to thank MapleStory for.
After all, stalking is Singaporeans’ third favourite past time, losing marginally to complaining and eating.
Even though many continue to struggle with their spending habits today, MapleStory was a great chance to practice managing our finances years ago.
Remember @Cash? The virtual currency that Maplers had to spend real cash on in order to buy exclusive items in MapleStory?
There were so many things @Cash could be spent on. Maplers could spend them on aesthetic items such as clothes and shoes, or try their luck by purchasing Gachapon items.
But wise players spend their @Cash on store permits to open their own store in the Free Market (FM), potentially earning them a shit-ton of mesos.
Chances are, that was probably their first financial investment right there.
The FM was the go-to place for Maplers to barter and trade.
While I certainly didn’t treat playing MapleStory as a ‘SkillsFuture’ assignment, it certainly gave us a glimpse of what to expect in the commodity trading field.
Anticipating supply and demand was part of the experience. Everyone knows assassins were the high-rollers due to their appetite for throwing stars.
We think Maplers who made a killing by hawking million-dollar Steelys in the FM were probably commodity trading prodigies in disguise.
If you were one of them, try putting that on your resume.
Most of us today would have gone through the experience of reformatting our word documents.
Be it bullets, spacing, or even page breaks, the reformatting process can be rather painful and unpleasant. #firstworldpains
But I’m a pro at formatting documents now. That’s because I spent many hours at the FM advertising my items, and cheating the systems with the “@” symbols, so my speech bubble stand out among the rest.
Those were pretty good times.
Sad to say, the Free Market has been removed since Feb this year in an attempt to “cater to the changing demands and challenges of the game service”.
Oh well, at least it remains in our hearts.
Remember the low ballers that plagued the MapleStory’s Free Market, offering ridiculously low offers for our prized items?
I can’t say for sure, but it wouldn’t come as a surprise if these are the very same people behind this low-balling profile on Carousell.
Dealing with these cheapos was a lesson in PR, and a good test of my anger management skills.
It also taught me key negotiating skills which proved to be extremely useful when I visited the night markets in Thailand.
If you’ve held a held a management position in your MapleStory guild, you will probably have learnt some useful skills that are applicable in your company today.
Guilds in MapleStory are very similar to real world businesses. Guild members come from a diverse backgrounds, just like the staff in your company right now.
Getting these people to do your bidding requires good ‘people skill’, which you probably have MapleStory to thank for.
Oh and don’t forget about those conflicts between guildmates that you had to help mediate. You basically got yourself a HR course free-of-charge.
Besides buying directly off the market, equipment in MapleStory may be attained at cheaper prices when forged from scratch.
Guess what other things require some DIY assembly now? The IKEA bed that I purchased for my new BTO flat!
Seasoned MapleStory forgers like myself can probably impress our spouses by assembling beds from scratch without any instruction manuals.
Did you struggle to fetch John’s pink flowers which required you to go through an impossible-to-complete jump quest?
Well, I certainly did. But my nightmare didn’t end there.
Jump quests made a come back in the NS, this time in the form of the infamous Standard Obstacle Course (SOC).
What’s at stake was slightly different though. While it used to be merely falling off a virtual ledge, my weekends were at stake when I failed to complete my SOC.
Nonetheless, jump quests prepared me mentally by giving me an early taste of what to expect during army.
Grinding levels on MapleStory can be quite a life-draining experience. After all, hitting the same monster for days on end can really take its toll.
As sucky as 4th job routines may be, we never keep our eyes off the end goal.
Likewise, whether it’s a job promotion or pay raise you’ve been eyeing for the longest time, we should always keep them in sight.
Just like how we did with our MapleStory levels years ago.
Most of us have many fond memories of MapleStory in our youth.
While most of us may have outgrown the game, we think it’s good to look back at what we’ve learnt, having come so far from those times.
For the overly attached Maplers however, there’s always MapleStory M to keep you busy once again.
Featured image from YouTube and MINDEF Singapore.
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