Maplestory for Mac

The game Maple Story has been around a long time, and is one of the most popular free MMOs available to consumers. Numerous people download and play this game everyday, but sadly not everyone can enjoy this game.

The Mac user is left out, and is unable to join this growing community of gamers and play a very fun game. Many people agree that this game should be made available for mac users, here are just a few examples of people who support the cause:

quotes are from a forum site, here:
http://forum.nexon.net/MAPLESTORY/forums/thread/686369.aspx

Ganache writes:

"I agree with this. I'm getting a mac soon and don't want to shell out the extra money to be able to parallel PC programs. o_o. Macs are becoming more popular..make MS for macs, plz? x3"

RandomGuy139 writes:

"Agreed. JUST MAKE IT FOR THE MAC! :)"

OmegaProdigy writes:

"I completely agree...WE NEED A MAC MAPLE."

As you can see, these people any many more would like to see the game Maple Story available for the Mac computer system.

Opponents state that a Mac Maple story is not needed, referring to the fact that Mac users can run Boot camp or programs like Parallels to run windows and still play the game. But the problem with this argument is the cost for Mac users, Windows emulation programs like VM Ware and Parallels are very expensive (cost $80.00) plus the cost of a Windows XP disk (around $120.00). Even with Boot Camp (which is free, runs only on Intel Macs) you are still required to buy a Windows XP disk for Boot Camp to work. This is not fair to the Mac user because Maple Story is supposed to be a FREE game to play. It is unfair for Mac users to have to pay around 120.00 to 200.00 for a game that is free for everyone else.

Many game companies have chosen to make their games available for Mac. Games like World of Warcraft made by Bilzzard and Dofus created by Ankama have catered to the Mac user, even though this might have taken some extra work and time coding, these companies went the extra mile when thinking about their users. This games have gotten much of their popularity because of this extra effort that they put in to accommodate Mac users. I personally thank both of these companies for doing this.

1st Goal: 500 signatures

2nd Goal: 1,000 signatures

UPDATE: After I collected around 1,000 signatures. I sent a customer support email to Nexon about non-compatibility for Macs. Here is the letter that I sent them:

Dear Whom It May Concern,

My name is [my real name]. I would like to submit a formal request to Nexon, the creators of the MMORPG Maplestory. I realize that you are very busy and don't have much time to read emails that are sent in to you. I'm am writing this letter because I am in the minority. I do not own a PC that runs Microsoft XP. I am a Mac user. I'm not here to complain, I bet you hear enough of that already. I just want our voice to be heard...the voice of the Mac gaming community.

There are thousands of people that would like to be able to play Maplestory, individuals that would be able to contribute and enrich the growing Maplestory community. These individuals would be paying customers earning your company valued profits, no different from the PC users already playing now. Unfortunately, the way things are, the Mac user is left out. They are unable to join this growing community of gamers and play a very fun game.

I urge you to take some time to look over this petition that I created. At the link below thousands of Mac users have signed showing their earnest support for porting Maplestory to the minority computer operation system.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/maplestory-for-mac.html

In conclusion, I hope that you take into consideration what I have written. I know that your company has created a very successful videogame that many people around the world enjoy. I realize that the number of Mac users compared to everyone else is small. But the impact that you could make by creating a Mac compatible version of Maplestory would be enormous.

Thank you so much for your time,
Nexon game design fan,
[my real name].

This is the response that they sent back to me on my customer support ticket:

Greetings,

Thank you for contacting Nexon America's Customer Support team.

I am sorry that you are unable to play MapleStory on your Mac computer.

Unfortunately MAC is not compatible with MapleStory, please refer to our website Nexon.net for information if it will be compatible. I can also recommend that you can use the BootCamp program to run MapleStory, we cannot provide assistance with this program as it is not our product. Thank you and I apologize for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,

GM Raven
Nexon America, Inc.

Unfortunately, it seems that Nexon is not going to offer support to Mac users anytime soon. Adding further insult to injury I found out a free way to run windows on a mac (Intel Only) that does not require Boot Camp, VW Ware Fusion, Parallels, or a copy of Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or greater). The program is called WINE: Here is the step-by-step tutorial on how to install it:

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=17054

But Wait, don't rush off thinking this your "holy grail" solution. It is painful to say this, but even though WINE is an amazing way to run Windows programs. Wine does not work with Maplestory. WINE HQ has a compatible list of games that work with it but Maplestory (*sob*) it DOES NOT WORK with WINE! Maplestory received a "Garbage" rating...this means that unless Maplestory is officially ported for the Mac OS there will be no Maplestory For Mac.

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=17054