It's time to go

It's been a long journey.

Everything began when I joined a Korean P-server named Oldplanet in July 2016. I never had a proper experience with old-school Maplestory and this server brought back so many memories. Even as a uni student, I burnt night hours to grind on this 1/1/1 hardcore server but after 1 month, when my I/L mage was 1 hour away from reaching the dream goal of LVL 120, the server announced its shutdown. I was devastated and planned to never go back to any pre-server. It didn't take long to change my mind until one of the refugees from Oldplanet contacted me, saying that they needed a bilingual player who can assist with English-Korean translation as they planned to try the most stable but GMS-based server. I was reluctant at first but the longing for unexplored parts of old-school maple pushed me to give Royals a try.

Things escalated from there. Although the server was full of glitches and lags, we all enjoyed the contents provided by the server. In order to help all the fellow Korean players who had language barriers, we created our guild Newplanet, with the implication to succeed Oldplanet, which lasted over the past 4 years. I was perhaps one of the most casual players until Royals was struck by the Newsource. As I was one of the only few (max 10?) who stayed loyal to the server even in its most broken state, I had the opportunity to grind alone for months before the main features of the server got repaired. I befriended many people around this era and many still remain good friends to this day.

A little into 2017, I was mesmerized by the anti-RWT work on Hitta conducted by Shiyui and our admins. This gave me the motivation to dive into the unasked police work of Royals. During mid 2017~2018, I reported so many fellow boss runners that some even avoided me at their raid parties. People weren't as smart back then and left so much evidence as if pleading to be reported. Imagine a corsair who never dismounts in Zakum but shows 29999 HP after 1/1 skill. There were rumors that I reported anyone who whited me at HT (half-true to an extent). I simply couldn't watch the cheaters ruin the game I loved so much. I was extremely persistent when it came to chasing suspects and I'm still proud of reporting the 30% no boom glitch that began even before Crowley's era.

Spoiler: cough

We know 2 more people who abused this glitch and you know who you are. It's not a coincidence you 2 disappeared right after Crowley's ban and reappeared months later when things became quiet again.

My vigorous search for cheaters raised many anti-fans as well but I hope my contributions to the server helped with its longevity in any indirect way.

The only reason I stayed in royals after reaching all my goals was because of my guild, the one I created myself. After most of my old guildies and friends left, catering and watching the new generation of Korean players grow was the only source of joy. Through the years, many new generations' guildies succeeded the old and each brought a new atmosphere. There are always bad beans among the goods and my heart became more rigid as I tackled through the rough encounters with them. During these times, I was mostly alone while battling numerous groups of toxic individuals. My guildies never realized that peace was only granted at the cost of their guild master's time and emotion. I eventually reached a point where I don't express myself in a way that can be nitpicked by anyone. This sort of communication appeals less friendly and more formal in the official guild chat. Without realizing it, an invisible wall was built between me and my guildies. The way I expressed my opinions sounded too neutral for those who needed empathy. I still tried my best to do my part when I was in need and because I was always on the providing side, I had this hope that they'd remember my consideration and understand my stance even in unfavorable times. Whenever I was triggered or joked upon, I never retaliated as I didn't wish to ruin the mood. Only recently, I found out that my style of communication was outdated and only led to further distancing from my guildies. There definitely was room for improvement from my side but I felt a generation gap that couldn't be closed within a short time. It reached a point where discussion or general chat with my guildies led to more stress and concerns than joy, that I decided I'm unfit for this community. With that decision, I lost the reason to remain on this server. Hopefully, the remaining members of Newplanet will rebuild it to a better shape and succeed the original spirit.

I won't mention the names of friends as there are too many that I met during my journey but you all know who you are and I cherish the memories you built with me. Royals still has many obstacles to overcome but there's still good hope with a great community as its backbone. Don't give up and make this server a better place for future generations.

@Matt Although many bashed you as a bad leader, I always told everyone that you are the best sustainer a server can get. I still remember early 2017 when you were constantly mocked by countless angry players for the Newsource failure but you never retaliated. Instead, with patience, you rebuilt this server from the ashes to a remarkable shape. That dedication and perseverance made me and many fellow Korean players choose this server over many others. We still narrate this incident with pride when we introduce Royals to a newcomer. Keep up that spirit and stay firm with your blueprint of the server.


I hope to visit again. Happy Mapling.

 

Thank you for everything you have done for the server and our community ❤

 

Good luck in your future endeavours!

 

Thanks for everything, and wish you the best!

 

see ya

 

Thanks for making royals a better place for everyone!!

 

Sad day. I always appreciated your thoughtful posts; you never seemed eager to get swept away by mainstream ideas, but always argued in a nuanced and reasonable way for your views. I feel fortunate that you've been a member of our community, and I wish you the very best!

 

Good luck, uncle sparky

You'll always be my first friend on Royals.

 

Good luck with whatever is up for you now! Ty for helping me and many other with advice, skillbooks and much more. Don’t be too hard with yourself.

I hope you’ll make a comeback one day!

 

All the best to you!

 

good luck sparky
We'll miss you

텐가쿠 캐릭 키울때 120까지 죽둥에서 쩔해주셨던게 아직도 기억에 남네요.
난생 처음으로 해본 해외 메이플이라 모든게 낯설었는데, 오픈톡방에 궁금한걸 물어볼때마다, 항상 친절하게 답해주셔서 정말 감사했습니다.

 

Have a good one Sparky, thank you for helping me out when I started playing Mapleroyals and inspiring me to help others once I got myself established. Hahaha, I was one of those 10-20 active players during the beginning of New Source when nothing but LPQ and area bosses seemed to work right, but those were still fun times!

 

Big big sad
Thank you so much Sparky for being the best person I've known in Royals. I really can't count how much help I got from you.
I wish you the best wishes and really hope to see you again in royals someday in the future!

 

I'll never forget when sparky would follow certain players (his friends presumably) to try and get the GM's attention to land on their platform in RR. haha

 

We never interacted in-game or outside, but I’ve only heard good things about you from Rich and really admire your knowledge and prose. I’m sorry to see you go! Best of luck with everything moving forward. I’m an extremely new player when looking at how long you have been here, but your dedication to the server is something even I can see and I thank you for all that you’ve done.

(Edit: Forgot you are a DK player. Farewell my brethren..)

 

I enjoyed our ride maybe just a little too much.
This is something I'll miss and remember.

Thank you for being the most insane Royaller & an amazing buddy throughout.
Let's play some other games someday in the future.

Have a good one.

 

Wishing you all the best Sparky!

 

Sparky nooooooooo