So as a new player to MapleRoyals and Maplestory private servers in general, I recently learned about map ownership feature on this server. In my opinion, this feature is absurd and I was almost wrongfully banned because of it. Here's my story of what happened: After hitting lvl 50 on my mage, I decided to grind at Ghost Ship 2: Killing Slimys as recommended online. Because it was such a popular grinding spot, I was unable to find an open channel and simply decided to share a channel with an individual (let's call him player 1). Of course, I tried to minimize my disturbance on the player 1 by farming the Slimys on one side of the map, but of course, I got hit with the inevitable, "cc please". I explained to the player 1 that I can't change channels because all the other channels were just as occupied. Player 1 responded by saying he/she owns the map because he bought it from another player (player 2). This was what I thought was a bit ridiculous. How can a player have the right to buy or sell maps when they're open to any other player in the game to train in? Player 1 informed me that he will report me if I do not stop "kill stealing". Note that I was not "kill-stealing", I was merely trying to kill my own Slimys, but Player 1 as a high level magician, just teleports around the map killing all mobs in 1 hit. I did not think I was in the wrong and I did not trust what Player 1 was claiming since he/she clearly just wanted solo experience. Anyways, a GM was called in the map and informed me that I needed to switch channels because player 1 had ownership of the map. At this point, I was dumbfounded. I was informed that map ownership was a feature on this server and that it's a bannable offense if I share the map without permission from the map owner. Anyways, the confrontation ended with the GM telling me that I should've read the game's terms and conditions and use the command ~mapowner to check map ownership. But here's my issue, no where in the game term & conditions does it mention the feature of map ownership (and that players need to follow it), nor does it define what kill stealing is. What I was doing certainly was not kill stealing, if anything, player 1 was kill stealing from me. Frustrated by this fact, I brought it up to the GM. How am I, a new player, be expected to be aware that map ownership exists. It certainly didn't exist in retail, and I joined this server under the impression that it was a genuine v0.62 experience. The GM then brought up that I could've checked using the command ~mapowner. Once again, how could I possibly know that such game command even existed so that I can follow the rules accordingly? I certainly shouldn't be expected to follow this because although I agreed to the game terms and conditions when I made my account, this rule certainly wasn't part of it. TL; DR: Why does map ownership exist in the first place and how does a map become a player's property to sell? If the server was meant to recreate a genuine experience of 2008 Maplestory, this function wouldn't be in here in the first place. Secondly, how could new players like myself possibly know this feature exists, It's not even part of the terms and agreement. Furthermore, since it's not part of the terms and conditions, I don't have to follow it since I never "agreed" to this rule when making my account. Perhaps the terms and conditions and new player guides should be updated to include such a ridiculous feature.
The system is there to prevent the game from becoming a giant ksfest. It also makes the abuse reports clearer for the gms with such a command in place. As for your situation, even without the mapowner feature, you were in the wrong. You never even asked if he wanted to share a map and just started killing. Even in oldschool maple that would be frowned upon. Lastly, there is something to say for placing a list with all ~commands clearly on the site if there's not one there already.
The mapowner command exists to prevent ksing that's all. Think about it this way, imagine maps as pizzas. The way map ownership currently works is first come first serve, in other words whoever gets to the pizza first owns it. If someone were to randomly approach you and start taking bites out of your pizza you'd be upset too would you not? The pizza is yours and you shouldn't feel guilty for not wanting to share it, that's your choice. Even though you know you can't finish it all you should at least understand why that's considered rude behavior. I get that this server is suppose to recreate a nostalgic experience but some rules must be altered in order to make the overall experience better. Going by your logic we should let hackers free too because there were tons of them back in gms right? Of course not! As for how you're suppose to know about the rules, I know I shouldn't be the one telling you this but you're responsible for knowing them beforehand, you signed up to the game and agreed to the ToS so you have no one to blame but yourself. But regardless if you read them before or not doesn't matter anymore cause you know them now after this incident and that's what matters. Worst case scenario is a 3 day ban which you avoided by gming in-game. Don't be too discouraged, I'm sure you'll come to terms with the mapowner rule sooner or later when you encounter nasty people along your playthrough
I know how you feel, I was exactly the same when I first started playing. I read a lot on the forum and often seen people talking of mapownership but I never really understood it or how it worked, took me a long time to get my head around it because just as you've stated I couldn't find anything on the forum explaining it. The mapowner system has its bad points and its good points. Mostly it's a good thing, I'm not sure how your Maple life was on the original game but I had played on Scania in GMS and it was overly crowded, could never train due to the KS wars going on, it was horrific! At least on Royals we don't have this issue. Map selling I dislike but people will do anything to make a bit of meso I guess. Not everyone does it but you'll find people are willing to pay for ownership of the popular training maps. Royals staff don't support this and there's no guarantee the map ownership will pass to the buyer so map selling isn't what the map owner system is made for. Sorry you've had a bad experience but don't let it put you off, for the most part it's for the greater good.
I actually can't disagree with you harder. I don't think this server or any server for that matter would last without map ownership & the way it works as of right now. I just don't want to see this server where anyone can kill any mob on any map. Maps like the end-game skele map for bishops would be utter chaos & a huge cluster fuck of KSing & rage. Once you get to skeles, you will realize just how popular that map is & just how healthy buying / selling maps really is. The server I played before this had a rule against selling of maps & made it so end game maps like the skele map were just shuffled around a circle of friends, making it pretty much impossible to obtain a map. And to be fair, what you said wasn't in the T&C actually is in the T&C, stating that you cannot kill steal. Regardless of if you think you were or not, I guess ignorance is bliss when you were trying to train on a map where it sounded like a bishop was selling leech? I do however agree w/ what you said at the end there, except I think that it's a ridiculously nice feature that I think is essential to the game.
Hey guys, I feel like I should clarify what I'm saying because it wasn't well stated in my original post. I'm not complaining about the implementation of this feature. I have no doubt that this helps prevent what Chawlay calls "a huge cluster fuck of KSing & rage". I completely understand. What I am complaining is the lack of information provided on the website, the forum, in game, or even in the terms and conditions to inform new players that such feature exists. How am I, as a new player, expected to know and follow these rules, if I was expecting a genuine retail experience? I'm merely suggesting that the idea of map ownership, the rights of a map owner, punishment, and reinforcement need to be explicitly stated, especially in the terms and condition. The thing is, in old school maple, it would be frowned upon. I know that. But so would be not sharing when there are no other channels available. I just wanted to level up and I know that as a lvl 51, it would've taken me a long time to kill them. That's why I stuck on my side/corner of the map. I know that by the time I finish killing just 4 or 5 Slimys, the rest of the map would have already respawned for him to kill. As far as I know, that's not "kill-stealing" because I'm only trying to kill my own mobs. Luckily I didn't get banned but I'm bringing this up because there is nothing in the Terms and Conditions that I agreed to that states this. If you read through it again, it doesn't have anything regarding map ownership, why I should follow it, and the punishment for not doing so. Even if I agree to the ToS, I'm not agreeing to this rule because it's not in there. That's the point I'm trying to make. How can new players be expected to abide by reinforced rule if it's not even stated in the rule book? Yes T&C states that you cannot kill steal, but no where does it define what kill stealing is. As far as I know, what I was doing was not kill stealing. I mentioned this above but I was merely killing my own 5-6 slimys on the corner of the map while the mage has access to the rest. Because kill stealing was not explicitly explained, I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. The actual rule on map ownership is NOT stated in the T&C though, and this is the rule GMs and other players are reinforcing. How can I, or any other new players, be expected to know and follow this if I originally started playing expecting a genuine retail experience. I'm saying that this rule should be updated, added, and explicitly stated if players with good intentions are getting banned without them knowing why.
I’ll try my best to answer some of your questions. It exists primarily as a unique feature to curb the issue of kill-stealing. An unintended side-effect of granting ownership of maps + willing buyer & seller. What good would it serve to preserve a “genuine experience” like kill-stealing? Agree with you that the existence of the map-ownership function isn’t explicitly stated in the T&C per se. That is probably why players are being asked to explain what map-ownership is for a kill-steal report to be valid. More details of it can actually be found in the Report Abuse sub-forum (link: https://royals.ms/forum/threads/new-report-abuse-format-for-ksing.57289/). That’s your opinion. Consider a situation where the map owner is a high-level character who’s capable of clearing all of the mobs before they respawn again. You being there denies that person of the experience points that they could have rightfully gotten, isn’t it? I agree with you that sharing of maps should be encouraged but I also think it’s basic courtesy to ask for permission before you go about killing mobs in someone else’s map and respect their choice if they’re unwilling to share. As much as I dislike map buying/selling and the lack of sharing, I guess these are a necessary evil to eradicate kill-stealing.
I tried fighting the map owner system a while ago by getting the time reduced from 3 minutes to 1 minute. Don't bother. It is better to find alternatives and let the snowflakes be snowflakes.
I'm pretty sure it has been brought up before that it doesn't say anything about the mapowner command in the ToS. I don't know why that hasn't been changed. Seems pretty important to me.
