Hello to all the Nexon game lovers out there,

this is Jaepamin!

After getting home from work, I was playing MapleStory when a thought suddenly hit me: “Wait... am I basically living a similar life in MapleStory too?”

And to be fair, it made sense. I realized I was doing content in MapleStory that really wasn’t all that different from real life. Not as criticism or anything—I was just genuinely amused by it, so I wrote down the ways MapleStory feels weirdly similar to everyday life.

1. Clocking In (Attendance)

Just like scanning your employee badge on the way into the office, MapleStory has you stamp your attendance. If you forget by accident, there’s a pretty big downside(?), so I make sure to keep up with it every time.

One key difference, though, is that MapleStory actually rewards you for showing up. It’d be nice if real life worked that way too. 하하

1. Heading to the Worksite (Hunting Grounds)

Once you’ve clocked in, it’s time to head to your workstation, right? In MapleStory, that means reporting to the hunting grounds and working through the day’s tasks—daily quests and hunting missions.

If you don’t stay on top of it, you fall behind other players and your growth slows down. These days, I’m basically stationed here for 2–3 hours or more, doing my best not to get left behind. Sol Erda Fragments are pretty sweet, after all.

1. Business Trips (Bosses, Monster Park)

Once a week, I head out on a business trip through boss content. I do Monster Park and my boss runs as soon as it turns midnight on Thursday, so that day always feels especially tiring.

Still, the payoff can be satisfying when the work pays off, and I keep at it for that little spark of hope that maybe I’ll get a nice drop. So far, though, nothing yet.. When am I finally going to get one...

1. Self-Improvement (Practice Mode, Building Fundamentals)

Once I’m done with my Maple to-do list, I just mess around with whatever I want. Just like self-improvement in real life, in MapleStory that means practicing boss patterns for runs I want to challenge, or raising Union characters to really strengthen my account overall.

These days, I feel like I’ve already built up my fundamentals about as much as I can, so I’ve been focusing on practicing patterns for higher-tier bosses.

1. Paycheck + Shopping (Auction House)

I think using the money you worked hard to save up (mesos) to buy something you want and decompress is another part that feels exactly like real life. Picking up cosmetic items you’ve always wanted, or gear that makes grinding and bossing more comfortable, and improving your overall quality of Maple life—honestly, that’s important.

In my case, I recently got Janus to level 10 with the Sol Erda Fragments I’d saved up. It’s incredibly convenient—without needing to run all over the hunting map, I can just press a few buttons and comfortably handle what I need to do. It’s basically on the level of a dishwasher or a robot vacuum.

1. If Only This Were Real Too.. (My Home)

This is one part I wish were realistic too. It’s the My Home feature, and somehow the game hands out houses so easily.. In real life, even if you want one, it’s not that simple, which makes it feel a little bittersweet. So I keep living diligently, hoping for the opposite of realism here—some “game realism” in actual life.

What game do you think captures real-life realism the best? Thanks for reading!