Taking part in the Nexon PEAK Post Challenge

The first game I ever played was Pokémon Gold Version,
but MapleStory was the first game that really made me feel how fun it was to raise a character.
Back when I was in elementary school, most of my classmates were playing MapleStory,
so I naturally started playing too.

Looking back now, online games from that era
were actually pretty hard for someone who was completely new to them.
Even so, the fun of going on adventures with friends and watching my character grow
was what made me fall completely in love with online games.

🎮 Old online games were full of choices that could make or break your character

Back then, in MapleStory, the important choices started the moment you created your character.

On the character creation screen, you had to keep rolling the dice to get the stats that matched the job you wanted,
and if you wanted to play a magician, having STR and DEX set to 4 and 4 was basically the standard.
If you started without knowing that, it was pretty common to end up deleting your character and making one all over again.

As you leveled up, if you put points into the wrong stats,

or didn’t invest your skill points in the right order after your job advancement,
you could end up with a ruined character—in other words, a scuffed build.
When I was young, it was hard to know what the right answer even was,
so I had to learn bit by bit by looking things up online or asking my friends.

Of course, most online games at the time were built in a similar way,
and that trial-and-error process was part of the fun too.
Still, it’s true that they had a fairly high barrier to entry for people who were new to games.

📱 These days, even first-time players can jump in without much pressure

The environment for starting games has changed a lot these days too.
In the past, you needed a computer to enjoy online games,
but now anyone can easily start gaming on a smartphone, something almost everyone already has.
Personally, I think touchscreen controls on a smartphone
feel more intuitive for someone new to games than controlling a character with a keyboard and mouse.

In that sense, Mabinogi Mobile is a genuinely beginner-friendly game.
Thanks to auto-move and auto-progression features, you don’t have to spend your first few hours struggling with complicated controls,
and it also has thoughtful features for new players, like automatic gear equipping and automatic selection of level-up bonus cards.
Because it’s designed so you can learn the systems one by one and ease into them naturally, it feels much less overwhelming.

🌱 A game that starts to feel familiar before you know it, just by following the story

For someone who has never played a game before, the medium itself can feel unfamiliar, even more than the controls.

That’s why I like to explain games as an experience similar to movies or novels.
Rather than simply watching a story unfold, becoming the protagonist and moving through that story yourself
is, to me, the greatest charm games have.

The main story of Mabinogi Mobile unfolds as you follow the traces left behind by three vanished heroes.
Since it isn’t the kind of structure where the ending changes dramatically depending on the player’s choices, there’s less pressure around the story,
and if you keep following the quests, you naturally get used to both the world and the game’s systems along the way.

🤝Even if it’s your first time, you’re not alone

When you first start an online game, it’s only natural to run into things you don’t know.

Through events, Mabinogi Mobile frequently gives out Cheongong’s Sacred Horn Whistle, a world chat item.
Because of that, if you get stuck somewhere, you can ask other players questions without feeling too self-conscious.
In fact, if you spend a little time watching world chat, it’s easy to spot people answering beginners’ questions.

Also, until a character reaches max level, a sprout icon appears above their head,
so other players can easily tell that they’re a beginner.
Because of that, it’s easier to get help, and even someone trying an MMORPG for the first time feels a little less alone.

I think games, in the end, have to be fun if they’re going to remain a hobby you can enjoy for a long time.
Without the pressure of having to understand every system from the very beginning,
if you learn things one by one and simply follow the story, you naturally come to feel the appeal of games as a medium before you know it.

So if someone asked me to recommend the first game of their life,
Mabinogi Mobile is the one I’d want to recommend first.