Participating in the Nexon PEAK Post Challenge

The first game I ever played was Pokémon Gold Version,
but MapleStory was the first to show me how rewarding it could be to develop a character.
I was in elementary school, and most of my classmates played MapleStory,
so it felt natural to join them.

Looking back, online games in those days
could be quite difficult for newcomers.
Still, adventuring with friends and watching my character grow
was enough to get me hooked on online games.

🎮 Older Online Games Gave You Plenty of Chances to Go Wrong

Back then, MapleStory asked you to make important choices from the moment you created a character.

On the character creation screen, you had to keep rolling dice until you got the right stats for your chosen class.
If you wanted to be a magician, starting with STR and DEX at 4 and 4 was essentially the accepted approach.
Players who did not know this often ended up having to create their characters all over again.

If you put points into the wrong stats as you leveled up,

or allocated skill points in the wrong order after a job advancement,
you could end up with what players considered a ruined character—a failed build.
As a child, I found it hard to know which choices were right,
so I learned one thing at a time by searching online or asking friends.

Of course, most online games at the time worked in similar ways,
and trial and error was part of the fun.
But those systems also presented a fairly high barrier to entry for first-time players.

📱 Getting Started Is Less Daunting Now

The way we get into games has changed a lot, too.
You once needed a computer to play online games,
but now it is easy to start playing on the smartphones everyone carries.
Personally, I think controlling a character with a smartphone's touchscreen
is more intuitive for a first-time player than using a keyboard and mouse.

In that respect, Mabinogi Mobile is especially welcoming to beginners.
Auto-movement and auto-progression spare you the struggle of learning complicated controls right away.
It also has a good range of features designed for first-time players, including automatic gear equipping and automatic selection of level-up bonus cards.
You can settle in naturally as you learn the systems one by one, which makes the experience less daunting.

🌱 Finding Your Feet as You Follow the Story

For someone who has never played a game, it may not be just the controls that feel unfamiliar, but the medium itself.

That is why I like to describe games as an experience similar to watching a film or reading a novel.
The difference is that you do not simply take in the story: you become its protagonist and move through it yourself.
To me, that is the greatest appeal of games as a medium.

The main story of Mabinogi Mobile has you tracing the footsteps of 3 heroes who have disappeared.
Your choices do not dramatically alter the ending, which takes some of the pressure out of following the story.
As you work through the quests, you naturally get to know both the world and the game's systems.

🤝 Even as a Beginner, You Are Not Alone

When you first start playing an online game, you are bound to have questions.

Mabinogi Mobile often gives out the Sacred Horn of the Heavens, an item used for world chat, through events.
That makes it easy to ask other players for help whenever you get stuck.
Spend a little time watching world chat, and you will often see people answering beginners' questions.

A sprout icon also appears above your character's head until you reach the level cap,
so other players can easily recognize you as a beginner.
That makes it easier to get help and helps even those playing their first MMORPG feel less alone.

Ultimately, I think gaming has to be fun if it is going to be a lasting hobby.
You do not need to understand every system from the start.
As you learn one thing at a time and follow the story, you begin to discover what makes games enjoyable, almost without realizing it.

So if someone asked me today to recommend their very first game,
Mabinogi Mobile would be my first choice.