Inkwell on the Future of Global MapleStory and Classic World

CPO Hanbyeol Oh, better known to Maplers as Inkwell, meets with Jaime from the Nexon America Team to discuss the evolution of Global MapleStory, the origins of Classic World, and how both experiences will grow side by side.

CPO Hanbyeol Oh, better known to Maplers as Inkwell, meets with Jaime from the Nexon America Team to discuss the evolution of Global MapleStory, the origins of Classic World, and how both experiences will grow side by side.

There is one name that has been continually brought up amongst MMORPG players lately: Global MapleStory Classic World.

Classic World is drawing attention as a project that brings players back to an earlier era of MapleStory, while making it clear that its goal is not simply to recreate the past. At the center of the project is Hanbyeol Oh, CPO (Chief Product Officer) at Nexon America, better known to MapleStory players as “Inkwell.”

Nexon America's PR team spoke with Inkwell about why he chose to return to MapleStory, where Classic World came from, and where he hopes to take Global MapleStory in the years ahead.

As I thought about how Global MapleStory could take another meaningful step forward, I began looking at the service from a broader perspective, and one issue became increasingly clear to me.

MapleStory has been operating for more than 20 years, and in that time it has accumulated an enormous amount of content and systems.

For players who have stayed with the game for a long time, that creates tremendous depth.

But the situation is very different for someone who played MapleStory 10 or 15 years ago and is thinking about coming back.

We heard comments like:

“I want to come back, but the game looks so complicated now that I do not even know where to start.”

And even when returning players did come back, it was not uncommon for them to struggle with the number of systems and mechanics and leave again relatively quickly.

I also felt that the same complexity could make it difficult for completely new players to understand the game and find a comfortable way into MapleStory for the first time.

At the same time, we continued to hear strong demand for the simpler experience of early MapleStory.

That led me to a question:

“Could we create another pathway into MapleStory?”

Rather, I wanted to create another way to experience MapleStory - something with a lower initial barrier, where returning players could reconnect with the game more naturally and new players could also find it easier to discover what makes MapleStory special.

That was the fundamental starting point of Classic World for me.

And at the same time, I believed that if Classic World could bring a new group of players into the MapleStory ecosystem, it could create a foundation for Global MapleStory itself to grow alongside it.

From that point onward, of course, it became something we had to build as a team.

Some players believe that if something is called “Classic,” it should recreate the old MapleStory exactly as it was. Is that the direction of Classic World?

Our thought process is a little different for Classic World.

Our goal is not to recreate MapleStory from 20 years ago on a one-to-one basis.

Classic World includes not only me, but also Nemi, who was deeply involved in the original MapleStory game design, and Dr. Lim, who had led MapleStory’s art direction since before the Big Bang era, along with other people who were directly involved in early MapleStory and understand the game extremely well.

At the very beginning of the project, Nemi and I worked together to establish the fundamental direction and structure, and over time, veterans who had worked on MapleStory in the past began returning to participate in the project as well.

Because of that, one of the questions we find ourselves asking more often is:

"If we had the opportunity to make Classic World back then, knowing everything we know now, what would we have done differently?"

We want to preserve the emotion and core experience of early MapleStory.

But there were also things we could not do at the time because of technical limitations or development schedules, as well as stories and systems that we never had the opportunity to fully develop.

We want to continue those ideas in Classic World.

So rather than simply reproducing the past, I think of it more as continuing and evolving the possibilities that early MapleStory originally had.

I think Global MapleStory and Classic World are designed around very different kinds of experiences and play styles.

Classic World, on the other hand, is intended to offer a more relaxed and social experience, with a greater emphasis on enjoying the world and the people around you at your own pace.

We want it to be a place where talking with friends, making steady progress, or simply spending time in town can all feel like meaningful parts of the gameplay experience.

In that sense, I sometimes think of Classic World as a kind of comfortable place to rest within MapleStory.

The goal is to design Global MapleStory and Classic World to complement one another-not compete with or cannibalize each other.

Ultimately, we want to welcome players with different tastes and play styles into MapleStory and expand the overall Global MapleStory audience together.

A fresh beginning with a modern approach.

Yes.

Internally, we sometimes talk about “the beauty of taking it slow.”

A lot of online games today are built around very fast progression, constant updates, and competition.

We intentionally want Classic World to feel somewhat different.

We want players to be able to step away for a while and come back without feeling, “I am hopelessly behind.”

We want spending time talking with friends or simply exploring the world to feel meaningful.

If you remember early MapleStory, leveling was not necessarily the only thing that mattered.

Talking with someone in town, waiting for a ship together, or wandering around without a specific goal and discovering a new place could all become meaningful memories.

We want to bring that sense of meaning back with Classic World.

Of course, that direction will not be for everyone.

Some players may find it slow or even a little uneventful.

And that is okay.

Not every MapleStory experience needs to provide the exact same kind of enjoyment to every player.

Yes.

We do not want to operate Classic World by simply releasing content as soon as it becomes available.

We want to give players enough time to experience each stage of progression and the community experience that exists around it.

I also think that if we want to preserve the game’s simpler nature, rapidly stacking content on top of content is not always the best approach.

That doesn’t mean we are unprepared for what comes next.

We already have a number of future updates prepared, while continuing to develop new ones.

The important question is not simply, “How quickly can we release this?”

It is:

“When is the right time to introduce this content for the Classic World experience?”

No.

Content such as 3rd Job or certain regions may be introduced sequentially where it makes sense.

But we are not planning to reproduce every piece of historical MapleStory content in exactly the same order.

Some content will be selected, some may be adapted to better fit Classic World, and we will also create completely original content.

We have already shown some examples during our previous Closed Online Tests, such as Forgotten Hollow and the Citizenship system, which were created specifically for Classic World.

At Grand Launch, players will also see another completely new piece of content.

We are also working on a new boss.

But if I say too much here, I may not have anything left to talk about at MapleStory Fest. (laughs)

We plan to share a more detailed look at the post-launch roadmap at MapleStory Fest in October.

Monetization is another area that players are concerned about, particularly whether Classic World could eventually become P2W.

I am very aware of that concern.

At the same time, P2W can mean very different things to different people, so I do not think it is easy or necessarily useful for me to define it in a single sentence here.

What I can do is explain the direction I personally believe Classic World monetization should take.

In an experience like Classic World, the time players invest is itself a fundamental part of progression- the progression should feel earned through time and effort. Because of that, we want to avoid selling Cash Shop items that directly affect character stats or growth.

Our basic approach is to focus primarily on cosmetics and appropriate convenience items.

It is also important that monetization does not make players feel that the value of the time they have invested in the game has been diminished.

Ultimately, we want to build a monetization approach that players can feel comfortable with, while supporting a healthy and sustainable future for Classic World.

You have emphasized several times that Classic World is not intended to be a short-term nostalgia project. Why is that distinction important to you?

If our main objective were simply to capitalize on short-term demand from players who miss old MapleStory, many of the things we are preparing today would look quite different.

For example, we are working on multilingual support, macOS support, and game controller support.

All of those require meaningful development resources.

If we were thinking only in the short term, it might be far more visible to put those resources into one more quest or one more boss.

But our time horizon is not just the first few months after launch.

We are looking at how this experience can continue to grow as part of the bigger picture three, five, and ten years from now. And that is not a conversation limited to Classic World-it is also part of how we think about the long-term future of Global MapleStory as a whole.

That is why we believe it is important to build a foundation now that allows more people to access MapleStory.

Rather than reacting too strongly to short-term success or failure, we are more focused on what we need to prepare today so that the experience can continue to be loved years from now.

Classic World may begin with nostalgia, but it is not a project that ends with nostalgia.

How large is the Classic World development team today? Did you move resources away from the existing Global MapleStory team to create it?

We did not build Classic World by reducing the existing Global MapleStory team.

In fact, we have continued to maintain and expand the Global MapleStory organization, while hiring additional people and building a separate development group for Classic World.

At the very beginning, Nemi and I were primarily responsible for the initial design and early development, and over time, veterans who had previously worked on MapleStory also came back to participate in the project.

Today, we have a small team specifically assigned to Classic World, and we are running Global MapleStory and Classic World-related development in parallel.

That said, realistically, we are not currently in a position to put as many resources into Classic World as I personally would like.

With everything I would like to do, there are never enough people. (laughs)

But if the project grows well and is received positively by players, I hope that will also help us make a stronger case for greater investment in the project.

If that happens, I think we will be able to show players much more over time.

I see it as one of the many things we need to prepare if we want MapleStory to continue being loved for another 10 or 20 years.

From time to time, I hear stories about players who met through MapleStory, got married, and started families together.

Those stories make me immensely proud.

About ten years ago, at an anniversary event, I said that I hoped MapleStory would someday become a game that parents and children could enjoy together.

Some people laughed at the time. (laughs)

But now I think that moment has actually arrived.

People who played MapleStory 20 years ago are now parents, and we have reached a point where they can share the game they enjoyed growing up with their children.

That is very special to me.

So the goal today is not simply to build next year’s MapleStory.

We are asking:

“What should we be preparing now so that people will still be talking about MapleStory 10 or 20 years from now?”

Continuing to improve Global MapleStory is part of that.

Supporting new languages and platforms is part of that.

And Classic World is also part of that process.

Classic World may look back toward the past, but ironically, I think of it as a project designed to help prepare MapleStory for the future.

Classic World will not be exactly the same as the MapleStory you remember.

And I think that is a good thing.

We want to respect the emotions and experiences players loved about MapleStory, while also creating things we were not able to back then.

For some players, I hope it feels like returning home after a long time away.

For others, I hope it becomes an entirely new world where they experience MapleStory for the first time.

And when we look back several years from now, I hope Classic World is remembered not simply as:

“the place where we played old MapleStory again,”

That is the Classic World we want to build.