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| CATEGORIES ABOUT NEXUS: THE KINGDOM OF THE WINDS | |
| massively multiplayer online games | |
| video games developed in korea | |
| nexon corporation | |
''Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds'' (, currently run in the US by Kru Interactive. Nexus began as a U.S. version of the Korean game 바람의 나라 (''Baramue Nara'', or simply Baram) developed by NEXON Inc. of Korea, and is loosely based on Korean mythology and on a series of graphic novels by an artist named Kim Jin. Development of Baram began in Korea in 1994 and the game was released in 1996 . One year later, it also entered Beta in the United States, going commercial in 1998 . In 2005, the US subsidiary of NEXON changed its name to Kru Interactive and took over running Nexus, Dark Ages, and Shattered Galaxy as an independent company. Most of the employees of the subsidiary were laid off but the management remained the same as it was when the company was a subsidiary of NEXON. A few features that distinguish Nexus from other MMORPGs are its 2D tile graphics, intense player involvement, a central storyline, and its Anime -like style. The highly popular game Lineage was based on a fork of the Nexus server software; its developer, Jake Song, was one of the original developers of Baram. Nexon pioneered distributed game servers in 1999 and set a record of 12,263 simultaneous users in a single world. =Setting= NexusTK is set in a land similar, geographically, to the Three Kingdoms Of Korea . Other lands such as Han and Ilbon , though not present in the game itself, are often referenced. In addition to the three kingdoms, there are other areas in which the players may live. Buya The Empire of Buya, which is popularly called the "Shining Jewel of the East" by its more aristocratic citizen-players, is loosely based upon the historical kingdom of Buyeo . In NexusTK history, it was a small village that grew into a flourishing empire. The Do, Shaman, and Muse player subpaths reside in Buya. Kugnae Kugnae, also loosely based on an historical kingdom of Korea ( Goguryeo ), was the first cultural center of NexusTK. Kugnae, also known by the name of Koguryo, is home to the Chongun, Spy, Merchant, Diviner, and Monk player subpaths. Nagnang The Kingdom of Nagnang is ruled by Prince Kija . The current General of the Legion of Nagnang is Adragonsclaw. Nagnang currently hosts no subpaths but has several clans of its own including Silla, Kurimja, Forsaken, Pegasus, and Alizarin. Nagnang is a country divided into two by separate institutions, and could therefore be thought of as having multiple regions. The cities that take place within Nagnang are Kusan, Chunchon and Kyong Ju. Outskirts In addition to the three kingdoms, there are nine villages in which a player may live. Three exist for each kingdom, containing houses which players may rent for a fee. Homes may be customized as a player sees fit using "floor plans" offered for homes of different sizes. Wilderness The Wilderness is a broad expanse owned by no one. It is home to a large number of creatures, locations, and natural resources. The Barbarian, Geomancer, Druid and Ranger subpaths reside here. =Character Development= NexusTK has a flexible character development system. There are four "basic" paths to choose from, each of which has one non-player-controlled subpath and three player-controlled subpaths. When a player reaches a certain level, he may also choose one of three alignments (dark, neutral, or light). With levels 1-99, and even more 'levels' beyond that, Wasabi(New armor dye), Enchanted(Can wield more powerful weapons), Il san(First mark, players receive better spells and can wield better weapons/armors), Ee san(Second mark, players receive much better spells, items, weapons, armors.), and Sam san(Third mark, most powerful spells so far, best weapons, best items, and best armors.) Leveling up is not the only aspect of character development, however. Nexus:TKOTW has a very tight-knit social structure, and has many different social cliques. Sometimes a positive, sometimes a negative, Nexus' community has been the lifeblood of the game to many. Unlike many other MMORPGs, in NexusTK most players are known by others and are treated with a general amount of respect by the average player. Even more than the two above reasons, there is a way for characters to distinguish themselves from the crowd. There are many different armor dyes, armor types, hair choices, hair colors, and even a choice of how one's eyes are displayed. There are also many different types of weapons, some players choose to wear items that assemble a certain 'look' that defines who that character is. Others simply choose to wear functional outfits, and still others choose to display wealth by having many expensive items on. =Social and Political Structure= PLAYER PROMINENCE Perhaps the most unique "feature" of NexusTK is the ability for a player to gain positions of influence in the community, including official positions such as judges, tutors, archons, carnage hosts, subpath guides and elders, ministers, and clan council and primogen. CONTROVERSY The unique social and political structure of NexusTK does not come without its share of controversy. Black Sunday Originally, the Poetry Revels were hosted by the Muses. Each week, the poems sent in to Revels would be filtered so that the Muses would not know who they were voting for. A board in the original Subpath area (which was then switched to Poetic Justice inside the Muse Garden) would then contain the poems for the Muses to read. Each Muse would then go through every poem, then vote for honorable mentions, first and second place. Unfortunately, some Muses found a way to corrupt the system to make profit. Poetry wins were needed for and Ee san (A culture mark, rather) and therefore they could charge ludicrous amounts of money to vote for their poem. If the poem won, the Muse would then be paid and the winner would walk off with a Revels mark, and generally Ee san. A ring of Muses were caught doing this at one point, and after months of investigation by the then Muse Elder Kiyone, and a group of his most trusted, they caught those who were accepting bribes and cast them out of the path, branding them. Those who they accepted bribes from were also branded. After this, the Poetry Revels was turned back over to Nexon (who later became Kru) to prevent further tampering of the voting system. Abuse of Judge and Archon Positions It is well-known that "Marama's" real life husband plays the character "Tip", who for many years (1999 until March, 2006) was the Head Judge, with power to review and reverse or change sentences given by other judges for law-breaking. Tip also had a huge influence in choosing new judges or dismissing "unfit" judges. This was compounded by the fact Marama's "mortal" character, Sarina, is the head of the Mage Subpath "Diviners", leading her to choose many Diviners as Archons, giving them a huge advantage in settling inter-subpath and non-subpath disputes, plus many instances of claims of favoratism in cases where Diviners were involved in "crimes" or where other characters insulted or otherwise gave offense to Diviners, facing "justice" retribution by both the Judges (led by Tip, Sarina's real life husband) or the Archons (led by Sarina's alter-character, Marama, plus many Diviners as Archons). It also led to cyclical authority loops, where Marama (Sarina) chose an Archon to supervise the Sub-Path elders, meaning Marama chose the person to oversee her Sarina/Diviner elder character, essentially supervising herself. Therefore, both Tip and Marama, real life husband and wife, had virtual control of every aspect of the game with virtually no outside supervision or possibility of being over-ruled in any of their decisions. By controlling new Judges and Archons, these two people held a HUGE amount of control in the game, and were known to hound players who crossed them completely out of Nexus:TKOTW by constant arrests (leading to inability to progress as a game character or to be involved in many facets of the game) or deletion of Community Board posts they disagreed with, or even banishment of the character. "Vini" also never ever continued the charade of "oversight" on nexus by controlling the Pawn Primogen character Vini as well as the "justice archon" Neul, thereby overseeing himself and destroying any semblance of checks and balances. In this role he has summarily banned, jailed, or had deleted dozens of patron accounts and characters, with no formal hearing or course of redress for the victims of his actions. These abuses have caused massive dissatisfaction and loss of customers for NexusTK. Carnage Controversy Carnages are claimed by hosting by some hosts that run from favoritism. Whether a rule-breaking participant is banished, or if teams are unfairly balanced, or even grudges. One of the previous Carnage head, named Dethsgift, was found guilty of stealing money from the carnage department, and was replaced by Sindella. Most people of the staff disliked her and believed she wasn't ethical enough to be put in such a position, so most quit, leaving only a few hosts. She was replaced within one week by a veteran host named Worldwalker. Such actions caused much controversy in the community. =Events= Carnages "Carnages" are a collection of team-oriented PvP events in Nexus. They are large scale battles which take place between two or more teams of large numbers of players simultaneously. Types of carnages include: Riches, Bloodlust, Elixir War, Fox Hunt. Poetry Revels The Poetry Revels are hosted weekly by Kru and the Archons who are assisted by Poems. There is a different theme each week, such as "Love," "Danger," etc. There are six placings in each competition: First Place, Second Place, and 4 Honorable Mentions. Story Contests Story Contests are hosted by the Clans and Subpaths. contest open every two weeks. Winners of these contests will often receive material rewards (provided by the sponsor), and the First Place winner will receive a Legend Mark. There are usually three winners for the Story Contests Subpath or Player Hosted Events In addition to "official" events that are supported in the game's structure, some players and subpaths take their imaginations beyond the technical limits of NexusTK and create their own events. New event ideas are conceived and implemented on a regular basis by the player base. =External Links= Official Sites Fan Sites |
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