MapleStory 2’s Item Shop Is Being Hit with Offensive Material
The player-created item shop in kid-friendly MMO MapleStory 2 is facing problems with racism and anime porn. Although the MapleStory 2 team says that they “actively monitor the Design Shop for offensive material as well as have a reporting system,” the volume of offensive items is giving them trouble.
With a bright color scheme and cutsie characters, MapleStory 2 seems like it’s geared toward children. And even though the game bans words like “trump” and “porn,” devious players are finding their way around it.
Here’s a statement on the issue from the MapleStory 2 team:
“All the items under the ‘Design Shop’ are created by players, not Nexon. Our policy is to let players create, but we review and ban players and content based on ToS and reports of offensive content.
We actively monitor the Design Shop for offensive material as well as have a reporting system so that players can report content they find offensive through built-in tools. Based on the report, we tightly review every single item and remove the item from the shop, and from the inventory of the players who purchased, and ban player accounts. Content containing sexual, racist, hateful or other inappropriate items are flagged higher in priority for removal. Players who post offensive items or images are subject to being banned permanently from the game. We have been acting very quickly and ask that whenever players see those items in the shop to report immediately using the report button.
Given the volume of the reports, there has been a delay in the review process. We are trying our best to continue to reduce the gap and speed up the response time to make a better game and maintain a respectful community.”