By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter

A children's online computer game is continuing to entertain a global audience five years after its launch, thanks to its entertaining storyline and clever marketing strategy.

Online game publisher Nexon said that it signed contracts Thursday to provide its ``Maple Story'' game in Vietnam and Brazil, which will become the 59th and 60th country's to have the online game. The game now boasts 83 million players worldwide, including 18 million in South Korea. Its Web site has introductions written in 10 languages.

``Maple Story'' is an outdated game in terms of technology ― it does not have fancy 3-D graphics, nor have elaborate music and sound effects. The game's 2-D characters move around on a horizontal plane, just like in the 1980s hit game ``Super Mario Bros,'' and defeat monsters they encounter on the one-way journey. Nexon says such easy, intuitive control and storyline is one of its main virtues.

``We believe that its simple user interface and cute graphics will bring good results in Brazil and Vietnam, too,'' said Ryu In-seon, the leader of the global service team.

Another reason for the continuing success is its likeable characters and solid storytelling. Producing comic books and a TV animation with the same characters is helping the game's sales a lot, too.

``The popularity of `Maple Story' comics and animation is enriching the game's characters,'' said Lee Dong-joo, a public relations officer.

The game has been considered a model case of the so-called one-source, multi-use project. Back in 2005, Nexon published a comic book that featured the game's characters. The move was a huge success. The comic celebrated its 26th edition in March, and total sales of the series reached seven million, making it one of the most popular Korean comic books.

Nexon recognized the game has further potential. Now more than 700 character products have been developed. It introduced ``Maple Story'' card games in the United States and Canada last year.

This week, SBS began to broadcast the ``Maple Story'' cartoon in Korea, twice a week. Produced by Japan's Mad House studio, it is already a hit in Japan where it has been aired by TV Tokyo from last October to March. Nexon is considering selling the film to other countries where the online game version is available.

Though children are its main audience, some adults are more engaged in the game than kids. According to the company, the highest-level player of ``Maple Story'' is a man in his 40s who owns a pizza delivery shop in Gwangju.

indizio@koreatimes.co.kr