My experiences in Blue Cross Gate

emikohime

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Emma and I am a new player from the United States. I have been playing the game for about 7 days. I have encountered many obstacles, and it's not just because of my Mandarin language skills.

While the game mechanics allow players to choose between multiple classes, most players only play 格鬥士 and/or 弓箭手. Players can also open multiple windows to control up to 3 characters at once. I think this really kills the soul of an MMORPG game, where the community thrives when people work together. The interactions between players became robotic, and I mostly ran into inactive afk merchants and characters played by the same person in their own exclusive party. I would walk around town for hours asking for help and no one would respond. Maybe it's a cultural thing. I found it quite discouraging to be told several times that I should follow the footsteps to immediately open several accounts and play this supposedly multiplayer game by myself, being 格鬥士 and/or 弓箭手. I guess I am used to believing that everyone has their own value and everyone can succeed in their own way, like we do in America, so that no matter which class you choose, you are still a valuable asset in a team.

The pet system is a big part of this game. But with all the complicated "檔數" and "改造", it can be extremely confusing for new players. On top of that, the trading system and the different currencies that players use in the game add more challenges to the mix. These are not part of the tutorials that ease new players into the game and can make you feel thrown into the game. I had an experience where I wanted to buy a 改造暗黑獅鷲獸 from players. I posted on the official BBS site and was contacted by player UID: 23773. He was friendly at first, welcoming me to the game and inviting me to join his guild. I was convinced that he was someone I could trust and who'd look out for others.

He offered to sell me one of his bad quality griffins for 800楓 since he just got 8 of them. I didn't know how much it would cost, but I trusted him and bought it from him for 750 with a bonus of 改造圖. I was grateful for his kindness at first, but I was tormented when I found out that he had overcharged me. The one he sold me was 12檔. I wrote back to him to ask if it's true that he overcharged me. He said that he raised the price because of the new event that had just started (the event is that players have a 2% chance of 改造 a special edition of the griffin). He changed the story. He knew that I was not interested in the event at all and had started looking for this particular pet before the event started. I felt very hurt and taken advantage of. When I talked to the others, their reactions were quite similar. "學到教訓","自己要看市價" they said. Cold and unnecessary.

I wouldn't consider this a supportive community, definitely not new user friendly. It's only been 7 days and I'm about to sign off. When I visited Taiwan, I found everyone to be kind and sweet. I am surprised at the experience I am having in this game. Is it really a reflection of the same society even though it's played by people in the same culture? A lot of questions. One thing is for sure, I wouldn't feel the same way about Crossgate and Taiwan anymore.

Sincerely,
Emma

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Updates:

I received a lot of backlash from the in-game community, including insults like "You're stupid enough to think that being a newbie gives you any advantages." "Get back to reality!" However, there have also been very kind people who have reached out to me and asked how I'm doing. I am grateful for these meaningful, relatable comments. Thank you so much! I hope I didn't miss anyone when I wrote back to thank you individually.

Although the bad transaction was just the tip of the iceberg of my post in the experiences I mentioned, the seller took it very personally and created a post of his own. He twisted a few details to make himself look better, of course lol, and invited me to check it out. I decided not to bother, it's not really about him and it's certainly not helpful for me to associate myself with such toxicity.

All in all, I think I might stick with the game a bit longer! The original Crossgate meant so much to a lot of players from the late 80's and 90's, myself included, it was one of the first MMORPGs a 10 year old played. My fiancé, who doesn't understand a single word of Mandarin, also joined me to venture into this virtual world. It's also a way for me to connect with my dear brother in Taiwan, who I only see every some years. My new adventuring mission is to find those like-minded, good-hearted players and build a more positive community!

I hope this post will give some insight to those who are also new and from a non-Mandarin speaking country, and hopefully give the experienced players something to think about. ^_^