Many MMORPGs want players’ money – but one wants blood

The MMORPG MapleStory calls for people to donate blood. Rewards include in-game events and additional items when certain milestones are reached. With this promotion they want to encourage players to help others, even though the rewards are only for people from Malaysia and Singapore.

What is this action? The event is called “Be a Maple Hero today” and runs from May 6th to May 22nd. All players than Malaysia and Singapore who have already exceeded the age of 18 can participate.

They have to donate their blood and enter their account information and a picture of their character in a form. This image will later be featured on a dedicated Maple Heroes page.

In addition, there are rewards for the players in the form of in-game items such as an exclusive outfit. More rewards are available if enough players participate in this promotion. If more than 800 players donate their blood, there are additional pets, mounts and a Cosmic Cocktail Chair.

Nexon and MapleStory want to help because the number of donors is falling drastically

What is the background of the action? Blood donations are important to provide blood to people after an accident, surgery or long-term illness.

In Singapore in particular, blood donations among young people are declining drastically. In 2011, 21,793 donations were said to have been received from people under the age of 26, in 2021 there were only 13,967 (via The Straitstimes).

However, the developers of MapleStory and the publisher Nexon want to encourage people to donate their blood. You have therefore decided to take part in this special campaign.

Do we have something like that too? No, the MapleStory promotion is only valid for Malaysia and Singapore. There is currently no MMO in the west that offers a similar incentive. However, less blood is donated in Germany than would be necessary in many places, and donors are getting older on average (via RND).

What do you think of this action? Are in-game rewards an incentive to encourage you to donate blood? Feel free to write it in the comments.

The fact that MMORPGs can also be helpful in the field of medicine has already been shown elsewhere. Because in EVE Online, players could use mini-games to help analyze blood samples related to Corona:

MMORPG EVE Online finds clever way for space pirates to fight against Covid-19