Several versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions, and each is published by various companies such as Wizet and Nexon. Although playing the game is free, character appearances and game play enhancements can be purchased from the "Cash Shop" using real money about MapleStory Mesos. Maple Story has a combined total of over 50 million subscriber accounts in all of its versions. Maple Story North America, for player mainly in North America and outside of East Asia, Southeast Asia and Europe, has over three million players about MapleStory Mesos.

    In the game, players travel the "Maple World", defeating monsters and developing their characters skills and abilities as is typical in role-playing games. Players can interact with others in many ways, such as through chatting, trading, and playing minigames. Groups of players can band together in parties to hunt monsters and share the rewards. Players can also join a guild to interact more easily with each other. MapleStory Mesos is different from other game gold.

Like most MMORPGs, gameplay centers on venturing into dungeons and combatting monsters in real-time. The players combat monsters and complete quests, in the process acquiring in-game currency called "Mesos", experience points (EXP), and various items. Players can kill monsters alone, or they can form a party with up to six total characters. Loot is shared based on relative damage and level of characters in the party, more being awarded to the higher-level members about MapleStory Mesos.