When we talked to Nexon America's Min Kim, he told us what a big part holiday events play in user engagement for the MapleStory world. The company has just announced its slate of special events for Halloween, including a variety of new contents and expansions.

The MapleStory continent of Masteria will expand to add a new area, the Phantom Forest, and a new haunted house, The Prendergast Mansion. Several new content debuts are in, too -- a new pet, the game’s first user-inspired weapon, the Flame Tongue, new Halloween items, several themed events and a new boss.

Advanced players will get a chance to hunt down and fight the Headless Horseman, hidden somewhere in the Phantom Forest. At the Prendergast Mansion, users can take part in a linear story while fighting previously unseen monsters, and finding a variety of new items. Players looking for a new pet will be pleasantly surprised to meet the Jr. Reaper, a creepy Halloween-themed buddy, and also in line with the Halloween theme, players can collect candles in the game world to be traded for a Pumpkin Basket. There will also be other special events whereby players will have the opportunity to earn Nexon Cash, and holiday-themed items will be on sale in the Cash Shop -- notably, a name change item will let players actually change the name of their character, something they can't ordinarily do.