Singaporean trades MapleStory mesos to win Facebook contest that would send him to Paris

There’s been a big brouhaha over a Facebook photo contest hosted by Singapore-based restaurant Poulet. Poulet, known for its French-style roast chicken, gave away a holiday for two to Paris in its like-based Facebook photo contest to 19-year-old Eugene Seah, who was later accused of buying likes to win the contest.

Seah didn’t buy likes, though. In an interview with Singapore broadsheet The Straits Times, Seah said that he had traded currency from MapleStory for Facebook likes instead. He said that while some contestants asked their real friends to like their photo, he asked his virtual ones. And paid them mesos to boot.

See: How a virtual marriage in MapleStory turned these gamers into a real couple

Mesos in MapleSEA are not easily earned. While you can buy mesos off the cash shop with @cash, Asiasoft’s virtual currency, the denominations given out in the bronze, silver and gold meso sacks go up to just ten million mesos, which is far less than what a player can earn from crafting or farming, and then selling items. Prices for MapleSEA items can go up to the billions.

Crafting and farming, while relatively painless for the seasoned player, are a lot more of a hassle than simply dropping real money for @cash, and it makes you wonder just how much effort Seah had to put in in order to get that trip for two to Paris.

It’s probably much less than what the trip would actually have cost, though.

(via Mothership.sg, image source)