The league claims that the game is too expensive. It noted that the monthly fee of 30,000 won ($25.40) was almost double the rate in some other countries. Monthly rates are $15 in the United States, 2,000 yen ($17.60) in Japan, and $480 NT ($14) in Taiwan. "Korean game players are being discriminated against," they said. The league also said that the game's server crashed too often, and that there was significant fraud or hacking of the game, yet the company has not taken action to improve conditions.
Another problem that users pointed out was the cash trading of game items offline. Within the game, there are many different "items" such as weapons, clothing or potions, that have different levels of power. Acquiring more powerful items can take hours of playing time. The ability to acquire more powerful items also depends on the level of skill of the player. Therefore, for players unable or unwilling to devote the necessary time, buying and selling items for cash has become a widespread trend.
Also included is this eye-popping statistic:
Since the game was launched in 1999, 520 million accounts have been opened in Korea alone. That figure can include multiple accounts for an individual subscriber.
According to the Korea National Statistical Office, the population of South Korea was estimated at 47.6 million people in July, 2002. Someone's obviously playing a lot of Lineage in the Pacific Rim.
Read the entire article here.
Kudos to spirdal at Gamebunny for sniffing this one out.
