Server glitch loses
gamers points, virtual cash
MapleStory online game mishap affects 2,000 players
Straits Times, The
(Singapore)
Home, Pg H12
November 30, 2007
Author: Alfred Siew, Technology Correspondent
THE virtual world of 2,000 gamers here and in Malaysia came
crashing down on Tuesday, wiping out millions in virtual currency
as well as painstakingly accumulated points.
A glitch which hit a Singapore-based server for the popular
MapleStory online game resulted in gamers being logged off in the
early morning.
They later learnt that one of the servers that ran the game was hit
with a hard disk problem. It was down until Wednesday
morning.
By then, several hours of effort the 2,000 gamers here had put in
were wiped out.
MapleStory is a fantasy role-playing game popular with children and
adults worldwide.
Players defeat monsters in a game world to develop their
characters. It is free to download and play, but some items, like
cost real money.
The game has about 50 million fans worldwide, but those affected
were the Singaporean and Malaysian gamers accessing the jinxed
server.
Some gamers here said they lost millions of mesos, the games
currency used to trade items. Others lost experience points gained
from slaying monsters and completing quests.
Asiasoft, the company that runs the servers here, confirmed the
glitch yesterday. It said it was not due to hackers breaking
in.
Its director for marketing and communications, Mr Ivan Seah, told
The Straits Times this was the most serious problem it has had
since offering the online game here 2 1/2 years ago.
He said the company has a backup of its data, but it did not
recover all the lost information.
People who bought virtual items with real cash were not affected.
However, those who recently spent time to earn virtual money and
experience points lost these rewards.
Asiasoft will reimburse every gamer with a special bonus that lets
him earn double the points for killing a monster, for example. This
will be available tomorrow and on Sunday.
One still upset gamer is project manager Annie Chua, who logs in
every day. Her character is now one level lower. She also lost two
million mesos.
Even if Asiasoft wants to refund us, it wont know how much we
lost, she said.
The MapleStory glitch is the latest to upset gamers here. Two weeks
ago, problems with another popular game, Hellgate London,
threatened to wipe out hours of play by thousands of gamers here.
This was later resolved with a software update.
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Virtual gold treasured by players
LIKE many online role-playing games, MapleStory lets players choose
a character and develop it. You start by customising the character,
like choosing the colour of his or her hair.
Your goal in the game is simple to get experience points by
slaying monsters and completing quests such as delivering a letter
to another character in the game.
As you progress in the game, or level up, you become more
powerful and can take on stronger enemies and gain higher
rewards.
When you reach a certain level, you can choose to be a warrior,
magician, bowman or thief.
Besides pursuing goals in the game, players also chat and socialise
with other players who are logged in over the Internet. They can
trade items or go on quests together, and their characters even get
married in MapleStory.
With so many hours invested in the game, it is no wonder that the
characters, the virtual gold they carry and clothes they wear are
treasured so much by players.
Copyright, 2007, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
