Sale of illegal virtual currencies cause game accounts
to be frozen
SINGAPORE: Online hackers have generated enormous amounts
of counterfeit virtual currency for a popular on-line game so
action has been taken, upsetting innocent gamers in
Singapore.
In the popular online video game, Maple Story, gamers must
slay demons and earn virtual credits.
But this month, some were unable to complete their gaming quests
after an estimated 1,000 accounts were frozen overnight.
Ng Kok Khwang, marketing director, Asiasoft Online, said: "This is
because Nexon, the game developer of Maple Story, has unilaterally
decided to ban the accounts due to hacking programmes being used in
the game as well as some gold farming issues."
Gold farming is the process by which players earn real money by
selling their virtual currencies to other online gamers. In fact,
these virtual currencies, also known as Mesos in Maple Story, can
be sold at 11 Singapore cents per million Mesos on local gaming
forums.
But with third-party hacking software, players in China can produce
more than ten times the amount of Mesos normally earned through a
quest.
Leonard Loo, lawyer, said: "In the case of this computer hacker who
uses a program to generate multiple accounts to accumulate points
and gold, for example, ... to sell it for money later on - this
hacker has actually committed an offence.
"The offence punishable is under the computer misuse act, and the
hacker can be fined up to S$5,000 or sent to jail for up to two
years."
Maple Story has attracted 100 million gamers worldwide and hosts
more than a million accounts in Singapore.
And one to three per cent of this million use illegitimate ways of
earning money through the game. That is a low figure compared to
other countries, but Asiasoft has since added patches to the game
to trace such offences.
- CNA/vm
