Focus

Separate continents, same massive multiplayer online

By Eric Jou (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-23 11:32

Fraud and theft are always a concern in the world today, but they are not only an ailment of the physical world. Cheats and swindlers are all around you in the online world, in every facet from Craigslist to the massive multiplayer online game World of Warcraft.

Young people are busy playing online games at an Internet bar in Beijing. Wang Jing / China Daily

Games like World of Warcraft offer players an escape from the troubles of the real world, drawing them into a fantasy landscape of orcs, demons and dragons. However, real world problems follow players into the game, problems such as being cheated and robbed.

"I think the worst is having your account stolen," said Deng Fei, an avid World of Warcraft player who preferred to go by his online name. "I've had my account stolen once, they sold off all of my gear.

"The game maker couldn't really do any thing for me. I had to start my character all over again."

Deng's predicament is felt by many who are enthralled by Massive Multiplayer Onlines (MMOs). This problem not only befalls the millions of Chinese players but also the American players.

"I've had my account hacked a few times and then I got banned for something I didn't do, so I basically stopped playing," said Shawn Kelly, 23, a university student in America. "It's so annoying. After all that hard work, they told me I had to start another character. I just gave up."

In-game problems occur from either sharing an account with an online friend or handing out account information to someone over the Internet in the hopes of purchasing in-game gear and gold. All of these activities violate the terms of the agreements for most MMOs, thus game-makers usually do not help victims of online fraud and theft.

The game-makers or publishers can only help reinstate accounts that are able to repeal their banishments, or attempt to refund or fix a players online problems, but when it comes to being hacked, the publisher is unable to help.

"There are a lot of problems with online games," said Eli Zhang, 14, an MMO buff from Brooklyn New York. "It's especially bad in games that aren't produced by big companies.

"When a game is developed by a smaller company, their customer service is nearly non-existent."

Often, unlucky gamers find themselves hacked and ransacked and they sign onto their online identities to find their characters stripped of whatever valuables their hard spent time had earned them.

"Luckily for me, the price has only been my time and a few thousand yuan but for others it could be anywhere from 10 to 10,000 yuan," said Deng Fei. "Now, I only play a little. It's too time consuming."

China Daily