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 clothes, 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 game's 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 won't 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.
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.
