MapleStory's Singapore distributor looks to cut down on a rash of home-run pirate servers, as a plucky teen take the world of big-headed platform battles into his own bedroom.
A story from The Straits Times focuses on 16-year-old Sean Lee, who runs a pirate server out of his bedroom, allowing players to access the pay portions of the game without actually paying. Needless to say, pirate servers are extremely popular with the kids.
'Some items in games are rare and impossible to get on the official server,' said 15-year-old Melissa Ong. 'On a private server, I get the chance to obtain it and test it out.'
Apparently someone is missing the point here. Either way, plucky or not, Sean Lee's server is probably not long for this world.
'We are currently working with developers to take action against the service providers of private servers,' said Mr Ng Kok Khwang, marketing director of AsiaSoft Online.
Lee states that if he receives a warning letter he will shut down immediately, though he worries about letting his community down. I'm not sure if I should be proud of his dedication or upset about the whole law-breaking thing.
Home-run online game servers risk legal action [Asia One Digital]