1,000 gamers file complaint against NCSoft

Attorney and Korea Game User Association (KGUA) Chair Lee Cheol-woo, far right, and gamers pose for the photo on Monday in front of the Fair Trade Commisison's office in Sejong. [KGUA]

Some 1,000 users of NCSoft’s popular Lineage franchise filed a group complaint requesting that Korea’s antitrust regulator to investigate the game publisher for “unfair” practices.

The users claim that NCSoft operates a “super” account run by the company’s employees with premium game specifications and items in its massively multiplayer online role-playing games Lineage M and Lineage 2M.

This supposedly fabricated account can collect powerful in-game items without paying for them by tampering with game codes, upgrade the characters’ abilities under the company’s expense or privately utilize information related to game updates to reap profits.

The Korea Game User Association (KGUA), which represents the 1,000 users filing the complaint, said that multiple incidents have proven the existence of such accounts but that NCSoft has failed to respond to players' objections.

“This is an unfair trade act that discriminates users without a rational cause and is a deceitful method that entices users’ tendency to compete and gamble,” the KGUA said. “This act also violates the Fair Trade Act and Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce.”

“If this is proven true, it will undoubtedly be considered a deceitful act and will be a decisive factor for gamers to lose their trust in NCSoft,” said Lee Cheol-woo, KGUA’s chair and attorney.

Reached for comment, an NCSoft spokesperson declined to comment on the complaint.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]