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Level-Up! offers payment scheme for free online game
By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 06:57am (Mla time) 01/12/2007
VIDEO game publisher Level-Up! will start offering a local payment scheme for players of the free online multiplayer role-playing game Silk Road Online (SRO), a game developed and hosted by Korean firm Joymax in their native country.
Level-Up! will receive payment through its top-up cards, usually used to buy play cards and virtual items for its other online games, such as Ragnarok Online, RF Online and ROSE Online.
Since SRO is a free-to-play online game, the top-up cards would largely be used to pay for virtual items, particularly the currency called silk.
Five hundred pesos in the top-up card will be able to buy 100 silk in SRO.
This would be the first time that Level-Up! Accepts payment for a game that it does not widely distribute or host in the Philippines.
SRO’s free client can be downloaded from its website ( http://www.silkroadonline.net). It is mainly in English but has a Korean version.
It is also hosted in an international server allowing players from other countries to play againts each other.
Level-Up! Chief Operation Officer Sheila Paul said in an interview that the company found out the popularity of SRO after a survey of Internet cafes. After which, they approached developer Joymax, who said that there are about 100,000 registered players from the Philippines.
“It was such a popular game that we wanted to provide a system for players here to buy items. It’ll also be a better alternative since the credit card penetration in the Philippines is quite low and the prepaid card scheme is more prevalent,” Paul said.
On the other hand, Paul said the company is confident that it would not compete directly with the other games that they distribute in the Philippines since not all players would want to work on an international level.
Likewise, despite the free-to-play model, Paul said the cost of buying silk, which in turn buys virtual items in SRO, is higher than playing local games.
SRO is set in medieval Eurasia and revolved around the historical trade route called Silk Road. It is similar to most online role-playing games wherein characters need to level-up and upgrade weapons, armor and other items.
Once characters reach level 20, they could choose a specific “job” such as a hunter, thief or trader, with each having different attributes and characteristics.
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