Based on its success in garnering online subscribers in Korea alone, Lineage is the most popular single interactive online game in the world right now, ahead of Sony's Everquest, Electronic Arts' Ultima Online or even Microsoft's Asheron's Call, according to Samsung Securities.
Two million people, out of a population of 46 million, have active Lineage accounts.
Not surprisingly, NCsoft's Seoul headquarters is fortified with double steel doors and fingerprint scanners for the server room. "In Korea," Kim says dryly about Lineage's diehard fans, "hate is a kind of love."
Korean newspapers report that some gangsters recently turned up at the company demanding personal information on online rivals to extract off-line retribution.
Five rough-looking men stepped out of a black sedan and burst into the Seoul PC café where Paek Jung Yul hangs out with Strong People Blood Pledge, his clan of online gamers. "Is the wizard here?" demanded one of the toughs, asking for the player who killed his character in an online game called Lineage. The "wizard" was there, alright, and he was feeling bold. He boasted that he had offed the gangman's virtual character just for the fun of it. Bad idea. The roughnecks dragged the 21-year-old into the urinal and pummeled him until he was covered with real-world bruises.

http://www.time.com/time/interactive/en ... gs_np.html