Freedom of choice in Silk Road Online

"Our system is about freedom of choice," says Jung-Hun Kwag during an interview about Silk Road Online, and what has been going on since the game's launch back in March. Kwag also insists that with Silk Road, it's possible to do anything any other player does in the game without dishing out a cent, except that it will just take a little bit longer than just buying other items. And because of this, Kwag believes that their game can be accurately advertised as free.

Kwag backs up such grandiose statements about the game by saying that almost everything that is featured in the game is free. The game is free to play, but players also have the choice of buying stuff like accelerated experience gain, pets, potions, scrolls, character customization, and other non-essential parts of the game. However, most of these items are also available for free players, but they'd have to earn these items first.

For those not in the know, Silk Road Online was chosen by the KIPA (Korean IT Industry Promotion Agency) as part of the Game&Game World Championships for 2006. The Joymax-developed game is based on the ancient Chinese silk road, and based on figures from account registry, over 2million players have been playing the game since March 14th of this year.

Joymax admits that out of those two million players, they're not sure how many actually play, but the global version of the game requires 11 servers. And each server has roughly three to four thousand active players during peak hours. So regardless of official figures and whatnot, it's safe to say that the game's doing good.

What's great about Silk Road is that unlike other MMOs, it offers players the chance to play not just a character class, but to actually play a role in society. They can be simple traders who deliver goods via caravans, or guards whose main job is to ensure that those caravans will be safe from bandit attacks. And of course, it also helps that the combat is very fast-paced and character development is skill-based.


Joymax is frequently updating the game by releasing traditional expansion packs once in a while. These packs include new lands, levels and skills for players to explore and learn, as well as bug fixes. The company is working on a new update to be released before this year ends, so if you're a fan of the game, make sure to check back with us as we will keep you posted for more developments.
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