In the medieval kingdom of Aden, thousands of princes, princesses, knights, elves and wizards hunt monsters and dragons and battle to take over each other's fortresses.
That's the adventure now shared by some 108,000 Japanese gamers playing "Lineage," a South Korean-born video game that falls under the category "massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)." According to NC Japan K.K., which has offered the Japanese version since September 2001, players pay 1,400 yen a month to join in.
With the domestic video game software market shrinking over the past four years, game suppliers see a ray of hope with the gradually expanding market for massively multiplayer games, which usually require PCs with broadband access to the Internet.