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War without bloodshed

Ragnarok, the online game that's becoming popular in the metros, focusses on building relationships rather than destroying them, says ABHINAV RAMNARAYAN

PHOTO: S. THANTHONI

VIRTUAL WAR youngsters playing at a web outlet

"Hi, Amen," is the first thing that Jerin George Mathew hears when he walks into any gaming parlour from Chennai to Bangalore to Mumbai. But it's not a nickname, or a comment on his religious orientation, as you might think — that is his character name in the popular online game Ragnarok, and to his buddies who play the game along with him, he is Amen, and nothing more.

But what is Ragnarok? If you're familiar with LAN gaming, where gamers compete against one another over local area network rather than play against computer-generated opponents, Ragnarok takes the concept to the next stage — the MMORPG, or Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, where people all over the country log on to the same server and play the same game against and along with one another.

Korean in origin, Ragnarok is distributed and managed in India by Level Up Network India, an online game publishing firm. Venkat Mallik, Managing Director, Level Up, says, "In Korea, 54 per cent of Internet users are also gamers, but India being a nascent market is nowhere close to achieving that — but there has been a lot of interest."

With Ragnarok players in over 70 cities in the country, you could say that again. Sapekshan, a 19-year-old gamer, says she enjoys playing the game because it is online. "You get to make a lot of friends around the country, and the game itself is very enjoyable too."

How it works

The game works like this — the gamer chooses a character (there are many, from a swordsman to a merchant to a priest) and wages war, seeks for treasure, conquers monsters, and makes friends in the virtual world of Rune Migard, along with everybody else who is playing in India at the time.

Jerin says, "Some of the people I interact with in the game I have met in person too, in Bangalore and Mumbai. It's like a virtual world. And Level Up organises meets for its players as well, so the community is built."

"It's different from routine games," says T. Manikantan, an avid gamer. True, other games, like Counter Strike 2 and War Craft involve much killing with AK-47 assault rifles and the like, and much bloodshed in the bargain. In Ragnarok, there is no bloodshed, and the focus is on building relationships rather than killing each other, so irate parents may not have as much to complain about.

And with 250 plus Reliance Web Worlds around the country, not to mention 2,000 plus independent gaming cafes and 52 gaming-enabled Sifys in Chennai alone, the game sure does reach out to the masses.

Also, twice a week, Level Up organises what is called the `castle siege', where players across the country fight battles against one another in order to win ownership of a castle, one of the most prestigious achievements in the game.

But how did Level Up set up this massive infrastructure? First, the company set up a large server that could accommodate the needs of millions of users, what they call a `server farm', and then databases of various kinds. After setting up the game database, it becomes possible for people to log in and connect to the main server.

"One of the chief problems we had was the existing infrastructure," said Mr. Mallik. India has 750,000 broadband connections currently, a number that fell well short of the target.

Mr. Mallik, however, believes that in five years, broadband will be beating the target comfortably. "And hopefully online gaming will follow at the kind of level it does in Korea," he added.

Currently, Ragnarok can be played on a subscription basis — Rs. 25, and you get to play it for how much ever you want in one day, Rs. 100 for one week, and Rs. 300 for one month. Doesn't get much simpler than that!

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