Blizzard Entertainment, a U.S. game developer, is in hot water in Korea as its latest multiplayer RPG game, Diablo 3, has a bug that allows some users to exploit characters’ abilities at will.
Diablo 3 users in Asia are now able to play an "invincible wizard" character by tweaking some gaming options, a cheat that sparked uproar from local gamers.
The revelation about the bug came from a North American forum on the popular game. A user of the American server posted a video clip on the Internet, in which he plays a wizard whose defense power is unaffected by attacks from monster characters after the Archon spell is cast.
The cheat is now being called "God mode," as the wizard character cannot be defeated, thereby allowing the users to make rapid progress.
Unlike the Asian edition, Blizzard runs a real money-based auction for Diablo 3 items. As such, the introduction of the God-mode character as a result of a serious bug caused major concern among many users who have been abiding by the rules.
At many online game communities in Korea, users expressed anger. Users also complained that such a bug could undermine the balance among virtual characters, putting some users unaware of the glitch at a disadvantage.
The users also said that Diablo 3 seems to be losing its biggest attraction because other cheating users are allowed to harvest expensive items with ease.
While the American edition of the game reportedly fixed the bug overnight, Korean and other Asian users can activate the invincible Wizard character as of Tuesday afternoon, The Korea Herald confirmed.
The controversy comes as Blizzard is under fire for frequent server failures, delays and runaway inflation of virtual money.
Diablo 3 has lost a number of Korean users in recent weeks, as its once-soaring popularity rate in local Internet cafes plunged to 11 percent, compared with as high as 30 percent.
