It's pretty sad when people have a better chance of staying married in a virtual world than in real life, but that is apparently the case, if you compare the divorce rates in the MMO MapleStory with real-world divorce rates. VentureBeat recently talked to marriage expert Athena Carrillo Lee of Mind Body Spirit Therapy in Los Angeles about MapleStory marriages and why people get involved in them.

According to a new study conducted by the Institute for Special Populations Research in New York, some types of games are more addictive than others and have the potential to create "problem gaming" habits in a small percentage of gamers. While the mental health community is not quite ready to make the leap of faith it takes to proclaim that video game addiction is a real mental disorder like gambling and drug addiction, studies like this one are certainly trying to establish causation.

BioWare has explained some of the recent Star Wars: The Old Republic bans and vowed to make adjustments to areas where players have been found to be exploiting. Last week some players were banned from playing because they were looting containers in planet Ilum at too low a level - a move that apparently made many in the SWTOR community upset. Community manager Stephen Reid took to the SWTOR website to explain exactly what had happened and why some players were banned.

Is BioWare banning Star Wars The Old Republic players for accessing areas and loot meant for higher level characters or is someone pulling everyone's leg in this Reddit thread? Rock, Paper, Shotgun examines the story and the alleged email from BioWare. 

Trion Worlds, makers of the MMO Rift Online, has been hacked according to an email it sent out to subscribers last night. The company said in the letter that unknown intruders gained access to a Trio Worlds account database that contained personal user information and credit card data.

After reports of Star Wars: The Old Republic early access users complaining about queues to get into game servers that lasted multiple hours, BioWare has said publicly that they are looking into the issue. The game is set to launch officially tomorrow. Jeff Hickman, Executive Producer – Live Services posted the following message on the official SWTOR web site:

Despite a recent security breach in November and contending with the timing of Zynga's initial public offering, Nexon will makes its debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange December 14, according to Reuters. The social and online game developer will reportedly sell at around ¥1300 each with Nexon expecting to raise around ¥91 billion, or $1.2 billion USD, with a market value of ¥560 billion.

Starting January 6 Square Enix will begin charging subscribers who are still playing Final Fantasy XIV online. The Final Fantasy-based MMO has been free for almost a year because of a myriad of technical problems that the company couldn't initially overcome. The MMO was so bad that it made Square Enix reevaluate how it handles developing and lunching MMO's.

Account information from more than 13 million MapleStory players was compromised in a recent hacking incident, according to a report in the Korean Herald. According to that report, the attack took place last Thursday on Thanksgiving, and affected three-quarters of the game's player-base - right around 13.2 million people. The data that may have been stolen included player names, user IDs, passwords, and registration numbers (Korea's version of the US's social security number).

Over 330,000 new players have joined DC Universe Online in eight days since SOE switched the game from the traditional MMO subscription model to a free-to-play model. SOE's John Smedley claims that these new users represent a ridiculous 1000 percent growth in "concurrent users" in just over a week. The game officially went free-to-play on November 1.

These concurrent users do have a downside - more traffic, more congestion and long queue lines to got on servers, according to SOE.

Free-to-play MMO company Nexon is planning an initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange next month, according to a TechCrunch report. The IPO is reportedly worth $1.3 billion USD, or ¥100 billion. The TechCrunch report is based on a report in the Japanese business paper The Nikkei. If the valuation turns out to be accurate, it could make Nexon the most valuable IPO in Japan this year. The IPO will be handled by Nomura Securities, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, with Nexon expected to be approved for the listing by the end of the week.

New research released by Newzoo digs a little deeper into the lucrative Chinese and Korean online gaming markets. The research focused on the 190 million Chinese (76 percent) and 26 million Korean (60 percent) consumers ages 15 to 50 - who make up the majority of those who play games in those countries. Newzoo found that both countries were passionate about MMO games, with 100 million MMO gamers in China and 8 million in Korea. While both countries enjoy games, players in each country have different preferences when it comes to social and mobile gaming.

DC Universe Online had about 30,000 paid subscribers prior to switching over to a free-to-play model. Apparently that switch has helped the game gain an additional 90,000 registered users. Sony Online Entertainment, which manages the DC Comics-based superhero MMO, said the surge in interest represents a 400 percent increase on previous figures.

It looks like the online game Mythos is about to disappear from the European gaming landscape. MMORPG.com is reporting that MMO operator Frogster will discontinue operation of the game on October 27. The game launched in April but did not gain the kind of player support that the company had hoped. The company made the official announcement via the game's forums:

Turbine Entertainment sent out an alert this morning informing subscribers of its various MMO titles that a third-party "may have attempted to access" forum accounts. While the company says that there is no indication that any accounts were modified or compromised, it is urging subscribers to change their passwords for the sake of safety and security. One of the curious things about the email is that it seems to indicate that this happened sometime before October 11. Why Turbine waited this long we do not know. From the email sent out this morning:

The New York Academy of Sciences' Science and the City will host a special game-related event on November 9 called "The Anthropology of Online Worlds." Anthropologist Thomas Malaby and game designer Lee Guzofski will discuss how humanity shapes virtual worlds. Thomas M. Malaby is from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and Lee T. Guzofski is from MMO maker G2G Enterprises.

The whole idea behind this special event is to dissect how humanity shapes virtual worlds through relationships, functional economies, complex societies, and rich cultures.

Nexon's popular MMO Mabinogi has been taken offline by the company over unauthorized real-money trading (or RMT). According to the company, it took the game completely offline to implement new security measures to curtail currency harvesting and resale. According to ThisisGame.com, players were notified only an hour before the company took the game down in Korea to implement the new security measures on October 4.

Nexon has pledged to compensate its customers for the downtime.

RIFT developer Trion Worlds will take part in the Saturday, Oct. 15 charity event Extra Life. The fourth annual Extra Life charity event is a 24-hour video game marathon that raises money to help kids at Children's Miracle Network Hospitals around the world. Trion has formed an official Rift team and will hold in-game events in support of the day-long gaming marathon.

At a press conference in Tokyo, Japan yesterday, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada said that the entire Final Fantasy brand has been damaged by its latest MMO title. Final Fantasy XIV, which launched in September of 2010 on PC, did not do as well as anticipated due mostly to serious technical issues, connectivity issues, and bugs at launch. This caused the PS3 version of the MMO to be delayed as the development team put its focus on fixing problems and generally improving the game to make customers happy.

The South Korean Game Rating Board (GRB) has accused several MMO publishers of obstructing an investigation related to in-game "jackpot items," according to a report in This Is Game. The GRB wants to know from game makers if the in-game purchase of jackpot items should be considered gambling. The Jackpot item system lets players pay a set amount of in-game currency in return for a random item of potentially greater value.

Another AAA MMO has gone free-to-play - or will in October, according to Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). The company announced that beginning sometime in late October, its DC comics-based MMO will be free to download and play without a monthly subscription fee. DCUO will be from both the PlayStation 3 and PC and will offer three new access levels: Free, Premium and Legendary. All three levels will provide general access to open world gameplay and missions, general game updates and fixes to the game, with each level offering different game options and benefits.

Free-to-play MMO leader Nexon America passed along some interesting statistics of relationships in its game Maple Story, and how they are just as awful in the virtual world as they are in real life - no offense intended to my wife.

Australians who won't get access to BioWare's upcoming Star Wars-themed MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic got some good news today from the game's developers: it won't be region locked and can therefore be imported from other regions.

"There are no plans to ‘region lock’ or ‘IP block’ players from the game," says BioWare Senior Online Community Manager Stephen Reid. "You may experience some latency issues if you’re not playing in a launch territory."

SyFy President David Howe sat down with The Hollywood Reporter for an exclusive interview to discuss the cable television network's big move into the video game space. Over the last few years Howe has been instrumental in establishing relationships with such game publishers as THQ and Trion Worlds to create partnerships that extend games into the entertainment world.

MMO publisher Outspark has promoted Philip Yun to CEO, taking on a greater role in the company’s growth. Yun joined Outspark as COO earlier this year and has worked as an important member of the management team. Apparently he had been preparing all along for the role of CEO. Previously he served as the CEO of NHN USA where he played an important part in the successful launch of the free-to-play online games company.

The New York Times is reporting that minions of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il have found an interesting way of earning some much needed cash - MMO's. According to South Korean authorities, their neighbor to the North has created an army of young hackers and unleashed them on South Korea's most popular MMORPG's. This group is finding ways to exploit systems, gather in-game credits and convert it all back to cold hard cash.

Ninja Metrics hopes that MMO developers will want to use their new technology to make their games better. How can it do that? According to Ninja Metrics it has created technology that allows it to track and predict the motivations of their users.

Using Ninja Metrics, developers can see what gamers did while playing a game session, how they interacted with other players, and can predict their future behavior based on all the data gathered.

NCsoft Europe will serve as the host of the inaugural Golden Chippies Awards on Wednesday July 20 at Brighton’s Regency fish restaurant. The "tongue-in-cheek" awards honor massively multiplayer gaming journalists in the UK. The event will also raise money for GamesAid. The awards are a precursor to the Develop Awards.

"MMO journalism is a labour of love for those involved. A niche but growing subset of traditional gaming media, these guys really are doing it through devotion to the genre. The Golden Chippies allow us to sing their praises over some classic seaside fare and raise some cash for a good cause in the process." said NCsoft EU PR Director, Cat Channon.

The LEGO Group announced this week that its popular LEGO themed MMORPG, LEGO Universe, will  go free-to-play this summer. The free-to-play version of the game will allow players to play for an unlimited amount of time but they will be limited to two of the game's 15 adventure zones. The MMO will also switch from a boxed product to a free digital download.

Currently members pay $10 a month, and this option will continue to be available for those that want access to the full game and community features such as competitions and expansion packs. The company also said that there are no plans to introduce micro-transactions.

"We see LEGO Universe as a key element for our digital play division, and are adjusting the business model to make the game more accessible to players, without the immediate obligation to purchase or subscribe," said Jesper Vilstrup, vice president, the LEGO Group.

NCsoft announced this week that it plans to relaunch its popular super hero-themed MMORPG, City of Heroes, as a free-to-play game later this year. NCsoft launched the game over seven years ago. The game joins other high profile titles that charge no monthly subscription fee including Lord of the Rings Online, EverQuest II, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Champions Online, and Fallen Earth.

The game will be renamed City of Heroes Freedom, and will allow players to play for free or pay a subscription fee and become a VIP member. Free accounts will allow up to two characters, eight classes, and a maximum status of level 50. Free accounts will also be able to take part in raids and explore 45 zones.