When Blizzard launched it's behemoth of a MMO in 2004 it took the world by storm, including Asia. No American game had ever reached subscription numbers of that magnitude before it, in fact the second most popular MMO in history only had just over two million concurrent subscribers. EverQuest you say? Not even close. Lineage, a massive 2D MMO from NCSoft was the reigning champ with most of its player base being from Asian countries. Now a new game from NCSoft and Korea look to bring North American and European players into the amazing world of the eastern based MMO. Think you have what it takes to survive and thrive in this brave new world? In order to understand the future it can help to understand the past. Journey with us as we explore the realms of Aion and take a look at the key differences in style and player base from these two diverse areas.

As Aion continues to build momentum here in the US and Europe with more and more players flocking into the beta each successive weekend that it is available, one begins to wonder about the differences in eastern based and western based games and the people who play them.Will there be a culture shock for the players new to Asian based games?

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