MMOABC.com: Can you tell us a little bit more about World of Kung Fu?

The World of Kung Fu is a free to play MMORPG based on stories and mythology of Ancient China. Player “classes” are based on traditional kung fu style weapons, such as the spear, fan and broadsword. It’s a fully 3D game world and we have a great community of players! There have been some other games released about Chinese kung fu, but this one is actually made in China, and we feel that it is a bit more authentic in terms of the stories because of that. The game play and systems in the game are a lot better than most other free to play MMORPGs I’ve seen, and I think a lot of our players agree.


MMOABC.com: How many players are currently playing World of Kung Fu globally?

Wow, that’s a tough question. WoKF is currently available in China, as well as in South East Asia. It’s quite popular here in China, where it is licensed in 21 different cities. We only handle the North American operations, but in the US based server, we have over 60,000 registered users, and that number is getting bigger every day. So, if that number is any indication, I’d say we have a lot of players globally, but unfortunately, I can’t give you an exact number.


MMOABC.com: How does World of Kung Fu differentiate itself from other MMORPG games?

The style of the game sets it apart from other games, but one of the biggest differences is that all the players are human and your “class” is based on your style of kung fu. And there are no elves. Players begin the game without faction, and they can decide later if they would like to join a certain school or even become a citizen or even the ruler of a certain country. There is a lot of in game development that is based on the players themselves, independent from the quest story lines. We also have a fantastic team of GMs and GSs that are found in the game. We don’t sit on the sidelines, our team is very active in the game, running events and even just chatting with players. In many games, especially other free to play games, it’s an amazing event if you actually see a GM in the game. In WoKF, you can see GMs in towns every day, offering live assistance, not as a hidden person, but as an actual character in the game. We also encourage players themselves to help out with events and GMs will even assist in the process.

There are many other features in the works, like being able to get married and have playable children that inherit skills from their parents.




MMOABC.com: How does World of Kung Fu differentiate itself from other martial arts games?

I think one of the main things that differentiates WoKF from other martial arts games is that players are trying to create a “Wulin”, or traditional Chinese kung fu society. The kingdoms and factions are based on players themselves, and players can even decide to be factionless if they desire. If you don’t like being a citizen of a country, you can always defect to another. Also, there is a big focus on reputation and building trust between fellow players, and you can get bonuses from having “Sworn Brothers” and getting married.

There is also an upcoming system where players will be able to create their own style of kung fu and be able to pass this knowledge to other players via their school.




MMOABC.com: Online hacking and spamming are widely evident in the MMORPG realm, how does World of Kung Fu control these disruptions?

The development team is working on a number of solutions to help eliminate this problem in the game, and these will be released shortly in our upcoming patch. As for right now, we have an excellent team of GMs and Game Sages (experienced players who help out) that really help to keep this under control. If we find someone hacking in the game, we monitor them, and if they are found to be hacking, we remove them immediately. Players themselves have been a great help in this as well. We have a great community, and we do not tolerate hacking because it infringes on legitimate player’s rights to enjoy the game. If a player is suspected of hacking, groups of players themselves often form to PK the offender!


MMOABC.com: Many MMORPG operators/publishers are currently hosting many games in different geographic regions. Some are "free to play" while others are "pay to play." What is your take on this? Do you consider this fair or unfair for gamers do not live in those "free to play" geographic regions?

Well, I suppose that would depend on the region and the demographics involved in those regions. Honestly, in some regions, a play to pay system makes more sense for some games, but I firmly believe that the free to play model has great potential everywhere. We’re only hosting for North America right now, and the free to play model is still relatively new. I think in the future, we’re going to see a hybrid of both systems, where say it’s free to play, but you can also pay to play to be in a closed server, say devoted to serious role playing gamers. Then hopefully it will be fair for everyone!


MMOABC.com: Will there be any plans for future expansions for World of Kung Fu?

WoKF is an ever expanding world, so I don’t think we’re going to go for full expansions just yet, but we’ll constantly be adding new content and events so that the game will continue to grow and have new life. Tengren, the game’s developer, may have some plans for future expansions down the road, but I can’t say for sure right now.




MMOABC.com: Are you guys planning to do any World of Kung Fu contests in the next coming weeks or months?

We try to do fun and interesting in game events everyday for the players. We have a very active GM and Game Sage (experienced players who help out) staff. We try to do some bigger events a few times a month so that players can get a hold of really good weapons and armor and other great items. And, as we continue to add new elements to the game, there will be bigger epic events tied in with the country battles in the game. We have a listing of all the events we do in our forum that tells the time, place and rewards for each event. We also encourage players to share their ideas! If a player has a great event idea, we’ll work with them to make it a reality. We’re really trying to focus on the community in the game and make the players a part of the World of Kung Fu, not just visitors!


MMOABC.com: How large is the development team for World of Kung fu?

There are quite a lot of people involved with the game! The development team is well over 100 people, and then there are all the people here involved with the English localization, as well as all the GMs for each region and our great GS players!


MMOABC.com: Will the World of Kung Fu development team be attending any Video/MMORPG gaming events for 2008?

We were at the GDC in San Francisco in February, and we hope to be attending more conferences this year if we have the time.

World of Kung Fu Website:
http://www.worldofkungfu.com