According to recent reports, South Korean Lineage players have been ganging up on Chinese players in an attempt to wipe them from Korean servers. The recent killings are a response to rumors that Chinese gamers have not been following the unspoken rule: don't take money or items dropped by a monster slain by another player.

Items from the game are sold for real money on online trading sites, and Chinese gamers have been reportedly joining South Korean servers because there are greater opportunities for making real money in these matches due to an abundance of trade. Unfortunately, Korean gamers have begun to see the Chinese presence as a threat, prompting some of these players to stage violent massacres. In areas like the Island of Dreams, where it is relatively simple to earn money, gangs of Korean players have been hunting down any Chinese player that dares to enter the region. One Korean player claims, "you can tell they are Chinese because they can't speak Korean."


Lineage continues to be plagued by identity theft, which may be linked to reports that suggest there are Chinese sweatshops where workers play ceaselessly to earn money using Korean identities. More than 220,000 South Koreans have reported their identities stolen. NCsoft, makers of the game, are aware of the virtual genocide and have begun blocking Chinese IP addresses on Korean servers. NCsoft has sided with Koreans because the company is against item trading, which NCsoft apparently considers an exclusively Chinese practice.