RAN Online is a ‘campus-based’ MMORPG where players join one of three warring schools and play the role of a student gangster. A Global version of RAN Online was originally released in July 2006 but was shut down later that same year. Fortunately, English speaking players who are interested in RAN today have the option of playing on the official Malaysian English language servers. The only downside with this is that players must put up with horrible English translations and a largely foreign player base.

Creating an account for RAN Online is a bit disturbing since the website asks US players for their passport number, but since the system has no way of verifying this information I highly recommend players put a random number. Character creation is a bit simpler, first players must join one of the three schools: Sacred Gate, Mystic Peak, or Bong Hwong. Next players must choose one of four classes: Fighter, Swordsmen, Archer, or Qigong. (Mage) Players are given several hair and face style choices but overall initial appearance customization is limited. There are five stats in RAN Online and they are: Pow, Dex, Int, Vit, and Stm. Each player is given 3 stat points per level to distribute among these. Oddly, RAN is rather vague on what each stat does which could lead to some frustration. For instance, ‘Stm’ which means Stamina raises players max MP which is contrary to the role it plays in most RPGs.

Sadly, a lot goes unexplained in RAN Online. New players are largely left to fend for themselves with nothing but some broken English text to guide them. The beginner missions mostly involve players running back and forth between NPCs but since the directions are so poorly written, this becomes a very tedious procedure. At time I didn’t know what my mission objectives were or if I had already completed them. The actual combat in RAN Online is simple enough — double click the start auto attacking. Another strange feature in RAN is the fact that if your target moves while you’re swinging your weapon, you’ll automatically miss your target. Luckily this does not cause aggro but it is annoying since players must constantly run on top of or slightly ahead of NPC targets before fighting them. To RAN Online’s credit the user interface is smooth and very helpful. Plenty of quick key slots are provided and the player stats, inventory, map, and skill menus are self explanatory. The Camera can be controlled 360 degrees and players can zoom in or out to get the preferred game view. Combat in RAN also involves dozens of skills which each have different stat and level prerequisites. Skill scrolls must be purchased and used before a player can use a skill which means it’ll take several levels before a new player starts using skills.