PLAYERS of the wildly popular online game MapleStory are furious with the company which hosts the game on its servers, Asiasoft.

Tens of thousands of virtual dollars were lost by gamers after Asiasoft's servers were hacked into, and players are charging that the company did not provide them with adequate protection.

Worse, they say, it is now leaving them in the lurch by refusing to compensate them for their losses.

Online forums are abuzz with chatter among victims,  wow making gold and 20 gamers called The Straits Times to complain about being shortchanged.

The gamers, mostly professionals in their 30s, maple story mesos say they spent up to $10,000 on the game.

In MapleStory, players combat monsters and complete quests, which earn them in-game currency called 'mesos'.

This currency allows them to buy more powers or weapons for their characters - so they can progress to higher levels of the game - as well as more mundane items like stylish clothes.

But many who do not want to spend hours online to earn mesos short-circuit the process by forking out real cash for the currency.