Ragnarok is also a Manwha (a Korean graphic novel format loosely similar to Japanese manga)series by Myung-Jin Lee, first published and distributed in Korea, 1998.
Ragnarok uses many Norse mythological references, and is centered around the the adventures of several chosen warriors and their roles in the coming of Ragnarok,the prophesized fall of the Gods, and the beginning of the reign of Man.
Ragnarok is, at the time of this writing (August 2003), being translated and published in English by Tokyopop. It has also been developed into an Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game for the PC platform by Gravity, known as Ragnarok Online.
The game is wildly popular in its home country of Korea, and has been released regionally, and internationally as well. Unlike other online RPGs, the global release of Ragnarok Online has been regionalized. Players will find themselves playing with others located only within their own countries, paying the fees through third-party distributors, examples of which include Level-Up Games, Inc. for the Philippine version, and Gravity Korea, for the Korean version.
An international version of the game is available for download and is managed by Gravity USA. However, at the time of this writing (August 2003), the game has been subjected to harsh criticism for numerous bugs, unimplemented features, and several incidences in which account security had been broken, resulting in server rollbacks and payment refunds.
It should be noted that not all the versions of Ragnarok available globally are the same. The Korean, Chinese, and Japanese versions of the game are the most up-to-date, with the American and European versions the farthest behind, in terms of updates and added features.