I-PIN

What is the I-PIN? The I-Pin is a kind of alternative to using your ARC on every website. This is extremely useful for foreigners as many Korean websites don't feature specific sign-up pages for foreigners. The process is fairly simple first you'll make an I-PIN using your ARC but then on subsequent websites you can use the I-PIN to sign-up. It is the same sign-up page that the regular Koreans use. There are actually several companies that provide I-PINs. As a foreigner there is one we should use.

To make your I-PIN head over to 공공I-PIN. They're a foreigner friendly I-PIN company. The other companies require additional verification, a cell phone, bank certificate, etc. The English sign-up for this requires nothing beyond your ARC. The page is entirely in English. So I don't need to walk you through this. To get you started though look towards the bottom for "Getting public I-PIN". Enter your info and within a short time you'll have yourself an I-PIN. There is some enjoyable konglish on the page, but it is still pretty straightforward.

Now, when you want to go sign-up for a site that doesn't have a foreigner sign-up page, look for the I-PIN option. Here is where your mileage will vary. On some sites this works perfectly fine, like Windyzone, but other sites will kick back a name error. Nexon and Netmarble currently do this for me. However, I spoke to another foreigner who was able to sign-up successfully for Netmarble. I've got e-mails going to them to figure out what the problem is. I've sent an e-mail to Nexon asking them about it, but they haven't gotten back to me yet. I've also asked 공공I-PIN about letting foreigners set a "Korean" name that could be passed to the site as verified so that it wouldn't break their forms. Also no answer on that one yet.

The I-PIN has a lot of use just beyond games. It will also help you sign-up for other sites. I just used it to sign-up for the E-mart website. They do have a foreign sign-up but the I-PIN worked just as snazzy. If you have issues on individual pages you might try finding their customer service center and attempting to contact them. Some of them respond quite well to English e-mails. Look for their 고객센터. Usually upper right. Once there you might dig around for an option that looks like "1:1". This is what they use to refer to e-mail help. Most sites let you access this logged out but something, like Nexon, don't. Don't ask me how you're supposed to get help if you can't register. Netmarble will not respond to English e-mails.

While this is useful for convenience on some sites, it is a necessity on other sites. Windyzone is one of those sites and so is Netmarble. If you try to sign-up for Netmarble, let me know if it works or not. Also let me know how many letters your English name is.

16 comments:

Thanks for the link and the guide. However, I am not sure what I should enter in the Foreign Number... What should I enter this field?...

That is the number off your alien registration card.

I have a question, im 15 years old and Im want to play some korean games, most of which are on nexon. How would I go about this. Social security numbers are very sensitive and can be taken advantage of. How could I do this?

-Dan

never mind, you need a Foreign Number. Im living in the USA so guess I cant to it. damn, want to play some games. :(

i must insert foreign number. what is that?

If you live in Korea and have an Alien Registration Card the foreign ID number is on that.

but, i not live in korea. im live in Indonesia. can i get I-Pin?

Unfortunately no. I-PIN is only a replacement for your Alien Registration Card. You'd have to have a Korean work/resident or student visa to get a card to get the I-PIN.

I have a visa card.Can I get the I-PIN?

no..
you need to have an Alien Resident Card and be resident in Korea to get one.

Ok im currently living in korea. Im a US soldier. How can i make an i-pin? They dont give us an arc card and we dont have visas. Only our military passport

Souljaboy, without an ARC you won't be able to make one as the ID number is required to sign up. How do soldiers normally sign up for/use Korean sites? They must have some kind of guide for you guys on base don't they or a service that sets them up for you?

I'm currently living in Korean and tried to make the I-pin number. I've entered every form until I reach the "Authentication Method". What should I do to this part? Because I can't choose anything beside Public Key Certificate, yet I don't know what is that mean. Any suggestion?

Thanks for this post. It was helpful. But, I've tried a hundred different passwords and error message show up in Korean. Do you know the requirements for passwords? I've tried a ton of combinations of letters, numbers and special characters like "!". Thanks for your help!

what is the frikking password it wants at the certificate, this thing is totally not at all foregin friendly aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh

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