Zipper Interactive decided to require
SOCOM 3 U.S. Navy SEALs players to verify their identities by using a credit card, debit cards, or
VISA gift cards. If the players do not verify themselves, they will not be granted ranks, allowed to join friends' lists, ranked games or
clans. The PAL version of
SOCOM 3 U.S. Navy SEALs did not need to be verified for online play. The
SOCOM blog, set up by the Sony PlayStation team to give players a look at the making of the game, stated that this was meant to keep
SOCOM cheaters away from the game. The game is situated in Poland, South Asia and North Africa. The South Asia area of operation was originally specified as Bangladesh, but was changed after a complaint from the Bangladeshi government. The first Map Pack was released for a free two-week trial on June 27, 2006. After the two-week trial, players had the opportunity to purchase the map pack through the
SOCOM Store in the
SOCOM community section. Two more map packs were released containing maps from
SOCOM and
SOCOM 2. ==Reception==