A man has been arrested in Japan on suspicion carrying out a virtual mugging spree by using software "bots" to beat up and rob characters in the online computer game Lineage II. The stolen virtual possessions were then exchanged for real cash.
Boggles the mind...
Boggles the mind...
Computer characters mugged in virtual crime spree
Giles: "We few, we happy few."
Spike: "We band of buggered."
Spike: "We band of buggered."
"It might be a bit better to tune to one of my fiddle's open strings, like A, rather than asking me for an F#." - Martin Milner
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Nanohedron
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Flyingcursor
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Father Emmet
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A few weeks ago there was a news story about a murder in Japan. One man had loaned a 'virtual sword' used in these games to another man, who sold it without the owner's permission. The first man then killed the second in an act of revenge.
Who are these lunatics that pay cash for virtual goods? And stolen ones at that!
Hmm. I'm thinking of getting into virtual forgery.
Who are these lunatics that pay cash for virtual goods? And stolen ones at that!
Hmm. I'm thinking of getting into virtual forgery.
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Cynth
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I'm boggled that someone would kill someone else over a game, but not by anything else.
I play a game
and, although I don't interact with the other people since they are mostly foul-mouthed violent 14 year old boys, I am quite amazed at the number of players who are actively trying to cheat other players and often get away with it because many players aren't old enough to have gotten much common sense yet. It is strange to me that so many people seem to think cheating others is okay. That is the game to them.
The creators of the game have taken a lot of steps to make it hard to get scammed and to make it hard to have bots do tedious tasks. They have also made it very easy to report really bad behavior. Mostly people get ripped off because they have done something silly, like trust someone else. These mugging bots wouldn't last long on the game I play because they would be immediately identifiable and reported. Something that just stole your stuff secretly would be a problem I guess.
A lot of kids play in groups and judging from their conversations there is a lot of status involved in having certain things, etc. I could imagine a kid paying actual cash to get someone to sell him a virtual fancy piece of armor on the game. An adult sees an opportunity to make some money and there you go.
I play a game
and, although I don't interact with the other people since they are mostly foul-mouthed violent 14 year old boys, I am quite amazed at the number of players who are actively trying to cheat other players and often get away with it because many players aren't old enough to have gotten much common sense yet. It is strange to me that so many people seem to think cheating others is okay. That is the game to them.The creators of the game have taken a lot of steps to make it hard to get scammed and to make it hard to have bots do tedious tasks. They have also made it very easy to report really bad behavior. Mostly people get ripped off because they have done something silly, like trust someone else. These mugging bots wouldn't last long on the game I play because they would be immediately identifiable and reported. Something that just stole your stuff secretly would be a problem I guess.
A lot of kids play in groups and judging from their conversations there is a lot of status involved in having certain things, etc. I could imagine a kid paying actual cash to get someone to sell him a virtual fancy piece of armor on the game. An adult sees an opportunity to make some money and there you go.
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missy
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gosh - whatever happened to the GOOD old days of just knocking someone off and stealing their Nikes?????Cynth wrote: A lot of kids play in groups and judging from their conversations there is a lot of status involved in having certain things, etc. I could imagine a kid paying actual cash to get someone to sell him a virtual fancy piece of armor on the game. An adult sees an opportunity to make some money and there you go.
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Wanderer
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But I guess you gotta filter out the spambots.
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Lol, it's nothing to be ashamed of.Cynth wrote: I play a game
I play City of Heroes. I can't play 40-50 hours a week like some kids can, so I'm usually behind when it comes to the latest and greatest gear.
The other day, I bought 1 million influence (the game's money equivalent) on ebay for $3.00. I didn't mind, because $3.00 to me represents considerably less than an hour's real labor, where it could take 10 hours o or more of game play to get that kind of money.
I've read that there area lot of guys in third world countries who play these games all day and then sell their proceeds on the internet, in order to make a living..and the thought that my $3.00 likely gave someone a living wage for a day or a week was pretty cool too.
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djm
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If you don't mind, I would like to know how that works. What is it, exactly, that you have purchased? - a coded reference that you can type into your game avatar to give you the attribute you bought? If so, I would think some hacker would figure out the codes and start selling them in bundles without having to "earn" them in the game.
Thx,
djm
Thx,
djm
I'd rather be atop the foothills than beneath them.
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Scott McCallister
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What a weird little story... Raises so many questions.
So... are we to infer that if the character controlled by a human was to mug someone and take their doo-dads of righteousness, THAT would be ok? Don't get me wrong, I have played plenty of games where the object of success is to overpower your opponent. (just look at my avatar) I'm just curious about the "legalities" of doing it live vs using a "bot" to achieve your objective. How many billions of quarters were fed into arcade machines in the 80s and 90s so that people could be beaten by the software? A Horrific foursome of Pinky, Inky, Blinky, and Clyde come to mind.
Is it that he then sold the virtual items? What if he had kept them for his own "real" virtual characters. (or even sold them at a later time...) Would that have been ok? What if instead of having a software patch to exploit the heuristics of the game he actually built a physical robot or a super computer that was capable of beating the game. What then?
I just don't get where the police come in... (the real life murder aside) I mean... the flashing lights... sirens. Large men in blue and Kevlar bang on your door and say upon entering, "We were called here on a disturbance. What seems to be the problem?"
"Well, me an' Jimmy was playin Monopoly and he stoled my Vermont Ave... Did not! you owed me rent on Park Place with a hotel!... That don't mean I have to give you Vermont Ave..."
"That's enough! You're comin’ with us down to the station mister! Cuff him!"
:roll:
What is that?
So... are we to infer that if the character controlled by a human was to mug someone and take their doo-dads of righteousness, THAT would be ok? Don't get me wrong, I have played plenty of games where the object of success is to overpower your opponent. (just look at my avatar) I'm just curious about the "legalities" of doing it live vs using a "bot" to achieve your objective. How many billions of quarters were fed into arcade machines in the 80s and 90s so that people could be beaten by the software? A Horrific foursome of Pinky, Inky, Blinky, and Clyde come to mind.
Is it that he then sold the virtual items? What if he had kept them for his own "real" virtual characters. (or even sold them at a later time...) Would that have been ok? What if instead of having a software patch to exploit the heuristics of the game he actually built a physical robot or a super computer that was capable of beating the game. What then?
I just don't get where the police come in... (the real life murder aside) I mean... the flashing lights... sirens. Large men in blue and Kevlar bang on your door and say upon entering, "We were called here on a disturbance. What seems to be the problem?"
"Well, me an' Jimmy was playin Monopoly and he stoled my Vermont Ave... Did not! you owed me rent on Park Place with a hotel!... That don't mean I have to give you Vermont Ave..."
"That's enough! You're comin’ with us down to the station mister! Cuff him!"
:roll: What is that?
There's and old Irish saying that says pretty much anything you want it to.
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Cynth
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Well, mightn't there be some agreement with the owners of the game that you can't cheat with bots? And if you do then they can sue you or something? The police coming into it is strange, but maybe the laws are just different. I could see someone here getting sued if they were making money off someone else's game. Or harming the game---doing something that made other people quit playing.
Don't the multiplayer games you play specify that you can't write your own software to cheat in the game? The one I play is very clear on that score.
Don't the multiplayer games you play specify that you can't write your own software to cheat in the game? The one I play is very clear on that score.