[fc-discuss] Financial Cryptography Update: Computer characters mugged in virtual crime spree

[iang@iang.org]

 Financial Cryptography Update: Computer characters mugged in virtual crime spree 

                            August 21, 2005


------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.financialcryptography.com/mt/archives/000537.html



------------------------------------------------------------------------

I often say that you can only tell if some FC application is successful
when you see crime start to appear.  Games are now massive successes in
creating value and payment systems, again showing that the Finance
layer is more important than the rest put together.

====================

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7865

Computer characters mugged in virtual crime spree
11:31 18 August 2005 
NewScientist.com news service 
Will Knight


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.

The Chinese exchange student was arrested by police in Kagawa
prefecture, southern Japan, the Mainichi Daily News reports.

Several players had their characters beaten and robbed of valuable
virtual objects, which could have included the Earring of Wisdom or the
Shield of Nightmare. The items were then fenced through a Japanese
auction website, according to NCsoft, which makes Lineage II. The
assailant was a character controlled by a software bot, rather than a
human player, making it unbeatable. 

Ren Reynolds, a UK-based computer games consultant and an editor of the
gaming research site Terra Nova, says the case highlights the problem
of
bots in virtual worlds.
Arms race

By performing tasks within a game repetitively or very quickly, bots
can
easily outplay human-controlled characters, giving unscrupulous players
an unfair advantage. Many games firms employ countermeasures to detect
this bot activity. For example, they can ask the character questions or
present them with an unfamiliar situation and monitor their response.

"There's an ongoing war between people who make bots and games
companies," he told New Scientist. "And making real money out of
virtual
worlds is getting bigger."

...

-- 
Powered by Movable Type
Version 2.64
http://www.movabletype.org/