July 2003
- Hackers Put 'Bane' in Shadowbane vladimir cole
Hackers Put 'Bane' in Shadowbane
By Michelle Delio
Source: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,59034,00.html
--<cut>--
(02:00 AM May. 30, 2003 PT)
The horror, as horror so often does, began slowly, almost
imperceptibly.
Late Tuesday evening, little things suddenly started to go very
wrong in the virtual world of Shadowbane, a popular online
multiplayer game.
Some players noticed that their money and weapons had suddenly
vanished. A few whispered that tonight the monsters somehow
seemed slightly bigger and meaner.
And then all hell broke loose.
Shadowbane had been hacked by several of its players. But unlike
standard game hacks, where players gift themselves with super
strength, health or wealth, these hackers managed to completely
alter the rules of Shadowbane -- turning a suddenly wrathful game
loose on its players.
"At first, players started speculating that there was a really bad
bug in the game code," player Tim Wheating said. "Then we realized
that somehow an insane god had taken control of our world and was
out to kill us all."
In a statement posted on the Shadowbane website shortly after the
hack, Wolfpack Studios and Ubi Soft Entertainment (the developers
of Shadowbane) acknowledged that a "serious attack" had occurred
and assured players the companies were "working with law
enforcement and we promise all of you that these individuals will
be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
The population of an entire Shadowbane town was forcibly moved to
the bottom of the sea, where they drowned. City guards turned
feral and attacked town residents. Mobs of never-before-seen
superpowerful creatures, seemingly spontaneously spawned from the
ether, began to prowl the streets unchecked, killing characters in
the most painful way possible.
Not that the game was ever intended to be a happy, cuddly
experience. Whacking other players around in one of Shadowbane's
many free-for-all zones is one of the main attractions of the
game.
But it has a "Newbie Island," where inexperienced players can hone
their gaming skills in a protected atmosphere. After making their
way off the island, players join guilds, and battle the members of
other guilds.
The members of guilds build cities that serve as their personal
strongholds. Neutral cities exist also, virtual Switzerlands,
where no one is supposed to attack anyone.
But on Tuesday there were no neutral zones -- nowhere to run --
and newbies became the prime targets.
Experienced players looked on in horror as new players were slowly
and gleefully dismembered by ax-wielding ogres. Others just
laughed and looted the characters' bodies after the ogres were
done.
"If you go to what is left of the town of Khar, you will see my
grave," one Shadowbane survivor wrote in an e-mail. "I never knew
dying could be so hilarious -- I had a great time."
Mike Gontelli, a late arrival to the game that evening, said that
when he arrived in Shadowbane "there were hundreds of
tombstones. New players were being beaten and tortured. Newbie
blood was flowing like a river. I knew it wasn't real, but it was
oddly terrifying."
He added, "I've been playing online games for a few years. There
are always some hackers hanging around who have figured out how to
give themselves special powers. But I have never, ever seen or
heard of a game going this deeply berserk."
Clint Hayashi of Ubi Soft Entertainment said on Thursday that "we
quickly and easily identified the individuals who disrupted the
game" and also said that users' personal information was not
accessed.
The game was "rolled back" -- everything and every player reverted
to their status shortly before the attacks.
"Hallelujah, I was dead and now I'm not," said player Brian
Buttoloer. "This is way better than real life. Let the games
begin again."
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