I want to play a video game, but I’m afraid of being mugged.
Maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe it’s even happened to you, or maybe you’re blissfully unaware of the ridiculous idea that an online avatar can be robbed of its possessions. Whatever the case, it happens, and the hackers responsible are getting more sophisticated about it.
Theft, not of actual cash, but of virtual gold, weapons and gear that can then be sold for real money, is a lucrative business. Online games offer ample opportunity for unscrupulous behavior, and with massively multiplayer online role-playing games getting bigger and more popular, it’s easy to see people taking advantage of this relatively new battleground.
Hackers can game the system by making programs called bots. These are programs that function as game users, but are not actually controlled by anyone; they work on algorithms set up by their creator and are built to do something specific again and again like roaming the landscape, stealing from players.
It’s a serious thing, but I have to admit it sounds kind of funny. Not because I condone theft (stealing is wrong, kids), it’s just that I’m imagining these pseudo–intelligent robots wandering through online games, sporting fedoras and cigarettes hanging from their lips, saying things like “Stick ’em up, pal” as they prey on unsuspecting players.
I imagine they carry around a bag with a big money sign on it, and to me that’s so ridiculous it would almost make it worth being mugged.
Bots also hack into player accounts by running thousands of letter and number combinations per minute until they eventually hit on players’ passwords, unlocking their accounts and everything connected to them.
Players return to their game to see their characters naked, stripped of all their possessions, and their account information, like bank info and credit card numbers, accessed.
Stolen items can then be sold for actual cash; some people are willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money for a virtual weapon, for example.
Bots are also created to gather in-game resources, which can then be sold in game at exorbitant amounts, cornering the market on an item and forcing the prices up, creating actual artificial inflation in game, garnering them even more virtual and real cash.
Blizzard, the creator of some of the most popular MMORPGs, including “World of Warcraft,” tries to combat bots with their one weakness – randomness.
A bot is only carrying out what a human programs it to do, so a way to fight a bot is to throw random scenarios and questions at it.
Have you ever been playing a game when it wouldn’t continue unless you copied one of those annoying CAPTCHA images into a box? That’s a bot-catcher.
Of course, the algorithms that spawn elements of a game are programs too, and they can usually be figured out by hackers, who can then update the bots with the new pattern (there’s always a pattern to discern). It’s a never-ending fight.
Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but crime is inevitable, and as new technology emerges it’s a pretty safe bet that criminals will evolve with the times. What’s interesting is how developers and publishers will deal with this criminal element.
Blizzard is pretty good at finding and fixing loopholes that allow hackers to do unscrupulous things, but it’s a huge digital world, and policing it is next to impossible without seriously disrupting the game. It’s hard to crack down on people doing wrong without also inadvertently punishing the innocent game players.
Most people play games to escape from reality, but if they’re going to be confronted with new rules and regulations at every turn, some of the fun is gone. It’s a fine line to tread, and one that has many facets to it.
Email agilvezan@media.ucla.edu with your dastardly online criminal plan.