[MUD-Dev] 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

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(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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