DescentBB

[quote]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."

Furthermore, the line between virtual and real cash has already disappeared. The game EverQuest, for example, lets players buy and sell virtual items and characters for real money through an authorised online trading site.

Money breeds crime

Reynolds says the growing number of online game players will only increase the incentive for scammers. "There's nothing exceptional about the virtual world," he says. "Wherever there is that sort of money, there's always crime too."

Bruce Schneier, a renowned computer security expert, adds that the distinction between virtual and real crime is rapidly disappearing. He points to recent reports of crooks trying to hack into games or steal players account information to make cash.

"I regularly say that every form of theft and fraud in the real world will eventually be duplicated in cyberspace," Schneier wrote on his weblog. "Perhaps every method of stealing real money will eventually be used to steal imaginary money, too."

There are also reports that some online scammers are using â??sweatshopsâ?

Heh, that's actually pretty funny

Last time I checked that's how you were supposed to play the game... the guy just put 2 and 2 together and sold the stuff on the net.

Now, the use of bots and whatnot migh have been a violation of the ToS, which may provide legal recourse for the company and players. But had he done it himself I can't see any reason why he should be charged with a crime.

my first thought was.."hey, we need some of those bots in our levels" (unbeatable..eheheh )

Interesting.

will_kill wrote:my first thought was.."hey, we need some of those bots in our levels" (unbeatable..eheheh )

That would be cool to have some really good AI in Descent...

And thus, civilization slips down another peg...

Unix wrote:

will_kill wrote:my first thought was.."hey, we need some of those bots in our levels" (unbeatable..eheheh )

That would be cool to have some really good AI in Descent...

Only so much a slow robot can do to avoid gauss and merc fire...

Actually I've just been considering making an improved AI mod for D3. Perhaps spicing up weapons effects a little too, since today's machines can easily handle it.

What about just speeding up the bots? And making their flight patterns more irregular?

That was going to be part of it, yes. Also making them more aggressive and aware of their surroundings.

sweeeeeeeet!

fascinating story. almost sounds made up.

the two BP bots in the SP missions were pretty f'n tough on insane skill level. My wish: forget weapons effects...

I would love to see someone make copies of levels we all know and love that have bots in them. But also allows the player to choose the skill level of the bot, ship of the bot, number of bots, weapons preference of the bot. i want to be able to designate which weapon the bot will prefer when it has multiple choices. and please make sure to start with Kata.

I believe these would be pretty simple things to do (just not for me). One request that might be harder would be having different styles of AI and being able to choose which you want to face. In other words, I would also like to designate whether the bot prefers to dogfight or hit and run, camp, etc.

Doable, but I'd have to create an external program for it. Putting bots in the levels would take a bit more work--each level would have to be individually modified to include robots.

Palzon wrote:fascinating story. almost sounds made up.

the two BP bots in the SP missions were pretty f'n tough on insane skill level. My wish: forget weapons effects...

I would love to see someone make copies of levels we all know and love that have bots in them. But also allows the player to choose the skill level of the bot, ship of the bot, number of bots, weapons preference of the bot. i want to be able to designate which weapon the bot will prefer when it has multiple choices. and please make sure to start with Kata.

I believe these would be pretty simple things to do (just not for me). One request that might be harder would be having different styles of AI and being able to choose which you want to face. In other words, I would also like to designate whether the bot prefers to dogfight or hit and run, camp, etc.

yes-yes-yes...great ideas Palzon! Now, hopefully, someone can duplicate what your saying.

Stryker wrote:Doable, but I'd have to create an external program for it. Putting bots in the levels would take a bit more work--each level would have to be individually modified to include robots.

just start with kata...

Write it as a netgame mod. You get access to the entire D3 API that way, meaning you could write your own robot AI, rather than using the game's old AI system, as well as spawn robots without touching the level itself, which makes it level-independent. You can also load GAM files in netgame mods. But of course, it requires leet programming skills, since netgame mods have to be written in C or C++. No OSIRIS for you The source to the AI for one or two of the bots is out there too, so it'll give you a starting point. Or you could look online and find a way to implement other AI systems. It'll require a lot of out-of-the-box thinking, but it can be done.

If you were really bored, you could even implement your own physics engine Networking it well would be the hardest part.

Actually, I do know a fair amount of C++--I'll look into the D3 mod compiler and see if I can handle it.

reminds me of DotHack sign.

heh, the main character of dothack was trapped inside the game, this is a little different

the more i ponder this article the more facinating it seems.

i'm not entirely sure what this guy did is illegal.
he put a bot into a game. while the game manufacturers may not allow this, they can hardly make it ILLEGAL. for them to make that illegal there'd have to be laws passes saying that "a game designers word, in their own game server, is LAW... AND YOU CAN BE ARRESTED FOR BREAKING SAID LAWS".
preposterous, a mod's dream come true, and plain just not gonna happen.

the selling of ingame items for money is something completely under the juristiction of the game company - these things are worthless, and are only given worth by the game company. it'd be like me selling you mega missiles in a game of descent. if you killed me in the game and stole my items, do you think i could therefore charge you in real life? i was selling them! i really can't see anything different between this, and the circumstances put forward in the article.

bots are not ILLEGAL. they are simply a pet peave of server operators. they are not however ILLEGAL. PKing in the game is also of course not illegal. and neither is the selling of ingame items - which no-one cares how you got.

they've got nothing on this japanese guy, he's done nothing illegal. the game designers can goto hell - their in-game laws are in no way binding in real life and they can therefore shove them up their arse.
i am confused as to what this guy was charged with, it doesn't make sense to me.

Roidy, it doesn't make sense here either.. But I think the reasoning is that some real money changed hands in a fishy way.

I'm pretty sure there are many scenarios imaginable where you'd get arrested for doing something, without there being an explicit law forbidding it. For instance, is there a law that forbids you to go to the mall and tear open all the packaging and the wrapping of all the products? You're not stealing anything since you're not walking out with anything..

I swear to God, if they ever come out with World of Diablo, my life is over. Diablo 2 Battle.net playing has kicked my ass for so long it's not even funny.

"Virtual" territory is something laws will have to be written for. Especially since people put real world value on items such as those stolen above. They're simply not tangible and I'm sure the company that makes the game actually owns them (they're the only ones who can get to the raw data which is tangible). If the company ever goes belly up, oops you're left with nothing.

Online game developers are really smart too, which is why I don't want to get involved with things like City of Heroes or World of Warcraft. Though they do add new content, they also add super hard "you can only do this once a year" type things to do which will keep people playing until they get the super item and keep paying the monthly fee while they do.

As far as bots being illegal, I'm sure it's a violation of the software EULA, which would make it illegal, but not robbery.

Tricord wrote:Roidy, it doesn't make sense here either.. But I think the reasoning is that some real money changed hands in a fishy way...

nope the money that changed hands was completely legal. what we have here is a game developers' dodgy business model, it has holes in it, this guy is exploiting them.

it's legal. there's 2 world interacting here: the in-game world and the world of commerce.
the in-game rule broken by this guy would have been him using a bot in the game. he broke a rule - his account can be suspended or something but that's it - the rules are pettty and only for the game server, they are just like the rules we have here at the DBB. you can break them and be an ass, but you can't be arrested for it (unless maybe you are using particularly malicious methods to carry it out, ie: methods outlawed by your local country's cybercrime-law).
ok, so that's the in-game world.

in the world of commerce he broke no laws. the game company allowed you to use real-world cash to trade in game items. how you GET said ingame items is completely within the in-game world's laws - it doesn't come under the juristiction of the real-world laws. it's a fantasy.
he traded cash for items that he stole ingame (via PKs), this actually IS allowed for by the game rules, PKing and stealing is perfectly legal in-game.

if this guy was able to exploit a hole in the game, then hey that's good for him. if the game company decided to stake their money making exersise on a HOLE RIDDEN BUSINESS MODEL, then that's their problem. it's not the police's job to plug those holes, it's the company's job to make sure their ship is tight.

frankly i think this rather gaping hole in their business model is grounds to investigate the game company for fraud. as i'm sure the game players signing up did not realise that the business model they were stepping into was so open to exploitation.

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ok i just thought of something - if the commerce (real-world money <--> in-game items) website has a highly visible terms of service that include "you must not run a bot"* then perhaps the police CAN be involved in chasing up people who trade and then have been found to not comply with the terms of service - thereby proving the person made a "fraudulant claim" which can be chased up by the real-world laws of commerce under fraud laws.

*(this would be included in a statement to the effect of "By using this website you agree to the terms of service and by proxy state that you have followed the terms of service in the game. If you have not followed the in-game terms of service then you are by proxy in breach of the terms of service for conducting business on this commercial website.")

iirc it's legal for a business to refuse business dealings with whom ever they please. i'm still unsure if this refusal can be ENFORCED as a legal right if it has been found to have been breached (ie: if the guy could be arrested for it or not, after the fact). but he could probabaly still be fined with "making fraudulant claims".


wouldn't it be cool if we actually had some smart lawyers here at the DBB who could tell us the gist of this.
alas

I think the online bots would be great. That way you could "play" veins or halcyion even though no one else was playing. Perhaps have it so when a player logged on a bot would be logged of.

If we had the source code, I'd go for that.