Virtual Entrapments Can Really Bite You in Real Life

Well, we all know that playing games can influence your real life,even if it’s just the lack of sleep you get from spending whole nightsplaying online games. But there’s more to it. There are several crucialpoints that have to be considered when running around virtual fieldswith your character. Unfortunately, as in life, some people don't playby the rules.

Sometimes those virtual worlds are not as peaceful as one mightthink or hope. You, or more precisely your avatar, might getblackmailed for protection money or bullied by others. Destruction ofvirtual goods can happen if you don’t pay. The discovery of weapons ofmass destruction in Second Life confirms this point. (Yes, they doexist; search for “Jessie Massacre” if you don’t believe it.)

But, there are other entrapments to watch out for. We already reported on gold farming and the problem with in-game spam in a previous post.It’s no wonder that this business is growing, as selling virtualobjects has become very lucrative. Sometimes, it’s even more profitableto sell online game accounts than stolen credit card numbers.

The people behind those offers are always trying to come up with newways for advertising their services, such as some weeks ago whenpuzzled World of Warcraft players saw hundreds of dead gnomes fallingfrom the sky. This on its own might have been awkward already, but thefalling gnome corpses then spelled out a URL – a bizarre form of ASCIIart, if you will. The spammer made quite an effort to get the messageacross, much to the apparent bemusement of the other players.

Falling gnomes spelling out URL

That stunt was harmless enough, though this next entrapment wasn’t. Last month, China Viewreported where, in Brazil, a player of the popular game GunBound waslured to a date in real life. The lovely girl he thought he was goingto meet from the online chat turned out to be a local gang member thatthreatened him at gunpoint into transferring his game scores to thegang’s account. They later tried to sell his goods for about $8,000USD. Luckily the police were able to arrest the gang.

Sad but true, these cases show how threats are evolving in virtualworlds and why gamers need to be aware that their online world is justnot the harmless escape it used to be. If they can’t get you in thevirtual world they might try it in real life - where many of us justdon’t have "+2 shield of damage protection.”

Next time, I'll write about the rise in malware that targets useraccounts of popular online games, since that's more then enoughmaterial for another blog article.