Grey goo attacks Second Life

by Zack Stern { Nov 20th 2006 at 5:25PM }

Second Life was attacked over the weekend by a worm that created self-replicating rings, similar to the ones from Sonic games. When users touched them, the rings multiplied, clogging the game world with what Linden Labs called "grey goo." The service was closed briefly to clean up the rings and their nefarious code.

While we don't play much Second Life, we're fascinated by its culture. We think that that a big part of general society will eventually meet in an MMO world; these interfaces may turn into the next generation of the internet. And the attack reminds us that pranksters -- or worse -- will always be present.

Second Life is still a miniscule scale of what MMOs could become. Will these sorts of hacks prevent MMOs from reaching the general population?

[Via Slashdot]

Tags: gray goo, GrayGoo, grey goo, GreyGoo, Linden Labs, LindenLabs, Second Life, SecondLife

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ackmondual @ Nov 20th 2006 5:38PM

Interesting concept of a "game". It's similar to The Sims, but it's also a world where real ppl can make virtual assets and products to make real $$.

tcc3 @ Nov 20th 2006 5:40PM

So did the prankster get sent to the cornfield?

Crushed @ Nov 20th 2006 5:49PM

Ha, guys from SomethingAwful did this twice, if I remember correctly.

SL'ers freaked out and accused them of setting off... (wait for it)... VWMD. Virtual Weapons of Mass Destruction.

http://www.somethingawful.com/index.php?a=4186

nyc @ Nov 20th 2006 6:03PM

http://forums.secondcitizen.com/showthread.php?t=5236

The creators have been hit with criminal charges, court docs at that link

V1L3 @ Nov 20th 2006 6:31PM

Get Sonic in there with a lightning shield. That'll clear up the mess REAL fast.

otakucode @ Nov 20th 2006 6:37PM

This would be a much cooler story if the structure of SL allowed the "gods" to detach themselves and become non-interfering, giving the users enough power to combat this type of thing themselves. It would be fascinating to watch rival clans of white and black hat SL hackers arise.

But that's probably just me, I'm a chaos junky.

David @ Nov 20th 2006 6:48PM

Oh wow, when I read the title I thought Gray Goo was a name of another politician attacking MMO's.

RGD86 @ Nov 20th 2006 9:24PM

Second Life is actually a haven for pretty sick and pathetic people like pedophiles and furries. Need proof? Check out Something Awful's Second Life Safari articles: http://www.somethingawful.com/secondlifesafari/

Busty Rim Joe @ Nov 20th 2006 11:29PM

next gta: instead of playing in a prerendered ai world, you you become the crime element in a game like second life, made of other people just trying to live lives.

drew @ Nov 21st 2006 11:33AM

isn't this just the video game/virtual equivalent of an STD?

John H. @ Nov 21st 2006 5:26PM

The thing that worries me most about these attacks is the very real chance that Second Life will end up crippling Linden Scripting Language as the final solution to the problem. I do a lot of object creation in my own scripts there, and I've already run into the goo fence on a legitimate object once.

It was something where the problem could be solved with a bit better programming so it wasn't that big a deal, but I have two major objects I hope to market that do extensive, controlled object creation as part of their functioning. I hope they won't be affected by whatever measures they take.

Ryan @ Nov 23rd 2006 3:21AM

I play SL. Once about every quarter I throw my Lindens on the Lindex and make about $35 bucks. If you are a creative type SL is an awesome outlet for experimenting and selling what you make to residents. SL also offers a bunch of other stuff like intuitive tools for Machinima artists.

It’s hard to describe what SL is to someone’s that’s never played it so the best example I’ve seen is think the Matrix only where everyone knows they’re plugged in. Inside the Matrix you’re pretty much free to do what you want including causing a ruckus like this graygoo fiasco.