Worm closes Second Life

A self-replicating 'grey goo' shuts down the virtual world briefly on Sunday.

While Blizzard actively tries to prevent users of its massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft from exchanging real-life currency for in-game gold, virtual world Second Life takes a somewhat different approach. The "game," which gives players the freedom to create their own content, is also a thriving virtual economy--players buy property, land, items, and clothes in Linden Dollars, which cost approximately $1 per L$250. This means that real money can be made by creating virtual items, an idea that's seen Second Life's population boom.

At the end of March, Second Life had 165,000 "residents," and now it boasts more than 1 million. But just like in the real world, as the population grows, so do the crime statistics. There have been a series of phishing scams, last week a copybot threatened the intellectual property created for the game, and now a rapidly replicating worm has briefly closed the online world to visitors.

The malicious attack, called "the grey goo" by Linden Lab, the game's creators, appeared in-game as spinning gold rings floating in the air. When touched by an avatar, the gold rings replicated, meaning that the worm rapidly multiplied until the game experienced severe lag and the server connection was lost.

Linden Lab took the game offline briefly on Sunday as it "isolated the grey goo," and "cleaned up the grid."

The attack was launched by a malicious programmer, and is not the first program to cause problems in the game. The copybot attack last week, which allowed users to copy any object in the game, had the potential to cause big problems for any number of the content-creating businesses that operate there--including the likes of Dell, Adidas, Toyota, and Reuters.

Some users, including Karsha Yutani, spoke of the attack on the official Second Life blog as if they had been devastated by a real-life tragedy. "Those stupid rings caused the floor and walls of my little shop I am trying to build to auto return. Granted it's a tiny plot of 512 land, that my friend owns and I plan to buy from her once I have the money set aside, and not much room, but I'm still trying to build a shop to earn a few L$ to spend for fun," she wrote.

The attack caused a flurry of criticism from Second Lifers, in the forums, some stated they would now be selling their land, some complained they believed there were now too many users in the game, with an "unsustainable" growth in new sign-ups, and others wanted access restricted to those with a paid subscription--to keep out the "tourists."

36 Comments

  • Cloud737

    Posted Dec 29, 2006 5:32 am PT

    "Those stupid rings caused the floor and walls of my little shop I am trying to build to auto return. Granted it's a tiny plot of 512 land, that my friend owns and I plan to buy from her once I have the money set aside, and not much room, but I'm still trying to build a shop to earn a few L$ to spend for fun."
    Jeez, talk about touchy people. I guess virtual economy won`t thrive so quick as a real life one because of the numerous problems it has, including worms, viruses, and the infamous (at least to corporations that sell products) copybot.

  • aikido7thdan

    Posted Dec 4, 2006 2:52 pm PT

    so if I sign up and go on a mass killing spree do I go to virtual death row and be virtually executed? Or do I just get kicked and flamed by second lifers? Im serious though I can just go postal like I do in the other rediculously violent games I play then this game would be worth it.

  • nikefreak

    Posted Nov 30, 2006 5:10 am PT

    "Clearly you folks who have either tried it for 20 minutes or simply written it off because you don't understand it or wish to (we in the world call this ignorance) need to do a little more reading. Companies like Reuters have even decided that the goings on in here in this environment are important enough to devote full-time staff to reporting on. This is really no different than what happened when the ever-so-scary WWW was launched and people couldn't figure out what to DO with it. Calling it a game is really the drawback. People are making livings here, respectable ones! People are playing online games, being creative and exploring a social experiment like no other. If you would prefer to grind your way to level 60, collect pre-made content untli you're blue in the face and try to tell me thats a better use of your time, then I challenge your understanding of the word I keep hearing : pointless.

    Let's do indeed respect the now ove 1.5 million folks who continue to enjoy this environment, it's players and it's thriving economy.

    Yup, I am one of them, and fine with it. I have a family and a '1st life' that is incredibly fulfilling, and find this a fantastic distraction from day to day when i have spare time. Nothing repetitive about it, new adventures daily. I challenge the nay-sayers to try it for a week - it's FREE. "

    AMEN - People dont seem to realize this is a SERVICE that uses a 3d Virtual World to allow people to do as they wish, communicate, etc. What is wrong with that? Isnt that what the world has wanted for a long, long time? Struggled to achieve with impossible 3d VR machines that dont do it well, etc... Think about it. All thats left, is a good head-tracking display, and a better way to interact with the environment as if it were real, and it would be VR to the next level... A constantly changing DIGITAL WORLD, In which you could carry out your daily tasks just as if it were a boring bland webpage, im, etc.

  • revamparts

    Posted Nov 28, 2006 11:19 pm PT

    Reminds me of the Sun Belt population explosion.

  • 09n

    Posted Nov 24, 2006 8:11 am PT

    Dell? How can you buy a computer in a computer? I mean how? It makes no sense to me....

  • telemole

    Posted Nov 24, 2006 6:09 am PT

    Clearly you folks who have either tried it for 20 minutes or simply written it off because you don't understand it or wish to (we in the world call this ignorance) need to do a little more reading. Companies like Reuters have even decided that the goings on in here in this environment are important enough to devote full-time staff to reporting on. This is really no different than what happened when the ever-so-scary WWW was launched and people couldn't figure out what to DO with it. Calling it a game is really the drawback. People are making livings here, respectable ones! People are playing online games, being creative and exploring a social experiment like no other. If you would prefer to grind your way to level 60, collect pre-made content untli you're blue in the face and try to tell me thats a better use of your time, then I challenge your understanding of the word I keep hearing : pointless.

    Let's do indeed respect the now ove 1.5 million folks who continue to enjoy this environment, it's players and it's thriving economy.

    Yup, I am one of them, and fine with it. I have a family and a '1st life' that is incredibly fulfilling, and find this a fantastic distraction from day to day when i have spare time. Nothing repetitive about it, new adventures daily. I challenge the nay-sayers to try it for a week - it's FREE.

  • speculative

    Posted Nov 23, 2006 9:18 pm PT

    Self-generating gold rings? Someone should have simply coded a Sonic avatar and charged to run around collecting them all.

  • evolutionex

    Posted Nov 23, 2006 10:53 am PT

    eh? Second Life? man that's lame......

  • eapo_q42

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 6:46 pm PT

    Sorry about this, I know you guys all hate a rant, but I just cannot get over this! Playing Second Life makes about as much sense to me as taking up a daily intravenous heroin habit.
    It costs about the same, depending on your dedication to either one, and it wastes your life about as effectively by making you forget about the real world and it's problems.

    And for goodness' sake, no, I'm not condoning heroin use. I'm just trying to point out how ridiculous this whole thing is!

  • eapo_q42

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 6:39 pm PT

    Ok. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with people these days? I'm obviously a dedicated gamer, otherwise I wouldn't be on this site, and I wouldn't be posting right now. But it's people who play crap like this "Second Life" that make me look like an idiot, and I don't appreciate it. Not at all!

    A second life is completely unneccessary. One life is hard enough to manage. And if it's not going so well, you persist and you make do, and you make your first life worth living. Getting a virtual second life is NOT going to bring you fulfilment! It will merely drain your lifeforce slowly, consistently, as you give ALL your attention to an utterly pointless endevour. Games can be the most wonderful thing in the world, they are not, and should never be, a substitute reality. Honestly. Just go play some Gears of War or something.

  • BigAug

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 9:16 am PT

    like some mess right outta ghost in the shell...crazy haxxorz!

  • DRUNK_CANADIAN

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 4:05 pm PT

    haxxors cannot be stopped...the forces of good arent strong enough

  • Erebus

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 3:58 pm PT

    What...the...hell.....?

  • deth420

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 2:22 pm PT

    everyone seems to be knocking this game (and yes ive played it), but what everyone seems to not realize is its a great game to learn and create stuff.
    I know nothing of making games until i got on Second Life, and while i admit im no making any games anytime soon, i have learned ALOT about what it takes to make a game. and had some fun doing it. its a shame people have to play games just to ruin fun of others, try makin somthin that messes you up and is fun for others, it'd be alot cooler!

  • BigDaveyDogz

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 1:35 pm PT

    this game makes me fear for my childrens future.

  • iceuk

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 9:50 am PT

    It's never going to stop.

  • coreyb42

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 8:59 am PT

    Ummm, that's what happens when you let just ANYBODY code things into the game...

  • cjcr_alexandru

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 8:40 am PT

    The game may not be to the liking of some people but please have some respect for those 1 million people that play it. (I'm not one of them)

  • MxO

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 8:21 am PT

    *sound of hysterical laughter*

  • Nawras

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 8:13 pm PT

    People can't have enough in living in real life BS that they have to even buy a game and play it and create and sell property on it?! What the flip has the world come to!?

  • bigelf72

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 4:24 pm PT

    LOL, keep it up guys....Ruin this shi**y game before all the myspace losers join it.

  • Xenctuary

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 2:43 pm PT

    That's awesome.

  • Zipper761882

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 2:23 pm PT

    I tried the game for about one day. I figured it might be at least somewhat cool. I was wrong. I have never seen a game that lacks direction and polish as bad as this one does. I spent 20 bucks on in game cash too so I blew it on a bunch of junk stuff that half of it didn't even work. Anyway major dissapointment there. The game does have a good idea thought just really bad execution.

  • StanleyL GameSpot staff member

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 1:55 pm PT

    Now that's what I a ringworm. Har har har!

    /crickets

  • runstalker

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 1:51 pm PT

    It's strange when users of really clunky and awkward online titles defend their games. It's almost as if they become addicted to the feature set or the social web, ignoring poor execution in the game itself. It's all about execution folks, remember that. Remember you're still playing a game and there are standards to expect in all games. Otherwise you're simply wasting your mortality on substandard entertainment, and that's not very good use of time.

  • FatherTimex

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 1:34 pm PT

    Most second life users are complete tools.. like the communists who threaten you with banning because explaining why communism doesn't work apparently constitutes "hate speech".

    Meanwhile, they have sex with each other while wearing animal costumes.

  • BlueBarad

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 1:25 pm PT

    The Matrix Returns

  • Thesimsfrk111

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 1:20 pm PT

    ...

  • piecake

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 1:15 pm PT

    wow

  • puablo

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:56 pm PT

    I still don't get it. Do you even DO anything in this world? Sounds like the grey goo was a genius way to break up the presumptive boredom.

  • TheNeo911

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:52 pm PT

    No surprise, the interface is terrible and people moved on.

  • Corvin

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:43 pm PT

    Second Life seems like a nice social experiment, but it seems like some of the users take it too seriously, even try to make their living off of it. I'm usually as eager as anyone to escape reality by jumping in to a game, but I don't try to live and set up shop in my games. Its a strange world we live in when virtual reality worlds have real life exchange rates for money...

  • pwnr

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:39 pm PT

    Well at least it's over.

  • emo_worm

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:31 pm PT

    I love the Second Life Safari videos on Something Awful, they rip on the people there so hard its awesome

  • phalluman

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:27 pm PT

    haha i was wondering what the deal was
    i downloaded it and started on sunday

  • kyosukeugc

    Posted Nov 20, 2006 12:20 pm PT

    Interesting idea.

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