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Sims 2 Hacks Spread Like Viruses

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the we-control-the-horizontal-and-the-vertical dept.

jowens writes "SecurityFocus reports that players sharing house designs through Electronic Arts' Sims 2 Exchange are finding their game behaving oddly: espresso machines mysteriously satisfy all the Sims needs, Sims are suddenly comfortable with open relationships, and the social worker no longer cares how they treat their children. It turns out hacks were spreading invisibly with Sims 2 lots, infecting thousands of downloadable homes, and catching Electronic Arts by surprise. The hackers, who never intended their hacks to be viruses, have even written their own AV scanner to find and control the outbreak."

4 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Hacks? by trp642 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd call them upgrades! If only reality were just as hackable...

  2. so what? by mrn121 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And how is this not EXACTLY like real life?

    1. Re:so what? by utlemming · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, can you imagine the problems that would happen with self-aware Sims? You would have your own cult of Sims worshipping you. Everytime you would open the Sims, they would praise you and beg for your benevolence or beg that your menevolence would be adverted. That could be a fun, yet cruel game. It could be called Sim God. If only AI tech was that advanced. I would buy a game where I could tinker with the lives of a self-aware AI....muhahaha

      --
      The views expressed are mine own and do not express the views of my employer.
  3. Sleep Depravation = Bugs by Safety+Cap · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From the article:
    Someone at Electronic Arts was really shortsighted not to have thought of hacked objects spreading this way.
    Let's see, if you work your developers to death on the Bataan Coding Deathmarch 18/7 (with 2 hours off on Sunday for "good behaviour"), then how on earth are they supposed to write anything remotely resembling quality code, let alone manage risk?

    Answer: you don't; instead you adopt the Slashdot style of code testing: Ship it!
    503? Hacks spread like viruses? Oh, par for the course.

    --
    Yeah, right.