Slashdot Mirror
Sims 2 Hacks Spread Like Viruses
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."
Maybe now I'll check the game out.
Where can I buy me one of these magic espresso machines?
Wife: Wow, I love what they did with their place.
Me: What?
Wife: Didn't you notice they redid their kitchen?!?
Me: I noticed the beer was in a different place...
Wife: (ignoring me) I loved their new countertop, and the wine cooler, and...
Me: This is bad, isn't it?
Wife: We need to do something like that.
Me: Yup, it's bad all right.
Wife: I'm sure we can put something together for under $25k...
Me: PWn3d.
wife: Goddamn right.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
I'd call them upgrades! If only reality were just as hackable...
But can the coffee maker shoot Bobs?
Don't worry, a fix is coming. EA has a few employees working overtime this weekend.
Trolling is a art,
if they where never designed as virii, then how come they are behaving like them?
All your Sims are belong to us!
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
catches a virus? Oh the irony.
A virus gets a life, and life gets a virus.
My head hurts.
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
How do we know the Sims themselves haven't created these hacks? I mean, all of us here fantasize about being able to program the physics around us for a happier existence, right? right?
do() || do_not();
And how is this not EXACTLY like real life?
User based sites that create mods, such as http://www.modthesims2.com, have been warning about this for months now.
I want the magic toaster what eats lady sim shirts and skirts!
Sims are suddenly comfortable with open relationships, and the social worker no longer cares how they treat their children.
Does this mean that EA will be releasing a Jerry Springer add-on for the Sims?
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
Another hack allows teenagers in the Sims 2 to get pregnant.
do.... do we see em do it?!?
virtual world plagued by virtual virus. Should we be virtually worried? Will the virtual police come and arrest the virtual hackers as they spread their virtual malware? Will it become a virtual catastrophe, or a comedy of virtual proportions?
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
The game lets you share your acomplishments on EA's Sims 2 website. When you "check out" someone's house, the hacked objects get imported into your copy of the game. If you then export one of your houses, the hacked objects propigate.
Good grief some of you need to get out more.
I remember getting hooked on Sims 1 untill I realised it was a totally retarded game, because the clock runs so fast it can take you several hours to just make coffee and walk to the front door in the morning.
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Guys really want something like this in real life.
Another hack allows teenagers in the Sims 2 to get pregnant.Guys really want...no wait. Real life already has this.
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.
If this were a virus
You would be dead now
Fortunately it's not
The Metaverse is a dangerous place;
How's your security?
Call Hiro Protagonist Security Associates
For a free initial consultation.
...sounds more like a bunch of more-or-less benignly corrupted files which have been unwittingly user-propagated, rather than self-propagating virii. I guess the Sims cops need to be modded to keep the SimVille neighbourhood from going to the dogs, or else they'll be as useless as an Indian policeman enforcing cyber-law.
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I always thought it would be way fun to be able to insert a downloadable sim, who would act as somewhat of a virus, and murder other sims.
My GF's hooked on the Sims (and now Sim2), and even she thought it'd be kinda neat to download an innocent looking Sim, only to have them turn out to be a serial killer who begins killing off your other Sims at some point in time. Sort of a simulated "whodunnit" murder mystery.
Um, what I'm more curious about is why the hell they arbitrarily chose this "57-year-old Sims 2 player from Pflugerville, Texas".
I mean, it doesn't get much more obscure than that. Does this woman happen to be a well-known member of a Sims 2 community site or something? Or did they just do a google search for "arbitrary Sims 2 player" and then interview one of the people randomly selected from the list of results?
I think they saw where she was from and gave it a +5 funny. After that, it was an easy choice.
He is not. But his wife is.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
EA management is run by Sims too.
I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
I believe EA has alot of developers in Austin TX ? Pflugerville is one of the yuppie suburbs.
my favourite line from the article:
"Another hack allows teenagers in the Sims 2 to get pregnant. As the game is sold, they can't even have sex."
Oh my g0d yhis is SO...
I dunno, normal?