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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."

39 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Some of those hacks sound kind of cool! by ZipR · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe now I'll check the game out.

    1. Re:Some of those hacks sound kind of cool! by Soul-Burn666 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Reasons for playing the sims are here (sims1) and here (sims2).

      --
      ^_^
    2. Re:Some of those hacks sound kind of cool! by GweiLeong · · Score: 3, Funny

      I played it for awhile, and frankly now I'm tempted to start it up again... Most popular at the moment seem to be the teen woohoo mod (no pregnancy) and teen woohoo mod (pregnancy possible). Someone made a mod where you can invite anyone (regardless of age/gender) to move in with you. They should have called it the Michael Jackson mod. ;)

    3. Re:Some of those hacks sound kind of cool! by VivianC · · Score: 5, Funny

      ...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.

      Oh my God! They are all becoming Democrats! Can't somebody stop the madness?

      --
      Viv

      Gmail invites for ip
  2. I wonder. by Blapto · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where can I buy me one of these magic espresso machines?

    1. Re:I wonder. by grahamsz · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thing you need the 'special' columbian beans for that.

    2. Re:I wonder. by Mr.+No+Skills · · Score: 4, Funny

      All espresso machines have magic in them. :)

      --
      Sleep is for the Weak
  3. Sims 2 is the least of my problems... by Skyshadow · · Score: 5, Funny
    Great! All we need now is a patch for the real-life analog of this. You know what I'm talking about here, that one where you go over to a friend's house for dinner and afterwords have this conversation:

    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.
    1. Re:Sims 2 is the least of my problems... by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 5, Funny

      Only 50% of the slashdotters with id 1000 are still married.

      Surely there's only one slashdotter with id 1000...

      Is he half married?

    2. Re:Sims 2 is the least of my problems... by Skim123 · · Score: 4, Funny

      This is why you need to make sure, regardless of your age, your friends are poor college students. Then what is she going to say? "I really like what they did with those cinderblocks?", and, "That couch they found on the side of the road sure does add a nice touch to their place."

      --

      I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.

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

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

  5. It may fulfill all the sims needs... by Heftklammerdosierer! · · Score: 3, Funny

    But can the coffee maker shoot Bobs?

  6. Relax. by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    Don't worry, a fix is coming. EA has a few employees working overtime this weekend.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  7. but.. by sirgallihad · · Score: 3, Interesting

    if they where never designed as virii, then how come they are behaving like them?

    1. Re:but.. by SiliconJesus · · Score: 4, Informative

      The actual virus like behaviour is due to the way EA's site works.

      Basically - you create the house using your copy of the game, with whatever tiles you have installed and loaded. Once you're happy with the results, you upload them to the server inside the game. The game then compares the objects to those in the standard game, as well as those in the game database (every object is given a unique ID and checksum from what I've seen so far), and variants are uploaded as well as part of the upload. The more unique objects your house has, the bigger it is.

      --
      Clinton made me a Republican. Bush made me a Libertarian. Trump is making me question reality.
    2. Re:but.. by iabervon · · Score: 5, Informative

      Essentially, everything behaves like viruses in the game, but people didn't realize this in advance. It makes sense that when you import a house, the things in it come along, but people didn't realize that a number of game mechanics were treated as things in houses. People also didn't realize that, if you modified "the espresso machine", the change would apply not just to one item, but to all items like that one, so importing the house with the weird espresso machine imports and applies the weirdness to your espresso machines, which you then pass on when you export your house.

    3. Re:but.. by Rei · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'd be interested in seing a time bomb. An object which does nothing for a month, and then sets everything it can on fire. Just like with a real virus, if you want it to spread far and wide, you need an incubation period.

      --
      Seen on a Japanese food processor: "Not to be used for the other use."
  8. Someone set up us the Sims by PornMaster · · Score: 5, Funny

    All your Sims are belong to us!

    --
    500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
  9. So, a game which simulates live by Trigun · · Score: 4, Funny

    catches a virus? Oh the irony.

    A virus gets a life, and life gets a virus.

  10. A brave new world. by Dr+Caleb · · Score: 4, Funny
    Life imitates art imitating life.

    My head hurts.

    --
    "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
  11. It's The Sims! by devphaeton · · Score: 5, Funny

    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(); // try();
  12. 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.
    2. Re:so what? by DarthWiggle · · Score: 3, Informative

      Similarly, Populous, a much better game. (old school)

  13. Old news for those in the 'scene' by Richard+Frost · · Score: 5, Interesting

    User based sites that create mods, such as http://www.modthesims2.com, have been warning about this for months now.

  14. New Sims add-on? by weeboo0104 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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
  15. yes but, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Another hack allows teenagers in the Sims 2 to get pregnant.

    do.... do we see em do it?!?

    1. Re:yes but, by sTalking_Goat · · Score: 3, Funny
      Another hack allows teenagers in the Sims 2 to get pregnant.

      Dammit I told them that that Abstinence hack was a waste of time...

      --

      My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle...

  16. wow by Jailbrekr · · Score: 5, Funny

    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
  17. Re:+4 Funny? by rackhamh · · Score: 4, Funny

    some of you need to get out more.

    Dude... it's an article about the Sims...

  18. Re:Sims 2 is a virus by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 4, Funny

    it can take you several hours to just make coffee and walk to the front door in the morning.

    Hey, I didn't realise it was *that* realistic!

  19. 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.
    1. Re:Sleep Depravation = Bugs by ironygranny · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm assuming your clients are running Windows: try creating a "Sims" group, adding the limited user accounts to it, and giving it at least "Write" access on the Sims directory under "Program Files" AND go into the registry under HKLM\Computer, find the Sims-related keys and grant the "Sims" group Full Control over them. That usually works for me with games (which tend to be less good about keeping user data in places where user data should be).

      If you're feeling especially masochistic, you can download a utility like Sysinternal's "Filemon" and watch what files/directories the Sims fails writing to so that you can then set the appropriate permissions.

  20. What's strange about magic espresso? by gerardlt · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...some characters are finding all their needs fulfilled by a single shot of magic espresso.
    Isn't this normal?
    --
    /* This sig is disabled. Press CTRL-W to enable. Thankyou */
  21. My idea by Mr.+Cancelled · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

  22. Re:+4 Funny? by m50d · · Score: 4, Funny

    Says the guy posting on slashdot complaining about the moderation

    --
    I am trolling
  23. Re:Sims 2 is a virus by necro2607 · · Score: 3, Funny

    No kidding, I started getting pissed off that it took 2-5 hours to microwave a TV dinner...

  24. Re:57 Years Old? by necro2607 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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?

  25. my favourite line from the article: by mu22le · · Score: 3, Funny

    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?