Second Life

I wanted to post this in the blog, but the video might fall off. For now, click on the link about to see for yourself what is described below...

Second Life miscreants stage members-only attack

Virtual real estate tycoon Anshe Chung has been forced to abandon a public forum inside the 3-D online world of Second Life after virtual vandals - known as griefers - launched a phalanx of flying phalluses.

Anshe, a former language teacher from China whose real name is Ailin Graef, was appearing inside the virtual world at an event hosted by the online technology news publisher CNET.

Last month, Anshe announced that she had accumulated virtual assets worth more than $US1 million in real money, making her - by her own claim - the first virtual world millionaire.

"She is very popular, and some people don't like her," said CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman, whose Second Life avatar (online persona), GreeterDan Godel, was interviewing Anshe at the time of the attack.

"She's made a lot of money, and is one of the most prominent of all Second Life residents. So to some people, some griefers, that makes her a target,"

Griefers are so-called because they create grief. Their antics are designed to interrupt proceedings in virtual worlds and games usually for no other reason than because they can.

Attacks like the one launched against Anshe are triggered by a program code that generates self-replicating objects.

Much like email spam, these "griefspawn" attacks can chew up system resources and slowing down performance. They can sometimes even trigger network crashes.

In October, griefers launched a self-replicating worm inside Second Life spawning a flood of "grey goo" that eventually caused a complete shutdown, locking out tens of thousands of members.

Other documented griefing attacks involved using images of objects that are design to upset and offend, including huge swastikas and, once, a model of the World Trade Centre in flames.

In this week's griefspawn attack, witnessed by about thirty avatars that were in the audience, the stage was bombarded by a barrage of over-sized penises.

Unable to continue the discussion because of the disruption, Anshe left the stage. The meeting was hastily reconvened in another room on property owned by Anshe.

But there was no escaping the griefers who attacked the new venue, eventually crashing the server which housed the auditorium. After a restart, the forum proceeded without interruption for another three hours.

HZA noted this in the story: "Penalties for such anti-social pranks can include suspension or
expulsion from the world."

Icculus followed up with a link to The Cornfield .

For more: the world itself.