Second Life Attacked Again

Filed in archive Virtual Worlds on May 1, 2006

Virtual world Second Life has been hit by another user-generated denial of service attack crafted using the environment's own scripting tools. Tony Walsh at Clickable Culture has coverage of this new attack, which happened a couple of days ago.

In what has become a standard method of attack, a user Launched a self-replicating 3D object that multiplied more rapidly than Second Life's infrastructure could support, resulting in the "grid" that constitutes the virtual world grinding to a standstill.

In an attempt to get the situation under control, Linden Lab (maker and operator of Second Life) announced that rogue objects had been launched, naming the user to whom the objects belonged. The user in question was subsequently bombarded with abuse-reports and instant messages from angry virtual world residents before being suspended from Second Life while an investigation took place.

Second Life is notable amongst virtual worlds as almost the entire content within the game world is created by it's users. The tools available within the virtual world have even lead to one Second Life-developed game, Tringo, to be licensed to a real-world developer, with a Gameboy Advance version due for release soon.

Via: 3pointD.