Second Life Cheating
Linden Labs is adimant that Second Life is not a game. Catherine Smith, Linden Labs spokesperson points out that "There is no manufactured conflict, no set objective... it's an entirely open-ended experience." However, the Second Life system gets cheated an awful lot.
Second Life (SL) supposedly aims to create a virtual world where users can create their own experience. A large component of this world is an economy where Linden dollars are exchanged for in-game objects that are created for users for users. These transactions, and their integrity are managed by the servers run by SL creators, Linden Labs. The weak point in this system however, is the Second Life client. While objects cannot be "owned" until they are purchased from another user, visual descriptions of the objects are downloaded to anyone running a Second Life client so they can be viewed.
The Second Life Protocol
The protocol through which these visual descriptions are transferred to users is a proprietary Linden Labs protocol, which was reverse engineered by the creators of libsecondlife in early 2006. The idea behind these developments was to create a method for developers to interact with the Second Life world without the client application released by Linden Labs (this is expressly forbidden in the Second Life EULA). Nobody really took notice, until a libsecondlife debugging tool was modified, and distributed to the SL community under the name Copybot.
Copybot
Once copybot hit SL, a number of users and outside observers predicted the very end of Second Life. Rightly so, since copybot allowed users to subvert the property laws imposed by Linden Labs to control the distribution of user-generated content. The copybot controversy in many ways, polarized the free-information and DRM camps over control of users' digital property. While Linden Labs argued that copybot breached SL's terms of use, many questioned by Content creators should be reliant on Linden Labs' servers to host their digital livliehoods. SL Users, who participate in the service to escape centralized control over digital content, suddenly became targets for copybot pirates who were distributing rights-managed content without permission. While many Content creators took to the greater internet to voice their concerns, some users protested directly in SL's virtual space.
Seige at Manitoba
The reaction to copybot overflowed 13 months ago, in an SL region called Manitoba. Dozens of angry users converged their avatars on a store selling copybot software in-world. Protesters left behind digital objects emblazoned with protest slogans, and anyone nearby could view the angry, CAPS-LADEN cursing Linden Labs for not acting against users of copybot (its disputed as to whether Linden Labs has the technical capability to reliably ban the malicious code). While Linden reacted by reiterating their terms of use agreement, users clearly felt the ethical dilemma of using copybot went beyond breaching the agreement when several users unleashed "lag-bombs" that slowed the Linden servers to the point of crashing twice in the span of 40 minutes. (via The Second Life Herald)
Aftermath
In the wake of the copybots release, a landmark case was brought to a New York judge in October of this year. Munchflower Zaius (real-life name, Shannon Grei) brought forth an accussation that Rase Kenzo (real name: Thomas Simon) conspired to copy and illegally distribute copies of a number of Second Life objects for his own profit.
Simon, the New York resident being sued, wonders what the big deal is. "It's a video game," Simon told ABC News. "I didn't know you could sue anyone over it"
Grei is seeking $8,000 in damages for duplication of his sex platform Content, which he claims nets him $40,000 a year in sales.
Leave a comment