Ahhhh the virtual world. It's so... virtual. And yet so very very real. I'm not going to pick on Sony with this one, Sony did the right thing. But the players all around you, one of them isn't like all the others. One of them is a "twink" (a character that has high level gear at an absurdly low level). One of them is a "dirty cheating twink". One of them is getting paid to level up a character as their job. Julian Dibbell (of "a Rape in Cyberspace" fame) reported last year in January about the virtual sweat shops. Odd? yes. But not unheard of. Apparently there is quite the market for pre-made heroes. (The link is older, yes, but believe me when I say that not only are these services still out there, they were very productive under the recent exploits...)

Enter the recent round of dupes and exploits happening in Norrath (the world of Everquest). Not just one or two people but apparently by the hundreds players have been duping plat off of bugged respawn characters and trader cycles, making millions in days and telling no one about their newfound wealth. Level 1 toons are buying dropped items from the gods, strutting thier bling bling in the bazaar as the prices of items skyrocket in a platinum-saturated economy. Don't believe this stuff still happens? Check the going rates !

But that doesn't begin to describe the horror of horrors, the memory hack. By all appearances, a few players have been able to hack the entire system, giving themselves god-like powers and taking over monsters for their own personal enjoyment. When one cheats in an online game, you don't just effect your gameplay experience, you effect everyone else's too. Witness the bizarre screenshots of mobs saything things they shouldn't... is it a hack or a quick hand at Photoshop? Who can say. Either way, Sony Online Entertainment seems to think its a big deal.

Now, the hacker spirit in me seems to always root for these guys, to say 'ha ha they hacked the world, good for them'. And if they are doing it on their own server, more power to them. (The fact that they have hacked together their own servers is super-cool.) But, on the live servers, the effect has been devastating. I can't afford to buy Holiday Gifts for my toons anymore - the currency is completely devalued.

Gambling to the rescue?!? Shortly after all of this, "casinos" went live on the EQ Test servers, and are slated for release on the live side. Characters can throw away a few hundred platinum at a time for a 1 in a million chance of getting some great treasure. Seems rather rushed and they will probably add some graphics and nice things to this over time if it takes off. The world adapts Mr. Anderson, it sees your platinum production and introduces sinks to remove the excess and restore value. Will it work? who can say.

The GM's are on alert - the quaint little world of Norrath, former home of the occasional script kiddie and AFK-BotBoy (players that use scripts to level their characters when they aren't present) is now the bastion for a sneakier and more destructive game. No one thinks for a minute that they have caught them all - only time will tell if SoE can restore confidence in the player community. I think they can, but it will take cost and effort - the real-world kind that pays programmers and game designers, as opposed to arbitrary platinum pieces.

Your move, Mr. Anderson.