I had a terrible time with Blackhole yesterday, and anyone who followed me on twitter would have heard my cries of frustration. I was running Microsoft Security Essentials which totally failed to prevent or notice what was happening. At the time I was not sure exactly where it had come from.
Now I know. Somehow, Wurm Online has managed to get infected with the Blackhole toolkit; a particularly nasty piece of work. It looks like it’s in the launcher. Blackhole is quite a large malware family, with this particular example being one designed to get in via java.
Fun thing. Before it did anything else, this virus managed to send a kill message to my monitor, fooling me into thinking I was having a hardware issue. So I was messing around with cables and such while it was merrily doing its thing on my machine. Was only when I rebooted that my monitor returned to life. And I only figured out I was infected at all from reviewing my system logs when I was looking to see if my graphics drivers had failed or something similar. MSE did not consider it important enough to tell me about.
I had launched Wurm just a minute or two before my monitor died, but for some reason I never even considered the possibility that I might have gotten infected from an MMO, especially as Blackhole is usually contracted through websites. However, there is no reason why you could not contract a java version through a java game, if it had allowed its files to become infected, and the launcher accesses webpages in any case.
Funnily enough, back in the old days at Anglia Multimedia, I was responsible for making absolutely certain none of our software was infected with anything before we sent them to the CD-printer. While I appreciate that in the heady online world things move a little faster, that only makes it even more important that you fulfil your duty of care to your players.
I don’t think I have managed to eradicate it fully yet. Seems like it’s managed to get quite deep into my system.
So, for now:
- Do not launch or play Wurm.
- If you’re using MSE, try AVG’s free checker, which reportedly is doing a better job at dealing with it.
- I’ve also uninstalled java, as this version of Blackhole seems like it might be making use of it, and hiding in the java install. Uninstall it, or at least update it to the very latest version and use the option within the java controls on your Windows control panel to completely flush the cache.
- Be wary. It’s possible that there is not a quick solution to this infection, and we may be playing host to keylogggers and other dangers. I’d avoid entering my financial details anywhere until I’m 100% sure my PC is clean.
I am not best pleased. We trust Wurm to take proper precautions against this sort of thing. Being a disorganised and eccentric company is only endearing up until the point that it potentially destroys my computer, and/or gets my details stolen by keyloggers. They should have processes in place that make what has just happened impossible.
They should have shut down their server by now, and informed all the players. At the time of writing that has not been done. I hope that’s going to happen soon. The priority right now needs to be to protect the players, not Wurm’s reputation.
The game sites are weaving narration,
Of doom and/or maybe salvation.
It seems in their haste,
they’re suffering a case,
Of premature TES-speculation.
Well, unless they paid to read the Game Informer article. Looking forward to getting my hands on some REAL details about the The Elder Scrolls Online.
On and off this week, I’ve been dipping into the world of TERA. It’s been a busy RL week, and my Wurm horses are ever in need of feeding, so I’ve not had as much time to play as I might normally, but I have gotten my Mystic up to level 20, and a Slayer up to 12. As such, I’ve had a few thoughts about the game that I figured I probably ought to get down on paper.
 Maltheas gazes out over the Isle of Dawn Action combat is nice, and I know that for a lot of people it is their favourite thing about TERA. I’ve played Dungeons and Dragons Online though, so action combat is not a new thing to me, and TERA’s version of it seems to involve an awful lot of waiting for your combat timers to finish before you can click again, especially with my slayer character. I’m sure animation and technical changes could be made to make TERA’s action combat feel a little more fluid, and I would expect something along those lines to eventually be done. Off the cuff, I’d speed up the animations for the Slayer’s basic mouse-clicky attacks, and lower the damage to compensate.
At any rate, it’s at least as good as the combat in most other MMOs, and I’ve had some fun with it.
Popori are adorable, and the world itself is extremely good looking. Like similar games previously, I find myself wondering what could be done with these beautifully rendered worlds, if only a little more imagination had been applied to the gameplay, or indeed, if they were magically moddable by others.
Anyone who’s read this blog for a while will know I’m not a fan of linearity in MMO. I like to have some choices in what I’m doing, lest it feel more like the game is playing me, rather than the other way around. TERA has taken linearity to extreme lengths.
Your character is lead through the game, from hub to hub, by a never-ending chain of red quests. So far as I can tell you have to do these, and so your advancement through the game is along a completely predetermined path. You can choose not to do the yellow-named quests at each hub, which at least speeds things up a little, though you’ll likely need to do some of them at least to keep your level up high enough to do the compulsory ones.
With only one starting zone, and no class or race-specific content, this is not a game in which I would want to level too many alts. Linearity is almost undetectable if you only have one character, which is why single-player games can get away with it much easier. It’s only when you start another character and find that the experience, your class’s abilities aside, is almost identical, that it truly begins to grate.
While Rift was also rather linear in its questing hub structure, it did have the enormous benefit that its zones also had quite a lot of dynamic things going on, which made the world feel more alive, and could provide some variety in experience as your characters made their way through the zones.
Please Note: I’m only qualified to talk about TERA up to level 20 so far. It’s possible that everything changes later on, and I want to avoid being yelled at if it does.
It’s a shame, because TERA does abound with clever little touches. You can find charms which you can burn in the quest-hub campfires to give everybody in the camp at the time a random 15 minute buff, and you can have up to three of them running at once. That’s a positive interaction with other players that can only lead to good things.
Did I mention that Popori are ADORABLE?!!
 Usagi the rabbit Popori surveys the scene in TERA TERA seems a solid example of the modern themepark MMO, and if that’s your favourite flavour then you should certainly give it a try. While I don’t think it’s going to be a good game for alts, and will probably lack longetivity, playing a single character through the campaign should be quite a lot of fun, and will easily keep you entertained until the next big MMO release.
We’re going to be talking about TERA’s politics system, and MMO political systems in general on the next edition of The Three MMOsketeers.
The TERA head-start began about an hour ago, but I have yet to actually get into the game! I have been too busy dithering over the exact bone-structures of my starting team of characters!
Arkenor is looking a bit dourer than I like, but it’s rather hard to wipe the grumpy expression off the faces with decent beards. Maltheas is a little distressed that he can’t be a rat, but I have managed to convince him that raccoons are also quite cool.
We’re not too sure who that Usagi fellow is, but he seems vaguely familiar. I’m sure he’ll serve with honour.
 Team Maltheas is ready for Tera. Right, I suppose I’d better send Maltheas in to have a look around. I did not play in the Beta, so this is going to be my first experience of the game.
I’m not very good at staying mad at EQ2. I *am* still rather bothered about the ProSiebenSat business, particularly the complete radio silence we’ve had from SOE since their statement a month ago. Their reluctance to post has been only matched by my own, for which I beg your indulgence.
However, I have a rather Celtic temper, in spite of living here in the fine city of Norwich, and while I’m quite good at getting annoyed, I tend to cool down just as fast. Not to mention that I’ve had a rather beastly time in Wurm recently, as Stargrace has written about, and being angry at two completely different games at the same time is exhausting. I kind of needed a safe haven away from all that unpleasantness, where I could be sure my home would still be in the same state it was when I logged out.
So, aye, Maltheas has been out and about, doing what he does best!
 Maltheas and Fippy enjoy a quick sparring session before tea and cheesecake. The Chronoportals are back, and I managed to catch the end of the Brewday festival, snagging the content added for this year. I rather liked the new Brewday game where you ride arounds like a mad thing on a carpet, attempting to run over as many goblins as possible. Joyously chaotic.
The new EQ2players site does not allow questing leaderboards, and none of the 3rd party sites are doing a suitable one to work with yet either. I’ll do an Extreme Questing leaderboard update when the data becomes available to me, for I think Malth is doing quite well at the moment!
He’s in a bit of an odd patch at the moment. At level 48, with most of the level-equivalent stuff done, an awful lot of quests have level requirements that prevent an attempt, even though the little chap could probably handle them, or at least have a splendid time dying gloriously. I know minimum level requirements are there to protect players from biting off more than they can chew, but the only thing being protected right now is evil-doers, from a sound drubbing at the hands of Ratonga Justice.
At any rate, it means I have to grit my teeth and let him level to 50 pretty soon. That’ll open up the end game of the original content, and much else besides. I pottered through the only available quest-chain in Lesser Faydark this evening, and I guess the rest of them will open up at 50 too.
The most annoying time of the year, Bristlebane Day, approaches, and Maltheas must prepare for the indignities that that rascal of a god will heap upon adventurers of all stripes. Be sure to log in on the 1st of April, when particularly pesky things will be afoot. Maybe we’ll get to expand our polyhedral dice pet collections!!
As you know by now, SOE is selling its European players, to a company called ProSiebenSat.1. OK, technically, they’re selling them the exclusive rights to run the games within Europe (including the UK), but that includes all the characters on the European servers, and the details of anyone with a character there. The value of the playerbase has certainly been accounted for in the deal, and so we have been passed like chattels to a new master.
So who are they, these folks that we suddenly find in control?
ProSiebenSat.1 is a German media conglomerate. Their main business is German language television for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Most important for us though is a little side-business called Alaplaya, which runs online games such as Argo, Skylancer, and a number of other games that you’ve also only ever seen mentioned in cheap google ads. I’m not hearing good things, either about how they modify their games, nor about how they treat their customers. We can expect customer service done on the cheap.
I was having a bit of a dig around for more interesting info when I discovered that ProSiebenSat have deeper links with the Sony corporation than have been reported in the gaming media so far.
Munich, December 15, 2011. The ProSiebenSat.1 Group and Sony Pictures Television Sales Deutschland GmbH have entered into a far-reaching output deal for the video-on-demand portal maxdome. The agreement covers recent blockbusters, as well as many top movies and TV series. This deal will expand the offering of Germany’s biggest online video shop to a total of 45,000 titles, thereby extending maxdome’s market leadership position.
Recent blockbusters like “Bad Teacher,” “Die Schlümpfe” and “Der Zoowärter,” as well as a large selection of movies from Sony Pictures such as “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” and “Zombieland,” are now available on maxdome. Top TV series like “Hawthorne,” “Drop Dead Diva” and “Breaking Bad,” as well as classics like the children’s series “Die Schlümpfe,” are also available on maxdome. Effective immediately, moreover, subscribers can access movies at least two months before they are broadcast on free TV.
About maxdome:
A ProSiebenSat.1 Group company, maxdome is Germany’s largest video download site and offers a wide variety of feature films, series, comedy shows, sports, music and cartoons – a total of more than 45,000 titles of the best entertainment. Videos can be downloaded from maxdome individually, for rental, with a purchase option, or by subscription. As with a DVD, the program can be viewed as often as desired.
The timing of that announcement is interesting, and it starts to look like SOE’s mothercorp has probably signed a distribution deal with ProSiebenSat for their Netflix-clone that includes multiple media, and SOE has gotten caught up in it. Any claim that it’s a great thing for SOE is just a justification after the fact.
If that’s the case, then there may be nothing at all that SOE can do about this at this late stage in the game. This does not absolve guilt at the corporate level in any way, but it does make it seem pretty unlikely that this is going to be a preventable deal.
Which should not stop us from trying.
SOE has unleashed the dogs of war though. Dissent is being quashed. EQ2Wires writer, Feldon, has gotten banned from the forum, largely for his protesting the censorship of Cheese Pirate’s satirical cartoon on the matter. Long-built (and sometimes overly close in some cases, in my opinion) blogger relationships are being burned all over the place.
What is astounding to me is how complete a revolt is occurring amongst the playerbase against Sony’s highhanded tactics. Will this be enough to change minds, not only at the top of SOE, but their bosses over at Sony?
I am going to make a much larger post about this later today, once I have been topped up with the elixir which permits my brain to operate at an acceptable level of functionality. Its depletion over the last month is partially responsible for the lack of posts. Going onto a 3-month, instead of monthly testosterone injection has created a rather extended and unpleasant trough. Today, that gets sorted, at least for a while. It should balance out somewhat, eventually.
I would suggest that in the future, SOE time their fresh outrages a little better, so as to not happen right before I get topped up. Because if I’m annoyed enough to write 3 hours before my injection, things may be getting pretty special later.
You’ll be aware by now, I’m sure, that SOE has signed a deal with ProSiebenSat.1 to run their European operations, making the European servers completely separate. I’m not best pleased, and to that end we called an emergency session of the Three MMOsketeers last night, for a breaking news podcast.
Thanks to the CSICON network for hosting the Three MMOsketeers!! I shall be back later, chances are, charged up and with enough functional brain cells to do some research.
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