Originally posted by blognorg Thanks for all of the feedback. On reflection, I realized that I posed the question poorly, so I edited my original post. Yes, users being smarter would help, but for all intents and purposes, that's not going to be remedied anytime soon, neither is that fact that enough people purchase gold to sustain that market. And it seems like hackers will find some technical way around most securities put into place (yes, largely due to player stupidity). I was more curious about some in-game ideas that might prevent such theft even if a hacker gets your account info they won't get your things, effectively stopping the motivation. Thoughts?
I would bet nearly 100% of MMORPG players have cell phones. If it's not 100%, it's pretty close. Have a smart phone app that sends a text like notice to a user when someone wants to login to their account. When they receive the notice, they click "allow", and it goes forward. Have the PC that is approved store a token, based on the IP address so that until the IP address changes, the user doesn't have to mess with their cell phone. This would cost money for the server and network bandwidth of sending the notices, but it would be pretty effective.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
99% of the accounts are hacked because people do stupid things. At least half of those are because people just suck with computers, and the other half because they have the general IQ of an oyster.
25+ years of playing various online games, be it MMORPGs or others, never been hacked even once.
I would like to refute your argument..... but i can't
The motivation behind hacking is Money. More specifically Money Laundry.
Those with dirty money need to make their money "legit". So they organize themselves to take over a game's economy. Once they have enough in game gold from compromised accounts they "purchase" this money from themselves. RMT might be frowned upon, but it wont bring in the authorities, and there you go... "legit", though laundered, money.
Those doing the laundry are usually from areas where Interpol can't intervene... like certain Asian countries... So... got hacked? Somewhere down the line, there is an organized crime group involved. Nasty stuff.
There are so many stupid people out there that buy gold and are willing to shell out big bucks for it.
As for Blizzard's account security measures. For the amount of "hacking" that occurs with their games. It's amazing how they still rely on their laughable account security they have in place.
Sure some can be the user's fault by going to suspicious/fake websites, phising emails, etc.
How ever. With so much money involved. Who's not to say some corrupted, customer support member isn't in on it? /tin foil hat
Either way. Would never touch another Blizzard game until they make serious account security improvements.
The frequency which my and some friends' accounts were compromised when we were not actively subscribed to WoW made me pretty certain that your tinfoil hat is both stylish and appropriate and that someone there is making some money with lists of inactive accounts.
Or...don't share accounts.
A lot of the compromises comes from kids sharing accounts, and then claiming to be "hacked". Despite all the warnings the kids do it anyway. Used to watch them in Goldshire asking all the time to share them, and being kids, they don't listen to anyone until compromised. -_-
Comments
I would bet nearly 100% of MMORPG players have cell phones. If it's not 100%, it's pretty close. Have a smart phone app that sends a text like notice to a user when someone wants to login to their account. When they receive the notice, they click "allow", and it goes forward. Have the PC that is approved store a token, based on the IP address so that until the IP address changes, the user doesn't have to mess with their cell phone. This would cost money for the server and network bandwidth of sending the notices, but it would be pretty effective.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
I would like to refute your argument..... but i can't
The motivation behind hacking is Money. More specifically Money Laundry.
Those with dirty money need to make their money "legit". So they organize themselves to take over a game's economy. Once they have enough in game gold from compromised accounts they "purchase" this money from themselves. RMT might be frowned upon, but it wont bring in the authorities, and there you go... "legit", though laundered, money.
Those doing the laundry are usually from areas where Interpol can't intervene... like certain Asian countries... So... got hacked? Somewhere down the line, there is an organized crime group involved. Nasty stuff.
Or...don't share accounts.
A lot of the compromises comes from kids sharing accounts, and then claiming to be "hacked". Despite all the warnings the kids do it anyway. Used to watch them in Goldshire asking all the time to share them, and being kids, they don't listen to anyone until compromised. -_-
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
I agree.
Funny though that 2 juggernauts like Blizzard and EA are not able to come up with something so neat.
I had both my accounts of Diabko 3 and SWTOR hacked and then banned by the 2 companies.
The thing is that both games were hacked several months after I quit playing them (SWTOR after a year), so I am sure the problem is not on my behalf.