Stolen WMD

This story made me laugh. Its concerning a Chinese online gamer who had built up all sorts of weapons, etc while playing a game called Hongyue (aka Red Moon). Gamers first register and then buy cards from the operating company (in this case Beijing Arctic Ice Technology Development Co. Ltd.) to pay for their playing time.

Apparently, our man Li Hongchen had amassed enough bio-weapons to do quite a lot of in-game damage, but another player, known as Shuiliu0011, hacked the game and stole his bio stuff. The bastard. Anyway, despite denying liability and trying to argue that cyber property is basically nothing more than 1's and 0's, the game operator has finally decided to replace the stolen weaponry. Hurraahh!! Actually, if I were him I'd have had a quiet word with Donald Rumsfeld - he's always happy to part with biological weapons and isn't too choosy as to who he gives them to, as long as its kept hush-hush. ;)

With online multiplayer gaming interest booming, I suppose that server administrators need to keep security intact, otherwise it'll all degenerate into farce. Cheats and teamkillers in many mp games (Halo immediately springs to mind) are a pain in the ass, so hackers probably have the same effect, although RPG's and all that are not my bag. Give me Call Of Duty, Medal Of Honor or Unreal Tournament any day. Much simpler and nothing to steal.