Real dangers lurk in virtual worlds

Legitimate businesses are looking to cash in on virtual worlds ­ and so are crook

Virtual worlds are great, aren’t they? What bliss to be able to disappear for a few hours into a fantasy world, far away from the rat race, and all the humdrum trials and tribulations of modern life. To spend a few hours wandering in a dazzling virtual landscape, where people aren’t playing music on their mobile phones at 120dB. To marvel at visually stunning alien artifacts and mystical ancient cities, swoon at the beautiful vistas, and bond with exotic strangers in a virtual Nirvana.

OK, that’s the sugar-coated version of the joys of virtual worlds. So what’s the reality with unreality?

Well, I joined perhaps the most well-known virtual community, Second Life, around Christmas 2006, but my un-virtualised life got in the way, and it wasn’t until last week that I finally took my first faltering steps into this brave new world. And when I say faltering, I mean faltering. Imagine the clumping footfalls of the asphalt spreader’s boots attached to Frankenstein’s creation as it crashed around the baron’s laboratory, and you’ll have a good idea of how my virtual self, or avatar, behaved.

In essence, Second Life and its ilk are chat rooms coupled with a CAD-generated 3D world. They let you share your thoughts and plans with other avatars, and give you the opportunity to act on them. So, you can buy some land, build a house, start a business and do a lot of other interesting things that you can’t always do in real life.

This chance to live a rich and rewarding life, albeit vicariously, has attracted more than 13 million subscribers to Second Life. That’s the kind of audience that can get marketing and sales people licking their lips.

Oh yes, there’s real money to be made out of virtual worlds. How else can you explain the fact that more than $1bn was invested in 35 virtual world operations in the 12 months to October 2007.

Look at the web site for the recent Virtual Worlds 2008 conference in New York for a taste of things to come. “Virtual Worlds 2008 is where leading media, consumer entertainment, youth brands and agencies come to understand how to monetise their intellectual property using virtual worlds,” it states. I think we can all see where this is going.

If, as it seems, businesses are flocking to these virtual worlds, you can bet computer-savvy criminals will not be far behind. Just look what happened with online auctioning. I know people who use eBay and PayPal who have been driven to the edge of madness by having to constantly delete phishing emails sent by crooks trying to get their username and password so that they can clean out their bank accounts.

Virtual worlds will be no exception. It’s a safe bet that cyber criminals are ­ or soon will be ­ roaming these digital landscapes looking for trusting people to con personal data out of. Firms using Second Life as a kind of virtual conferencing arena could also be vulnerable.

I suspect such scenarios will be just the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, a recent news story involving the makers of World of Warcraft suggests virtual world participants can expect much worse. The firm in question, Blizzard, is in a legal battle with somebody it claims has created a software bot that automates game tasks, such as fighting.

It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to see a future where sophisticated bots are running amok in virtual worlds, shaking everybody down for personal information and anything else that’s on offer.

My advice is to follow my avatar’s example: act like a lobotomised loon and not even a virtual mugger will want to go near you.