Spam in games

[iago]

I just thought of a question -- in online games, how often do you see spam, what kind, and in which games?

I imagine you get spam for hacks and such, but which games do you see it in?

Do you ever get spam for non-game-related stuff, like medications and whatnot?

I might write a blog about this, but I need some evidence (anecdotal is fine).

[Hitmen]

Before I stopped playing WoW there was whispered spam for people selling gold / powerleveling ... every single day. Usually multiple times per day. It was really annoying. I've never seen other stuff advertised as in game spam though.

[iago]

Ok, that's good to know. I'm assuming that they charge money for all that. Any idea how much it costs (roughly) for the different things?

If not, can somebody find out for me how much it generally costs for gold or powerleveling? Would be much appreciated.

[wires]

Ok, that's good to know. I'm assuming that they charge money for all that. Any idea how much it costs (roughly) for the different things?

If not, can somebody find out for me how much it generally costs for gold or powerleveling? Would be much appreciated.

http://www.wowgoldshopping.com/wow-gold/wow-gold-us/
http://www.wowgoldshopping.com/wow-gold/wow-gold-us/#leveling

Pretty average costs I'd say.

[Sidoh]

Blizzard almost completely eliminated the whisper spam by doing away with free trials.

[iago]

Thanks, that's also great info! If I hadn't lost the paper where I was making notes, I'd even write that down!

Stupid desk...

[Sidoh]

Thanks, that's also great info! If I hadn't lost the paper where I was making notes, I'd even write that down!

Stupid desk...

Hehe.  Oh, they added a really simple way to report people for spam as well.  You right click on their name in chat and there's a "Report as spam" option.

[Furious]

Blizzard almost completely eliminated the whisper spam by doing away with free trials.

You're kidding right?

[trust]

Blizzard almost completely eliminated the whisper spam by doing away with free trials.

There's a 10 day trial.

[Sidoh]

There's a 10 day trial.

I was told by a few people that this was the case.  Maybe they restricted it more by disabling whispers?

You're kidding right?

Yeah.

[AntiVirus]

Blizzard almost completely eliminated the whisper spam by doing away with free trials.

Really? The spamming is stilll pretty bad.

I know there are addons that you can get that are specificly designed to filter out gold and powerl evel spams.

[Sidoh]

Really? The spamming is stilll pretty bad

I haven't gotten a single spam message through a whisper since the patch.  I used to get at least two an hour.  Also note that I play on three servers: Feathermoon (RP), Deathwing (PvP), Magtheridon (PvP).

[Furious]

Really? The spamming is stilll pretty bad

I haven't gotten a single spam message through a whisper since the patch.  I used to get at least two an hour.  Also note that I play on three servers: Feathermoon (RP), Deathwing (PvP), Magtheridon (PvP).

On any single day, I get at LEAST 3-4 messages.  And note, I regularly play on two servers: Maelstrom (RP-PvP), Crushridge (PvP).

[iago]

Perhaps they harvest usernames, the same way that classic online spammers harvest email addresses? That could be another interesting angle.

Or maybe they target certain character races or classes?

[AntiVirus]

Perhaps they harvest usernames, the same way that classic online spammers harvest email addresses? That could be another interesting angle.

Or maybe they target certain character races or classes?

I doubt it.  All of my friends that play get frequent spams and each of us have a different type of character.  We cover almost every single class except rogue and paladin.

Perhaps they only target servers listed as "Medium" or above?  I don't know what Sidoh's servers are listed as, but the two I play on Frostmane(PvP) and Aegwynne(PvP) both get alot of spam.

[iago]

So rogues and paladins don't get spam, eh? *makes note*

But seriously, could level affect it? Do you have a wide range of levels, and do high level characters get it as frequently as low levels?

[AntiVirus]

So rogues and paladins don't get spam, eh? *makes note*

But seriously, could level affect it? Do you have a wide range of levels, and do high level characters get it as frequently as low levels?

I haven't noticed a difference in the amount of spam I get and the amount of spam my friends get.  I have a very wide range of levels to myself, because I enjoy making more characters, however, my highest level char is only a 44 shaman.  My friends are 50, 54, 58, and 58. 

58 Night Elf Druid
58 Night Elf Hunter
54 Night Elf Priest
50 Human Warrior
44 Draenei Shaman
and then aside from the shaman I play my 34 Gnome Mage alot too.

My friend that is the priest used to play his 42 Human Warlock a lot, but he hasn't been on it for awhile.  I also have a 18 Undead Warlock that I play PvP with a lot and it gets spam too.  When I am able to get on again I will ask some of my 70 friends if they get a lot of spam.

My list of chars:
44 Draenei Shaman
34 Gnome Mage
18 Dwarf Paladin
16 Night Elf Hunter
11 Gnome Warlock
7 Night Elf Rogue
7 Night Elf Druid
All of those are on the Frostmane Server

On Aegwynne I have:
18 Undead Warlock
10 Tauren Hunter
2 Blood Elf Priest

And on one of the other random servers that I don't frequent anymore I have a 8 Troll Shaman.  I haven't been on there for over a month though.

[rabbit]

Diablo II had a shitload of spambots that would join games, advertise random crap, and leave.  I'm not sure now, as my keys have been banned from realm forever, and lockdown came out *grumble*.

[Furious]

So rogues and paladins don't get spam, eh? *makes note*

But seriously, could level affect it? Do you have a wide range of levels, and do high level characters get it as frequently as low levels?

The two characters I play with cover those two classes   I play a Paladin on Crushridge, and a Rogue on Maelstrom.

[iago]

What do you think of this as a name: Smog (Spam in Multiplayer Online Games)?

I think that name is so clever it hurts.

[Furious]

What do you think of this as a name: Smog (Spam in Multiplayer Online Games)?

I think that name is so clever it hurts.

Great job with the name, very clever.

[AntiVirus]

What do you think of this as a name: Smog (Spam in Multiplayer Online Games)?

I think that name is so clever it hurts.

Haha, make it all capitals.. SMOG.  Looks better IMO!

[Sidoh]

On any single day, I get at LEAST 3-4 messages.  And note, I regularly play on two servers: Maelstrom (RP-PvP), Crushridge (PvP).

I would imagine you play more in a day than me too, so I guess you have a better idea.  However, it still has cut down a great deal since before the last patch.

[iago]

Well, I've written the blog and sent it to my editor. We'll see what she thinks.

Thanks for your help, all of you. I hope "smog" becomes a popular term. You heard it here first!

[ZeroX]

Its not only in WoW. Battle.net is a mass production of "smog" for aray of things. One being clans. The channel you would log into right when you signed on to battle.net and they had lobby channels from 1-40 FULL of spam bots about their clans and their channels.

WoW more recently has been getting lots of "smog" from Gold farmers and PLvLers. Crushridge "My main server" Has been getting it alot more from what I have seen since it is listed as High. 

[iago]

http://www.symantec.com/enterprise/security_response/weblog/2007/06/smog_blanketing_online_games.html

Thanks for the info, guys

I honestly can't believe that PR actually let them put in a link to a WoW gold-buying place. I have a strange feeling that that's going to come back to haunt us!

Also note my reference to "lockdown" -- that's what I like to call an inside joke..

[Hitmen]

Also note my reference to "lockdown" -- that's what I like to call an inside joke..

Haha, I like how that ends up in a blog post a few days after you post working source to get around it

[iago]

Also note my reference to "lockdown" -- that's what I like to call an inside joke..

Haha, I like how that ends up in a blog post a few days after you post working source to get around it

Heh, the irony is delicious.

I can't believe they let through everything, though. I figured half of that (especially about Blizzard) would be cut by PR, they don't usually like us naming companies.

[rabbit]

I find it amusing that you praise lockdown for blocking "automated programs" and yet you released an open source implementation to allow "automated programs" to get on.

[LordVader]

I can confirm that the spam still exists on d2 still, bots just join msg leave spamming about everything you could imagine.

On Guildwars the spam is more limited to trading, guild or alliance advertising and power leveing etc..
All fairly legit and they do try to isolate the messages to "trade" or other chat screens via filtering all chat for key words certain keywords are treated in different ways and automatically wind up in appropriate chat windows etc..
Which you can choose to turn that off, and every other chat type off as well if you want, which is greatly helpfull if you're just passing thru an area and don't want or need to see it all.
They use general, trade, guild and alliance chat as well as whispers that can all be turned on/off or filtered various ways does a pretty good job, the only thing their missing really is a larger ignore list you can only squelch/ignore upto 25 people I believe long term.
Also user defined filters would be nice but they do a descent job of keeping the filters updated with new spam keywords people find to use.

[abc]

On Silkroad, (Yes the poor kids version of WoW). I see a lot of whispers about selling gold.. like $349.96 for 100 million gold..

[AntiVirus]

Okay, this is new.  Yesterday I was playing WoW and I got two different party invites by some random letter name.  I accepted one of them because I was curious to see what they would do, and right when I accepted it it started to spam the party screen with www.wowgold.com (or some gold site, I can't remember the actual url) and what they were offering.  The party had 4 other people in it with the bot as the party leader.  Pretty crazy if you ask me.  Have any of you by chance had any encounters like this?

[Blaze]

Actually, they've stopped allowing trial accounts to whisper players unless they've come in contact with them, such as them whispering first, actually clicking on them, or finally being in a party/raid with them.  New strategy is to invite to raid and spam there.

[Sidoh]

New strategy is to invite to raid and spam there.

They did that a long time ago, I think.  Like before I quit for school first semester.

[Blaze]

New strategy is to invite to raid and spam there.

They did that a long time ago, I think.  Like before I quit for school first semester.

You're correct, but now this is the only way to do it.    (And you could get a lot more people by this then by whisper before a ban)