The Daily Grind: Asmodian or Elyos?

pot/kettle >_

Are you a douchebag in real life, or do you just play one on the Internet?

Ditto. I also hate how freaking rude the Elyos NPCs are. The only polite character in the Elyos starting area is the drunk priest.

Ditto. They can fuck right off if they think I'm installing any of that shit on my system.

agreed

I might be willing to put up with lame security if I love a game, but I don't see what Aion is going to offer what I get from jumping around from WoW/WAR/EVE. Then when you look at the other MMOs coming out, the idea of rootkit makes me think that it is just better to pass.

I know what a RootKit is. I also know how to hit a reply button and know that Wikipedia is not something worth using as a source of reference. GameGuard functions like a RootKit, it compromises your system on a basic level and hides its operations. This is how it identifies and intercepts cheat programs. By doing this, it interferes with legitimate operations, such as the API, and as insecure and porous as the program is (GameGuard is cracked within hours and some companies have banned entire nations from playing, like Vietnam, because of it), it leaves open a very convenient door for malware to take advantage of. I do not want ANY programs with that kind of access to computer.

GameGuard is a software version of leaving a key under the mat.

One more thing, the only way to fully uninstall GameGuard is to use RootKit scrubbers. That makes it a RootKit.

Finally, someone responds to the Gameguard issue with exactly what I've been thinking.

In case you play WoW, or have, and don't know about Warden, Blizzard's own anti-cheat system, run a quick Google search. Just type in 'WoW Warden'. You may be interested in what you discover regarding privacy and that particular program.

Here's a couple of quick quotes from Wikipedia:

"Warden uses API function calls to collect data on open programs on the user's computer and sends it back to Blizzard servers as hash values to be compared to those of known cheating programs. Privacy advocates consider the program to be spyware."

"The Electronic Frontier Foundation and other groups have labeled Warden as spyware. Blizzard has said that Warden does not gather any personally identifiable information about players other than the account being used. It also states that the data collected is only used for finding evidence of malicious programs and cheating."

At the most, it seems Gameguard is on the same level as Warden, if that. While I disagree with both programs, I trust both companies to do the right thing with the info they collect. If it turns out that they do not, I will be right there with the rest of us, demanding justice and protection to our right to privacy. Hopefully there will be other ways to defend against cheating in the future that do not involve resorting to the same means.

I will leave you with this thought, however: At least Gameguard makes no effort to hide itself, as you can plainly see it activate when you start up Aion or any other game that uses it. The same cannot be said for Blizzard's Warden- unless you had previously read or known it was there, or you have experience with the way programs run on computers and what signs to look for, you would never know it existed.

Thanks for bringing this up, Fester. Smart stuff.