Games could be used to plan terror raids

Researcher foils nuclear raid on White House

TERRORISTS COULD USE online games like World of Warcraft to plan terror raids, a pentagon researcher claims.

In a presentation at an Open Source Conference in Washington, Dr Dwight Toavs, a professor at the Pentagon-funded National Defense University, explained how planning could be hidden by in-game chatter.

He showed two World of Warcraft players discuss a raid on the "White Keep" inside the "Stonetalon Mountains".

The major objective is to set off a "Dragon Fire spell" inside, and make off with "110 Gold and 234 Silver" in treasure.

One of the players said that no one will dance there for a hundred years after this spell is cast.

Toavs said that the "White Keep" is at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, "Dragon Fire " is an unconventional weapon and that "110 Gold and 234 Silver" tells the plotters how to align the game's fantasy map with a real one of Washington DC.

The plot was made up and the spooks clearly know nothing about WoW. There is no "White Keep" in World of Warcraft and "Dragon Fire" is a spell in EverQuest. However it does give an idea about how WoW could be used as a communications tool.

Toavs said that he believes that spies will have to spend more time in virtual worlds like WoW... although we reckon the whole thing was made up because he was caught playing the massively popular and notoriously addictive game during work hours.


Link: Wired