Win Or Lose, This Video Game Deletes Files On Your Computer

from the fun-for-the-whole-family... dept

Well, here’s a fun one. Apparently someone has created a space invaders type video game… where every “alien” is randomly associated with a file (any file) on your hard drive. If you kill the alien… or the alien kills you, the game will delete that particular file. It’s like playing Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun. I imagine no one is stupid enough to actually play… though I’m a bit disappointed that they didn’t make a version where killing the aliens at least saves some files. That way, at least, you’d have more incentive to play well…

Filed Under:

Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Win Or Lose, This Video Game Deletes Files On Your Computer”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
26 Comments
Dan says:

I like the idea of administrating your system using games rather than traditional UI. Of course, deleting random files probably doesn’t count as administrating.

A gentleman at the University of New Mexico had a much better idea when he took the Doom source, and built a game where killing a demon (daemon?) kills a process, wounding it renices. Sure you can still shoot yourself in the foot, but at least it is fixed by a reboot.

Can I linky here? http://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/

Wesha says:

Re: Re:

> I like the idea of administrating your system using games rather than traditional UI.

Years ago I’ve heard of a guy who built something like that on Doom codebase. He had a virtual map of the building in Doom, with servers, switches, etc. represented with different kind of monsters, located at exactly the same spots where the hardware was physically located in the actual building. And shooting one with a rocket launcher would remotely reboot the respective computer, etc. Not sure how much of true or false that story was, but that’s how I heard it.

Xander C (profile) says:

I created a virtual machine to play this game, and I have to say that it’s definitely a work of art.

Everything about it says “game”, and the different types of enemies created based on your file types sets you as the player into the same king of “survival” mode.

But…

As the author states, Lose/Lose is more about the implications of one’s actions. You are presented with a game, where the only outcome of victory is subjective. There’s no “you win” screen, but rather are you going for points (which costs you your entire file system), or are you going to “lose” and keep everything intact?

Anyway, if there’s someone that should get attention, it’s this guy: http://www.quelsolaar.com/

Zerhackermann says:

it could be a lot of fun

What would be fun would be to use the concept to spice up a familiar game. Like say an arena match “BattleShip” or “StarCraft” over a network. The application would know what files and processes are attached to what assets. Values are placed on different types of asset. For example a “ReadMe.txt wont be very valuable. but a porn or tax file would be much more valuable. And finally processes would be the most valuable…if you find the process that “kills” the other computer, instant win. That could be a gas.

Oh and by the way…

…FRUGALISTA!

Josh in CharlotteNC (profile) says:

Hollywood movies

The creator of this game has obviously watched too many Hollywood movies involving anything technological.

They’ve taught us:
-You can copy a bug in a program on a floppy, put that floppy into another completely unrelated system and wipe that system out.
-Hacking a supercomputer is like flying through a virtual city and that viruses are cute as they destroy it and cause breakers in the control room to blow.
-The US nuclear arsenal is controlled by a friendly AI that wants to play games.
-Writing a virus is best done on an 8-display system and that screwing up on one module causes the virus to break apart. Likewise, re-hacking your own virus’ unbreakable encryption can be done in 60 seconds with a gun to your head.
-Ripping the guts out of a scanner and hooking them up to an iPod works to scan text from a computer screen.

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...