lestaria
New member
I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with MMORPGs (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games) like Gaia Online or even websites like Neopets or Stardoll. If you don't already know, I play an online dressup game for girls called Stardoll (mentioned in my welcome message in the meet and greet forum). This site is similar to Gaia or Neopets, but you don't have an avatar or a pet. Instead, you have a doll. You can dress up a doll and add other players as friends. There is no personal information allowed on the site. In fact, there is a set of rules called the One-Stop rules that all players agree to follow when they sign up (terms of use). The site is http://www.stardoll.com/ if anyone wants to check it out for more information.
* There have been loads of problems arising with the safety of this website regarding some of the features (including Stardesign Hair which allows users to design their own hair pieces or wigs for their dolls). Apparently there is this whole thing going around where people use hacking programs to clone said wigs and gain access to other user's accounts. I'm not sure if any of this is true, but it has become a big thing concerning account safety on Stardoll.
So my account was hacked earlier today. I was on Stardoll today when some alarming things began happening. First, I received a friend request from a user calling me a snob and hoping I would die. (Stardoll calls this bullying and it is a reportable offense under the "Threats" category.) I didn't take it seriously as I have received similar requests from other dolls. I reported her, blocked her and moved on as if it had never happened.
Within about 10 minutes or so, I saw random users appearing in my friend feed. (Friend feed is similar to the Facebook ticker or even Twitter feeds found on websites. You can see recent activity from your friends such as when they change their doll's look and so forth.) I then went to my friends list to see if any of these users were in fact friends I had forgotten I even had. None of the users showing up in my friend feed were on my friends list. I happened to go to one of the user's suites (or page) and she sent me a friend request after I visited her.
I also saw random dolls being blocked under my block list of whom I have never heard of. There was only one popular doll I had heard of who was now on my block list. He was the owner of a club that I was a member of. To top it off, the popular designers of these "wigs" were now showing up in my friend feed. All this suspicious activity that was happening on my account was not done by me. Which led me to believe I had been hacked. Even though I have never given out my login information and have taken precautions (such as deleting my cookies before I go anywhere else on the web).
My first instinct was to change my password and to tell my friends who were online at the time what was happening. I only told a few of them (like 3 or 4 of them) so they would be on the look out for anything suspicious. (They wouldn't be able to see anything inside of my account but they would be able to see changes to my doll or suite (page). After spreading the word, I went to the guestbook's of 2 well known Callie's Crew members. (Callie's Crew is a crew of members who help users who have been hacked, have problems, questions, etc.) They are similar to Stardoll Staff, but aren't actually the Staff. You have to contact the staff through the contact us form. At the end of it all, I contacted the Stardoll Staff using their form and told them exactly what I have told you here. *
I was planning on making my website Lestaria, as a blog for Stardoll, but now that this has happened I see no reason to continue with a Stardoll blog. Any advice on what I should do with my site now?
The point of this thread is to discuss our views and personal experiences with online gaming safety. What do you think about online gaming safety? Have you had any similar experiences and if so, what happened?
* There have been loads of problems arising with the safety of this website regarding some of the features (including Stardesign Hair which allows users to design their own hair pieces or wigs for their dolls). Apparently there is this whole thing going around where people use hacking programs to clone said wigs and gain access to other user's accounts. I'm not sure if any of this is true, but it has become a big thing concerning account safety on Stardoll.
So my account was hacked earlier today. I was on Stardoll today when some alarming things began happening. First, I received a friend request from a user calling me a snob and hoping I would die. (Stardoll calls this bullying and it is a reportable offense under the "Threats" category.) I didn't take it seriously as I have received similar requests from other dolls. I reported her, blocked her and moved on as if it had never happened.
Within about 10 minutes or so, I saw random users appearing in my friend feed. (Friend feed is similar to the Facebook ticker or even Twitter feeds found on websites. You can see recent activity from your friends such as when they change their doll's look and so forth.) I then went to my friends list to see if any of these users were in fact friends I had forgotten I even had. None of the users showing up in my friend feed were on my friends list. I happened to go to one of the user's suites (or page) and she sent me a friend request after I visited her.
I also saw random dolls being blocked under my block list of whom I have never heard of. There was only one popular doll I had heard of who was now on my block list. He was the owner of a club that I was a member of. To top it off, the popular designers of these "wigs" were now showing up in my friend feed. All this suspicious activity that was happening on my account was not done by me. Which led me to believe I had been hacked. Even though I have never given out my login information and have taken precautions (such as deleting my cookies before I go anywhere else on the web).
My first instinct was to change my password and to tell my friends who were online at the time what was happening. I only told a few of them (like 3 or 4 of them) so they would be on the look out for anything suspicious. (They wouldn't be able to see anything inside of my account but they would be able to see changes to my doll or suite (page). After spreading the word, I went to the guestbook's of 2 well known Callie's Crew members. (Callie's Crew is a crew of members who help users who have been hacked, have problems, questions, etc.) They are similar to Stardoll Staff, but aren't actually the Staff. You have to contact the staff through the contact us form. At the end of it all, I contacted the Stardoll Staff using their form and told them exactly what I have told you here. *
I was planning on making my website Lestaria, as a blog for Stardoll, but now that this has happened I see no reason to continue with a Stardoll blog. Any advice on what I should do with my site now?
The point of this thread is to discuss our views and personal experiences with online gaming safety. What do you think about online gaming safety? Have you had any similar experiences and if so, what happened?
