The Stronghold of Security

Remember when we were young, playing Runescape 2 and venturing just west of Varrock into the Barbarian Village for the first time? For some of us, including myself, this wasn’t so long ago… As a child I never really put any stock into passwords and account protection, but then again, when I was a child the internet was a very different place.

For those of you that haven’t played Runescape, the Stronghold of Security is a multi-level dungeon that requires the player descend deeper until they reach the prize at the end, however, traversal requires that you, as the player, implement certain game security features and password protections. As a child I saw this as an irritating block between me and a free 10k gp and a colorful pair of boots, but as an adult I see the merits.

I bring all of this up, because, this morning I checked my Reddit, as I often do, to see what was new in the communities I followed. However, upon logging in I was met with something unusual: lots of messages and comments and a banner that stated my account was permanently banned. This was a shock, as I typically only lurked on subreddits, using them as methods of polling others for information rather than true interaction. I checked the “messages” and “comments” and discovered that I had been hacked, and not only hacked, but whomever took control over my account had entered some inappropriate communities and had posted some very inappropriate things.

Sitting there, staring at the carcass of my first Reddit account, I mourned as I deactivated it. This must be a facsimile of how NPCs feel when a PC casts an enchantment spell on them. A bit powerless, a bit sad, and very embarrassed for something they didn’t even do themselves.

Be better than me, make sure you use varied passwords for everything. Make sure you use 2-Factor Authentication when you can. And make sure you wear your Ring of Mind Shielding when you surf the web.

Thanks for reading,

Flamereptile

Web-Developer Blog #1

This marks the first of the Dime Novel Adventures Web Developer Blogs. We got a lot done on the site today! We finished the first version of the homepage, revised the site Footer, finished the first version of the Contact Us page, and… guess what? Started the Blog Page! We hope in the future to do away with the Web-Developer Blogs and post primarily short-stories, lore, and tales of our games.