Space invaders eat Mac files

 

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Posted on 4 Nov 2009 at 11:13

A space invaders-style computer game has been found that deletes a file from the player's hard disk every time an alien space ship is destroyed. Once you die the game is supposed to self-destruct, deleting itself from the hard disk.

Although the game, called Lose/Lose, has gained notoriety thanks to security company Symantec, it's not a virus, Trojan or any other type of malware. In fact, the program makes its functionality very clear as soon as it starts up. The introduction screen displays the following text:

!! WARNING !!
PLAYING LOSE/LOSE WILL LIKELY
RESULT IN FILES ON YOUR HARD DRIVE
BEING DELETED//
KILLING IN LOSE/LOSE DELETES YOUR FILES
I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOSS OF
ANY DATA//
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED//

Rather than being designed to steal personal information or blackmail victims, which is the purpose of most modern malware, this potentially malicious game appears to be an art project. The website distributing it describes it as, "a game about choice and consequence, and by extension what it means to succeed or fail."

The description goes on to question our approach to the alien space ships, suggesting that the mission to destroy them is ambiguous - who are the real baddies, you or them? Most people will perhaps assume that the aliens are attacking because that is the classic scenario associated with this type of game:

"Although touching aliens will cause the player to lose the game, and killing aliens awards points, the aliens will never actually fire at the player. This calls into question the player's mission, which is never explicitly stated, only hinted at through classic game mechanics. Is the player supposed to be an aggressor? Or merely an observer, traversing through a dangerous land?"

Whether or not the aliens are the bad guys, Symantec is classifying this game as malware (OSX.Loosemaque) because it is concerned that criminals and pranksters could use the game for less artistic purposes. Lose/Lose is available for the Mac. Play it at your own risk.

Author: Simon Edwards