] Shadowbane had been hacked by several of its players. But
] unlike standard game hacks, where players gift themselves
] with super strength, health or wealth, these hackers
] managed to completely alter the rules of Shadowbane --
] turning a suddenly wrathful game loose on its players.
]
] "At first, players started speculating that there was a
] really bad bug in the game code," player Tim Wheating
] said. "Then we realized that somehow an insane god had
] taken control of our world and was out to kill us all."

] The population of an entire Shadowbane town was forcibly
] moved to the bottom of the sea, where they drowned. City
] guards turned feral and attacked town residents. Mobs of
] never-before-seen superpowerful creatures, seemingly
] spontaneously spawned from the ether, began to prowl the
] streets unchecked, killing characters in the most painful
] way possible.

] Mike Gontelli, a late arrival to the game that evening,
] said that when he arrived in Shadowbane "there were
] hundreds of tombstones. New players were being beaten and
] tortured. Newbie blood was flowing like a river. I knew it
] wasn't real, but it was oddly terrifying."