What are the chances of getting a virus from an MMO like Guild Wars?

Question

I need to know so that my parents will let me get it.

Answer 1

From the game itself, not a thing. As long as you buy from stores or download through reputable sites.

BUT, some games have player-created add-ons which CAN contain viruses. (Guild Wars doesn't have this feature, and thus eliminates that risk.)

Also many MMORGPS have people called 'farmers' who will try to tell you that they can sell you in-game gold for real-world money. Some post links in game, many spam boards like this with offers. All of these sites are scams, and some contain viruses.

As long as you follow basic internet rules you will be fine though. 1. Don't share your password.
2. Don't download anything if you don't trust its source.
3. Keep your anti-virus up-to date.
4. Never give out personal infomation or Credit Card numbers.

I'm not trying to scare you. There are LOTS of legitamate walktrough sites for MMO's out there, but if they ask for money to change hands, they aren't legitmate.

Answer 2

It depends on how internet savvy you are. You can't get a virus from just playing the game, but you will encounter lots and lots of people in the game. Some of these folks aren't so nice and will try lots of tricks and scams to trick you out of your ingame gold and try to get you to download keyloggers and viruses from them so they can take over your account.

If you browse thru the Guild Wars questions here you'll see many answers that are nothing more than links to sites that supposedly will give you helpful tips, but in reality they are sites which want you to buy gold from them (something that will get your GW account banned) and alot of the gold seller sites also install viruses.

Answer 3

From the program itself, next to nothing. If you download user generated add-ons and macros you will start opening yourself up to potential virus problems, but if you stick to reputable sites the odds of having a problem will very low.