DayZ Standalone security vulnerability fixed but all characters wiped

DayZ Standalone has got off to a flying start with 172,500 copies sold of the alpha version which just launched on Steam.

Frustratingly for the team, a security vulnerability was found in the alpha code which was due to the ARMA code used for the game, some of which was not required for the new DayZ. To get things up and running quickly the team decided it was best to wipe all characters from the server and have everyone start afresh.

“All existing characters have been killed, if you are currently logged in when you next join your character will be dead”, said Dean Hall

The vulnerability allowed players to create items, which is exactly what some testers were doing. The team decided to not announce the security hole in case players went on a mental item creation spree.  Dean points out that other problems like this one will likely appear.

“Important updates like this WILL attract database wipes during the alpha process. We apologize for the inconvenience but I am sure everyone can agree, it is not fair to keep going with the bad data and some of the unfinished items were spawned in game – which could cause crashes and other issues thus confusing our alpha testing. Many people were experiencing crashes relating to these items that had been created in the game.”

Welcome to the joys of alpha testing. Good to see decisive action being taken to fix these issues no matter how drastic the outcome.