back to article Denmark dynamited by cunning American Minecraft vandals

Last week, the Danish government put a 1:1 scale replica of its country online at Minecraft and invited players to politely explore the land of Lego and Carlsberg. Gamers being what they are, you can guess what happened next. "Several large Danish towns have been leveled to the ground and a lot of new things have been built …

COMMENTS

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  1. NoneSuch Silver badge

    Hmmmmm....

    Wouldn't a geolock blocking US users from going to that Danish site be:

    A) Appropriate to keep the hooligans out.

    B) Let Danes download the 1TB file faster

    C) Ironically humorous.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hmmmmm....

      That would probably be something to consider if Dansk Folkeparti was running things.

      Thankfully they are not, and so introverted and unrealistic belief in a Danish ability to simply stand alone are not the norm.

      Let the Americans come! Let them all come. We'll offer you a Gammel Dansk and discuss (pretty much) any topic you should desire!

  2. akeane

    Where's...

    ... Nelson Muntz when you need him?

    On a more serious note, if only they had released a WAD we could now be strafing around Copenhagen blasting imps without a care in the world, with hardly any wall damage...

    1. Uncle Siggy

      Re: Where's...

      "On a more serious note, if only they had released a WAD we could now be strafing around Copenhagen blasting imps without a care in the world, with hardly any wall damage..."

      Mein leben!

  3. Mike Moyle

    I see two possibilities...

    Either:

    A -- The site pictured was done up by non-Americans and was, literally, a "false-flag" operation, or;

    B -- U.S. Minecraft players who are THAT juvenile and jingoistic are too stupid to get their own flag right (Even if the number of stripes is limited by the construction program, at LEAST get the order right with the RED stripes on the top and bottom edges)!

    1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

      Re: I see two possibilities...

      I go for option B.

      Maybe flying the US flag inside-out is a bit like flying the Union Jack upside-down: a distress signal. Maybe these people need help.

      1. Mike Moyle

        Re: I see two possibilities...

        @ Ken Hagan -- No... flying a national flag upside-down is -- I believe -- an internationally-recognized distress signal; flipping the colors around is just stupidity.

        I'm, honestly, leaning towards option B myself, but -- remembering that the "Mohammed cartoons" controversy started in a Danish newspaper -- I can't COMPLETELY rule out someone seeing a chance to tweak the noses of both Denmark and The Great Satan in one go. I'll admit that I put the odds pretty low on this possibility, but I wouldn't put them at zero.

    2. Irony Deficient

      Re: I see three possibilities …

      Mike, the image shows three different types of US-oid flags:

      • seven stripes (top white, bottom white);
      • eight stripes (top red, bottom white);
      • nine stripes (top white, bottom white).
      Had someone really tried to be insulting, chimeric flags would have been designed — say, a Dannebrog base with a blue canton and extra white stripes in the fly (no, not that fly) — and they would be lying on the ground, without illumination under a nighttime sky (if Minecraft allows such atmospherics).

  4. PleebSmash
    WTF?

    vandalism?

    I don't get it. If it's available as a download, how is the original being defaced? Is it a copy run by the Danes for people who can't run it? Seems like the repair would be easy...

    1. Eguro
      Thumb Up

      Re: vandalism?

      I think there's an official server where you can stroll about, AND there's an option to download the map and stroll about.

      Perhaps some would like to see the map before downloading a TB of data - or perhaps they have a dataplan in place and so would rather not spend it downloading all of Denmark, when all they're interested in is blowing up a couple of bits of the Capital...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As an American

    I'd like to apologize for how our destructive tendencies have carried over from the real world to cyberspace.

    1. Evil Auditor Silver badge

      Just imagine...

      If the USofA put up a minecraft replica of its, i.e. god's, own country and someone came along starting to be destructive... Well, before you could enter you had to apply for cyber entry at least seven day before you intend to enter, pay a registration fee upon which you'd be vetted. If accepted you could enter. Unless your name's on a non-surf list. Or some other name that looks somehow similar to yours. Or someone just made up a reason, a reason that won't be disclosed and can't be contested but nevertheless a reason, for not letting you in.

      Anyway, someone finally destructed, say, and god forbid for it's its, the capitol/white house/NYC/whatever. How long before they bomb, I mean real bombs that go boom, another country because, you know, war on cyber terrorism, protection of intellectual property, and so on?

      [this post contains sarcasm aplenty and is not to be taken too serious]

      1. Paul Hovnanian Silver badge
        Flame

        Re: Just imagine...

        Someone might even burn the White House down.

        Again.

        1. Frumious Bandersnatch

          Re: Just imagine...

          Someone might even burn the White House down. Again.

          Fuck yeah! That's what you get when you try to mess with Canada! Eh?

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Just imagine...

          And someone might even get their asses kicked AGAIN.

      2. durandal

        Re: Just imagine...

        Why would the US put up a map of Yorkshire?

        1. Bill B

          Re: Just imagine...

          Re: Yorkshire. I would up vote you a gazillion times but unfortunately, you only get one

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hot damn!

    Way to go El Reg! The article you link to at Danmarks Radio has a link sending people right back to you (the original article you had on the story) :)

    You're being put forward as the exemplar of the several international news outlets that have picked up on the story! So be proud that for every major non-Danish news outlet that ran this story, you are seen as the best (or perhaps the least critical, but that seems far-fetched)!

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Hot damn!

      Nice response though - "we will reset some important areas but we aren't too worried"

      Other way around and it would have been an international cyber-terrorism incident and involved the server being taken down and put under armed guard while drone strikes were targeted on LEGOLand

      1. asdf

        Re: Hot damn!

        ie the Sony and American corporate way.

    2. Pookietoo

      Re: So be proud

      Slightly odd that the land of Lego apparently approves of a site that carries so much Playmobil content. Why call Denmark "tiny" when it's twice the area and population of Wales?

      1. M Gale

        Re: So be proud

        Because twice the area and population of Wales is still pretty small?

        I'm sure there's American duck-call entrepeneurs who have back gardens bigger than Wales. Or perhaps Denmark.

        1. Pookietoo

          Re: Wales is still pretty small

          Yes, but not tiny - Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino are tiny.

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    bah amateurs

    What's the point of vandalizing a minecraft server if there is no little kid squeaker rage to be found, recorded and put on YouTube?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    19.000

    "19.000 unique users".

    Why are they being so precise? Is it because they're Facebook users and so they don't count as real people or something?

    1. BenR
      Boffin

      Re: 19.000

      Not enough clues as to if this is sarcasm or not, hence the following explanation:

      In Continental Europe (as in everywhere barring the UK), the period / full stop is (sometimes) used instead of a comma as a thousands separator, with the comma being used instead as a decimal mark.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 19.000

        In fact the comma as thousands separator is also used in the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ and swathes of Asia too (ie the target audience for El Reg and then some).

        I had foolishly thought the dig at Facebook users was sufficient indication of trollage :-(

        1. BenR

          Re: 19.000

          In fact the comma as thousands separator is also used in the USA, Canada, Australia, NZ and swathes of Asia too (ie the target audience for El Reg and then some).

          That's true. But DENMARK (where the original text was written) is in Continental Europe, which is why I said Continental Europe, but explicitly excluded the UK so that some poor Americans didn't think this was just another weird thing that all Europeans do...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: 19.000

            That's true. But THE UNITED KINGDOM, where, I take it, the El Reg editing daemons operate and therefore the text was published, is not in Continental Europe (thank goodness) and so the comma ought to have been deployed correctly!

  10. Rattus Rattus

    "Gamers being what they are"

    I think you meant "Assholes being what they are". Plenty of gamers are polite, respectful, and wouldn't dream of vandalism like that. Unfortunately there are also a large number of ignorant, childish wankers who delight in ruining stuff for other people.

    1. Wiznard

      Re: "Gamers being what they are"

      I get that this wasn't probably a very good thing for people to do, and yes it is pretty childish. But, from what I'm looking at in the screenshot taken is pretty nice. I mean griefers in general have a habit to be completely over the top and destroy everything, whereas these people made an attempt to keep it funny. Maybe my sense of humor is a little rash but it's a game, I understand that what they (denmark) are trying to do with a recreation of their country; but these 'griefers' actually attempted to keep it ... civil (?) in a sense as to not raze the entire section of the map. I get the childish aspect around the ordeal, but I don't think anyone is really looking at these seriously like it's a big deal. If I re-created my country in a blocky sandbox adventure game and some people came from a different country and did something like this I'd find it amusing. I'd think that it's pretty funny because it's a game, and in the end no one really meant any harm from it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "Gamers being what they are"

        Yes Wiznard, you get it but those euro-morons don't. You have to have really, and I mean REALLY, low expectation when you deal with Europeans. I know I'm from there. European brains are very low capacity and, unlike the rest of the world, they don't get not even the simple things. They are REALLY PATHETIC.

        And this is to the euro-trash idiots... IT'S A GAME YOU MORONS!!! I know you have nothing to be proud of since Europe is irrelevant on the world's scene but come on... getting upset about a stupid game? That's pathetic.

  11. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    200,000 downloads?

    200,000 1TB downloads? Damn, that's a lot of data.

  12. Mort
    Mushroom

    Dear Internet,

    This is why you can't have nice things.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Destroyed!

    Something is rotten on the servers in Denmark.

    - Marcellus the Miner

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Destroyed!

      So if there's that much (1TB) data, and the servers are slow, would that be contributing to the delinquency of a miner?

    2. Mpeler

      Re: Destroyed!

      Alas, New Yor(ic)k, I knew it, Horatio.....

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Crossing the line

    For all the fun people are having blowing things up, I think they'd draw the line at someone building Swansea in the middle of the countryside there. They did that for real in Wales and it still hasn't recovered.

  15. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    Power struggle

    Call NATO in to defend this Western Bloc(k) county!

    The Romans of old will probably tell you that it's a good thing to deal with Vandals before they reach your capital.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Accurate user count?

    > approximately 19.000 unique users

    Approximately 19 unique users to 3 decimal places? How many decimal places does it have to be before it is considered more than an approximation?

    1. Sleepy Bob

      Re: Accurate user count?

      Your 19 is my 19K. Internationalisation

    2. gotes

      Re: Accurate user count?

      In fact, in Europe, they write the day of the month before the month, and in some parts of Europe they use periods instead of colons to separate hours, minutes and seconds!

      (Tenuous link to a quote from "Bart vs. Australia")

      Also in some parts of the world they use non-English words and bizarre character sets to communicate with each other. Quelle surprise!

  17. TheProf
    Unhappy

    The Doctor says....

    "Sad really, isn't it? People spend all their time making nice things, and other people come along and break them."

  18. This post has been deleted by its author

  19. Nifty Silver badge

    This sooo reminds me of how as kids we used to build Lego houses then destroy then by rolling cricket balls at them.

    Erm... that model of Denmark IS Lego, right?

  20. Psyx

    Stop Press

    America in invades other nation, bombs vital infrastructure flat, raises flags shocker.

    Expect Haliburton to be given lucrative rebuilding contract sometime next week.

  21. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    So the download is so popular

    That's nice to know. Could someone please tell me how to get it ?

    I would appreciate something more specific than just "go to the Danish geo site and download it there", because I went to the site and can't, for the life of me, find out how to get the download.

    Yes, I found the interactive map where they show you the 10km2 chunks to choose from, but after that ? Is there any easier way ? Torrent link maybe ?

    Any info is welcome.

  22. Tom 38
    Thumb Up

    "We are very happy to see that so many players around the world is creating fancy nice things and have fun," Hammeken said.

    More people in government like this please.

    1. Bottle_Cap

      Agreed. Hope it does increase tourism/general interest in the place. Now where did I leave that TNT....

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ever wondered why people all over the world call you "euro-trash"?

    Wow, and you all prove how stupid, uneducated and arrogant Europeans really are. Just because they used American flags means absolutely nothing. It could be anyone from any country. If I wanted to create a problem I would use a Chinese or Russian or British or German or any other flag and judging by your limited capacity euro-trash brains that would work perfectly.

    And attacking America for something that a few people did (most likely not even Americans) is absolutely pathetic. America didn't do anything you pathetic euro-losers. Some kids did, that most likely are not even Americans. But hey, what can you expect from ignorant and arrogant fools like the Europeans, right? I'm glad I don't live in Europe anymore because this close-minded behavior and stupidity that Europeans display is embarrassing. When people ask me I don't even tell them I'm originally from Europe because anywhere in the world Europeans are consider automatically ignorant and arrogant. And Europeans are not like anywhere in the world... that's another fact.

    And by the way, Americans know how American flag looks like. In fact there were numerous researches done and they found out that this "Americans don't know this and Americans don't know that" was fabrications and euro-trash propaganda. They actually did research about Europeans and their knowledge of the world, and their own countries, and their found out that almost 90% of Europeans know absolutely nothing about the world, and their own countries, as oppose to almost 60% of Americans. American education is much better than any given European country. That's why America is number one for people from all over the world to get a good education and Europe is not.

    And last thing, Denmark's government never said that those people that did it were Americans, you pathetic losers. So keep this euro-trash propaganda and anti-Americanism to yourselves. And remember that, when you come again on your knees to Americans begging for help like you always do... another fact.

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