Fallout 76 players stripped naked by hackers are getting their stuff back, in a roundabout way
Bethesda has an inelegant solution to Fallout 76's recent hacking problem.
Towards the end of last year, Fallout 76 managed to squeeze in one last controversy in the form of a mean new hack. A player using this hack would simply be able to run up to other players, strip them down to their undies and steal all of their loot.
As players soon discovered, the exploit allows cheaters to take everything the victims had in their inventory, though not stash items. The hack was used on public servers, so players without access to private servers couldn't really defend themselves against it.
Bethesda quickly fixed the exploit, but was not able to return the stolen items until recently. Reddit user JedediahJedi, one of several affected by this exploit, was contacted by Bethesda to let them know that their stolen items have been restored, though in a roundabout way.
Bethesda's solution was to clone the affected players' original characters, as they existed before the hack. Players will be able to use that character as is, which has a modified version of their name, or merge its inventory with their current, main character.
This is done through a "Secure Trade" service - available through customer service - to victims of this hack that should make transferring items easier and safer. As compensation for their troubles, Bethesda is also throwing in upwards of 8,250 Atoms, which is around $70 in value. Others have received complimentary subscriptions to Fallout 1st, and around 5,000 Atoms.
Atoms is the game's paid currency, and can mostly be spent on cosmetics.
Though Bethesda didn't specifically confirm this, it is believed that the hack came into the game as part of a wave of modded scripts that, among other things, added NPCs to Fallout 76.