Why do people Hack

[Mr. Domino]

Hacking is an alteration of the game itself, that clearly makes it a copywrite infringement,

Nope, there is nothing illegal about hacking changes into a game and far from being "a 'copyright' infringement." There has been some precedent as far as that goes, in particular Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc. regarding Galoob's hacking of the NES games for its Game Genie.

The only real crime committed is when data is stolen or the hacks used involve some other crime, such as identity theft. Even then, it's the crime itself that makes that hacking illegal, not so much the simply act of hacking.

[mxyzptlk]

For instance, the first mods for the original Doom were called "Hacks", because they changed the way it was played. However, this wasn't illegal because it was intentionally open-ended.
Now, after hundreds of games allow these, they are called "Modifications", or mods. Back then, what we now call mods would be hacks.
Think about it.

[a-4-year-old]

LEGAL STUFF

No portion of this software may be disassembled, reverse
engineered, decompiled, modified or altered.

All graphics and sounds may be modified except maps and scenery files.
Modified graphics and sounds can be distributed for free as game MODs.

Bolded: Hey guess what guys! Hacking is illegal!

Underlined: Mxyzptlk, This is a mod, while the bolded is a hack.

[Mr. Domino]

LEGAL STUFF

No portion of this software may be disassembled, reverse
engineered, decompiled, modified or altered.

All graphics and sounds may be modified except maps and scenery files.
Modified graphics and sounds can be distributed for free as game MODs.

Bolded: Hey guess what guys! Hacking is illegal!

Nope, you're wrong. Lots of companies make such statements about the use of their products, but that does not make it illegal.

[Horang]

I wish people would understand that 'hacking' is not what happens in 99.9% of cases we see in Soldat. Someone who hacks is someone who makes their own hacks. Someone who uses a hack is just a petty cheater. Try not to confuse the two and give a little satisfaction to cheaters by letting them think they're 'up there' with the makers of such hacks.

[nutemo]

LEGAL STUFF

No portion of this software may be disassembled, reverse
engineered, decompiled, modified or altered.

All graphics and sounds may be modified except maps and scenery files.
Modified graphics and sounds can be distributed for free as game MODs.

Bolded: Hey guess what guys! Hacking is illegal!

Underlined: Mxyzptlk, This is a mod, while the bolded is a hack.

You don't seem to quite get it...Have a look at this post http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=9779.msg148942#msg148942
Read it...
 

[swebonny]

Because they are fucking morons...

[Spasm]

A lonely impulse of delight.

[Blue-ninja]

Watched CSI a couple of nights ago. They had a crime scene in a game-making studios. One of the debuggers tell the criminologists that the boss of the company put spyware on their computers to record their every keystrokes. o.O; If this is true, then I don't want to go to a studios. ><

P.S., I don't see how this could be off-topic since spyware is created by a hacker...connect the dots, da da da.

[a-4-year-old]

LEGAL STUFF

No portion of this software may be disassembled, reverse
engineered, decompiled, modified or altered.

All graphics and sounds may be modified except maps and scenery files.
Modified graphics and sounds can be distributed for free as game MODs.

Bolded: Hey guess what guys! Hacking is illegal!

Underlined: Mxyzptlk, This is a mod, while the bolded is a hack.

You don't seem to quite get it...Have a look at this post http://forums.soldat.pl/index.php?topic=9779.msg148942#msg148942
Read it...
 

You don't seem to quite get it... Have a look at this lawsuit:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-5845905.html win? win.

[Mr. Domino]

You don't seem to quite get it... Have a look at this lawsuit:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-5845905.html win? win.

You're not seeing the forest for its trees. It's because the hacking was done to steal from the company by circumventing the Battle.net fees from being collected that made that illegal. Hacking was a means to a crime -- theft -- not the crime itself.

[a-4-year-old]

The crime was not stealing from the company, the crime was reverse engeneering the game to do whatever they please, blizzard lost money, which is why they sued, not the crime they were suing for.

You can't seriously say to me that you could take a book and rip out all the pages copying every page and "improving" it and not say it is against the law, even if you just "do it for fun"

[F r i T Z]

Any thoughts on why people hack the game to create an unfair advantage for themselves, rendering the game pointless?

Because they think that can be better than other players faster ! At Brazil Every Day we see a Cheater cheating at a server ¬¬

[nutemo]

Stop trying to explain it to a-4-year-old, he's too young to understand.

[Magic Odd Effect]

I think people hack just for the satisfaction of owning.

I mean, I like it when I'm on a killing spree, but not enough to try keeping that spree for all of my playing career.

You get a certain sense of accomplishment when you help your team win, or score with that flag that was so hard to get.

Imagine someone who has only gotten that sense of ownage once or twice, and hasn't had one in a few weeks of playing regularly. He (or she) wants to desperately own, so they download a hack, not knowing how spyware and virus-filled they are. Not only does the person get banned from almost every server, but they also mess up their computer.

That's kind of your typical hacker....they just want to have skill, even if it's fake...

I say LEARN THE GAME! AND READ THE WIKI!

[iDante]

Roflzor, people hack because they are 11 year old losers who enjoy looking at pictures of naked hairy dogs and say they are 18 on forums. It turns them on.
Either that or they are just out for a good time. I had a dude I knew using a hack to make himself target practice for our barretts (old clan had the best practice sessions). worked quite well actually.
If you can beat a hacker, you can beat a ninja.

[Mr. Domino]

Stop trying to explain it to a-4-year-old, he's too young to understand.

"Young" isn't the word I'm thinking of, but nonetheless, I agree.

[chrisgbk]

The crime was not stealing from the company, the crime was reverse engeneering the game to do whatever they please, blizzard lost money, which is why they sued, not the crime they were suing for.

You can't seriously say to me that you could take a book and rip out all the pages copying every page and "improving" it and not say it is against the law, even if you just "do it for fun"

As noted in the article you linked to(which the title is misinformative, because it is not the underlying issue, and if you read it or knew the history behind it you would understand), it was specifically in regards to the service offering third party servers, specifically for which blizzard did not control nor recieve profit from any advertising on said servers. As well, it was regarded as copyright infringement as a derivitive work of blizzards own software. Note that important part; by COPYING something that blizzard did, they were sued.

In particular, pay attention to the last line:

The 8th Circuit also cited a contractual agreement that Combs and Crittenden OK'd when installing Blizzard software. That agreement prohibits reverse-engineering.

Notice how it is worded: "also", meaning, that it wasn't the primary concern of the case, it was just the "icing on the cake" if you will.

You may notice that, while blizzard attempts to STOP hacks, they do not sue hack makers despite the fact that they, and their servers, are located in the US. In fact, I know of one particular site that was discussing emulation of WoW in amongst the hacking; they promptly recieved a cease and desist, and now no longer discuss emulation software; however, the hacks are still there, and blizzard will not touch them; simply because for them it is a waste of time, effort, and money, when they can simply improve their own software.

One thing you have to differentiate is that when it comes to reverse engineering, it is not a criminal case(and thus, not legal or illegal; unless you are making the claim that your copyright was violated, or some patent is infringed; which even then depends on jurisdiction); they are strictly contractual cases, which is a civil matter and thus anything that comes out of it will be a monetary reward, or a "special performance".

As Mr Domino mentioned, there is specific legal precedent as well, that being the following blurb from wikipedia:

Galoob manufactured an add-on product called Game Genie, which allowed users to modify video games by entering in certain codes; for example, a code might make the player invincible by negating the code that updates the player's health amount. Nintendo, which sold a video game system and video games that could be modified by Game Genie, sued Galoob for copyright infringement, arguing that Game Genie made a derivative work, violating Nintendo's copyright in their video game.

The Court denied Nintendo's motion for a preliminary injunction, holding that Game Genie did not create a derivative work and also suggesting that even if it did, it might well be fair use. As the district court wrote, "Having paid Nintendo a fair return, the consumer may experiment with the product and create new variations of play, for personal enjoyment, without creating a derivative work."

There are also other precedents that hold that hacking itself is legal, as long as you stick within certain boundaries. It then becomes, as stated above, a contract issue; in the EULA you agree not to reverse engineer, etc etc. Then, you have only the company/person you made the contract with to worry about, if they even bother to enforce it. And if they do enforce it, any damages will be minimal, if any.


Now, don't take this as a defense of hacking; while I personally find it acceptable for SINGLEPLAYER ONLY(I myself don't, since I prefer to play games the way they are meant to be played), in no way do I support multiplayer hacking, simply because it ruins the game for everyone else. This is strictly about the legal issues involved.

I think this post is too long, I need to stop now.

[nutemo]

Woah, lol, nice long post there Chris. O.o
Lol, gg.

[WoooHooo]

Cu they are damm asses >>