Hacking and Hackers

What's your opinion of "Hackers"? By this, I mean people who dig deep into a game's code and either change things to their suiting, or bringing unused content to light. One of the more recent examples of this I can think of is NWPlayer12345's edit of Splatoon ink, creating different colors.

Personally, I think that, as long as it has no bearing on anyone else, it's perfectly fine. I actually find it interesting how a game can be changed and altered by a member of the public. But as soon as it becomes an advantage over other players (eg. online play), that's where it crosses the line. When you have something another player can't have, it's gone too far.

Thoughts?

Generally I don't see why anyone would care as long as they don't ruin other people's enjoyment online. Sometimes it uncovers nasty DLC practices as well .

However data mining can be a really shitty thing to do because some internet guy is going to post whatever it is they find online, artistic will of the dev be dammned

Don't read this if you are a Binding of Isaac Rebirth fan and don't want things spoiled just yet:

Spoiler free: I know we live in the #content #MORE CONTENT NOOOoooowoOOWWWWW #c0ntENtConTenTc0ntENT age, but people should chill and only expose shitty practices as soon as they know about them, and really consider what their actions are doing to the spirit of the game.

Obvs. people destroying networks / personal data are bad. Even Ashley Madison users.

But for sites like e.g. Unseen64, etc., where people discover stuff not available in the final code of a game, this always prompts a truckload of speculation; particularly in a loved, lore-heavy game series like Zelda. Admittedly, in these heady modern days of DLC, sometimes people are finding out about things that are yet to be revealed to the public (in which case, BOO! - stop ruining it for yourself). But for older games, when people speculate on abandoned sprites, models, and text: I can tell you, as someone who works for a software company, these things are never as exciting as you think! They're bits that were mistakes, or discarded nonsense, and someone just forgot to delete it before the final game was compiled.

I think hacking's mostly a bad thing if I'm honest. I know there is some good work, like people working new textures into games, modding out bugs, uncovering the occasional shitty practice. That said, as well as giving yourself an unfair edge online, there's also spoiling games for others (I remember Ryu/Roy being discovered months ahead of time). That's not on.

Jimbob wrote:

Obvs. people destroying networks / personal data are bad. Even Ashley Madison users.

Although I've got to admit, my first response to this particular one was, "KARMA!"

Balladeer wrote:

Although I've got to admit, my first response to this particular one was, "KARMA!"

Seen a lot of this response to the Madison thing and it's pretty harsh to label anyone who cheats as somehow villainous. I'm not defending all cheats, and am confident it's not something I'll ever be doing, but even in this day and age there are a lot of people, especially women, who are, or feel, trapped in marriages they never wanted.

I addressed this in the news thread, in passing, so I don't really want to go into it in this thread. In short, no I don't agree that all cheats are villainous; yes I'm happy to see the overwhelming majority of them get their comeuppance.

I think hacking a retro Mario game can really show off a person's creativity and tech skills, so I think it's a good thing people are hacking these games, so that the people who download it, can play something new based off something they love... or something like that.