The most serious cases would fall to "account hacking" where the hacker get a hold of the players' account information by using virus, malware of trojan to attack a the players' computer or attack directly at the database server of the game from the providers. The first case is more likely to happen than the 2nd one since most pay to play games nowaday spend a lot on security to prevent hacker from stealing the information. Yan and Choi (p5) and CNET also explain that by having player's account detail, the hacker can block players from further access or steal their items and sell them for real money. Either way, "it hurts the hell out of" the gamers that got attacked (CNET). And again, when the players are hurt, they leave and less money goes to provider.
Abusing bug to gain a power that is not supposed to exist (CNET) is another way to hack a game. "Duping items" is the most common form of this cheat. It can simply be understood as abusing a bug to multiply or summon an item in game. Once a hacker find the bug, they should have reported it to the provider to fix it, but many chose to take advantage of it. Imagine you spend 100$ on an item and later someone knocks on your door and said the item was illegally made and had to be destroyed. When you come back to the shop and complain, the shop owner had fled and no one will ever return you your money. Then this case of abusing bug start to become more serious, right? The hacker multiply or summon a rare items and sell them on let's say eBay for 100$ each and make 5000$ in total and fled. Right after that the provider of the game found out about the bug and decide to wipe all the illegal items. It doesn't only hurt ones' feeling, it hurts ones' pocket as well.
Then how could we battle those cheaters? Pritchard brings out 9 rules about online cheating and explains about them on Gamesutra:
"Rule #1: If you build it, they will come -- to hack and cheat.
Rule #2: hacking attempts increase with the success of your game.
Rule #3: cheaters actively try to keep developers from learning their cheats.
Rule #4: Your game, along with everything on the cheater's computer, is not secure. The files are not secure. Memory is not secure. Services and drivers are not secure.
Rule #5: Obscurity is not security.
Rule #6: Any communication over an open line is vulnerable to interception, analysis, and modification.
Rule #7: There is no such thing as a harmless cheat or exploit. Cheaters are incredibly inventive at figuring out how to get the most out of any loophole or exploit.
Rule #8: Trust in the server is everything in a client-server game.
Rule #9: Honest players would love for a game to tip them off to possible cheating. Cheaters want the opposite."
It’s so scared that hacker can steal the player’s account information from the game providers. As an internet gamer player, I am really worried of keeping my information sefely.
ReplyDeleteI think your issue was based on your work experiences so your explanation was easy to understand.
Well done.
Yeah hacking is really freaky, because I played various online game as well. And sometimes my friend in the online game found out her/his account had been hacked and all her stuff in the game had been stolen. Nearly all of it. And yeah it hurts like hell if it is me as well. Should try prevent as much hackers as we can..><
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