What does hacking really mean?

[Manason]

I thought this was interesting as hacking is never really defined in society. The dictionary defines it as "to gain unauthorized access" but whenever I hear it used if the people doing it are not using a script or some other type of that then it's not considered "hacking." What do you guys think?

 

[Darth]

Hacking is gaining unauthorised control of something without permission of the owner.

Most of the steam accounts are not hacked, but phished.

Phishing means tricking someone to give you the log in details then you steal the account.

Also in future threads like this dont go in general forums. Post in off topic or ask someone in steam/friends.

 

[Quaffer]

Hacking in game parlance is changing your copy of the game to give you an unfair advantage. This can be as simple as causing the buildings to be translucent to as complicated as changing your movement rate and having the program aim for you.

People who engage in this activity are not interested in playing the game. They are interested in laughing at other people who are trying to have fun the way the game was designed. It's like giving one kid on a T-ball team a maple bat and a hard ball and giving everyone else a plastic bat and a whiffle ball.

Needless to say they are the lowest form of emetic effluvium and have no place in our servers.

 

[iEye Captain]

I don't understand the appeal of hacking in a multiplayer game.

In a singleplayer game, I'd understand more if you want to try 'God-mode'. Example being something like unlimited money in SimCity to fund a massive metropolis to see what happens.

But multiplayer games... not so much.

 

[Jaggededge]

boo to hackers..their so annoying

 

[thebigrobbyrob]

Darth got it right. Hacking is gaining unauthorized access or control of somthing . The word "hack" is thrown around alot to represent a number of different things (like the word hacking has replaced cheating in mp games)

 

[Quaffer]

From the rules found in the first sticky in the personnel service center:

3. No cheating, cheat scripts, barrier jumping, map exploits or hacks of any kind.

From dictionary.com:

hack

–verb (used with object)

7. Computers . to devise or modify (a computer program), usually skillfully.

While hack may also be used for "to gain unauthorized access" I stand by my post.

 

[Cacophonus]

Hacking and Cracking are two different things- but for all intents and purposes when relating to gaming, those definitions work.

 

[MorganFreeman]

Unauthorized attempts to bypass the security mechanisms of an information system or network

Hacking has multiple definitions, referencing to gaining unauthorized permissions as well as bypassing security mechanisms for ones personal advantage. When relating to games, such as Counter-Strikes, this is referenced whereas the VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) is bypassed, granting users illegal permissions such as console/rcon commands such as wallhack (mat_wireframe 2); which can only be used on servers with enabled (sv_cheats 1).

The hack itself is using false rcon access to give a user certain abilities that others can't have, thus why it is illegal, and will result in bans.

 

[Lance]

From the rules found in the first sticky in the personnel service center:

3. No cheating, cheat scripts, barrier jumping, map exploits or hacks of any kind.

From dictionary.com:

hack

–verb (used with object)

7. Computers . to devise or modify (a computer program), usually skillfully.

While hack may also be used for "to gain unauthorized access" I stand by my post.

I agree with this definition, it drives me crazy when people, for example, go on someone's computer or phone and post on Facebook that they "hacked" it when the person was already logged in (then again, with the things some people post, this can almost seem like an improvement)

 

[Wasbored]