Is there no solution to close websites who spread hacks?

(SniperSteve) #34

Lol. I find it halarious when somone asks: Is it actually legal to mack a hack?

A hack is just changing the script around so it will do something other then its original pourpose. Think of it as a mod, only you have the mod, and they don’t. Of course this ‘mod’ is only on your PC and not your fellow gamers. You create it in such a way so the PunkBuster won’t detect it, and you can esentially be running 2 different versions of the game without anyone noticing untill you start running extra fast or whatnot.

There are also ways you can speedhack by making your CPU do work faster then its intended to. (Basically change some clocking settings. Lets say you shot 100 rounds per min normal, once you speed it up 10% your shooting 110 RPM. Its such a small ammount no one will notice, and it will give you that extra edge.

Now there are some illegal hacks, most which involve pirating software or viewing other peoples data. But as far as game hacks go, it is controled on the game-server level. Some servers its allowed (only a few) but most its not allowed. If you run a hack while on the server, you will be banned from that server. With games like BF2 and now ET:QW there is the online stats system which makes it a juicy target for hacking. However the servers that can modify the data (ie update your stats) are normally required to run the latest version of PunkBuster, or something comparable.

This however gives a false sense of security as all you need to do is modify some of the server output things and change the data. From the server level on, I dont think there is any/much security. hacking on this level would fall under the game companys juristiction, and they would be able to refuse data from your server. Still, unless you mess up allot of stuff they won’t call the police on you or anything.

And a hacker is really a well versed computer programmer. The people who go around killing PHP-Nuke sites (like the g00ns) are just pathetic script kiddies, they are classified as hackers by the public, and are what give true hacks a bad name. hacking is not bad, its good, without hacking you would not be playing W:ET. But like all things, it can be, and is used improperly very often…

(SCDS_reyalP) #35

If you read the ET EULA, you will find that what sort of mods you are allowed to create, and what you are allowed to do with them is quite restricted. In particular, you are very clearly not allowed to sell them. Note that most ‘hacks’ don’t involve scripting either.

There are also ways you can speedhack by making your CPU do work faster then its intended to. (Basically change some clocking settings. Lets say you shot 100 rounds per min normal, once you speed it up 10% your shooting 110 RPM. Its such a small ammount no one will notice, and it will give you that extra edge.

FWIW, that description isn’t really correct, and generic speedhacks don’t work in ET.

And a hacker is really a well versed computer programmer.

You are confusing (or deliberately conflating) two different definitions of the same word. The people who create aimbots and wallhacks are not all skilled (although some are), and having such people exist certainly isn’t responsible for the existence of ET.

(Isabel Lucas) #36

Isabel Lucas wrote:
Yes, but thats not against the law, just a breach of contract ie the EULA. The only thing the game company can do for a breach of the EULA is sue you or ban you from their games.

Copyright violation is a criminal offense (in the US at least). Distributing a derived work of someone elses copyrighted work without permission is not just a breach of the EULA. It is a crime.

In this situation, the EULA just spells out what you have permission to do, which clearly does not include selling derived works for a profit.

edit:
Of course, to actually get a prosecutor interested in such a crime, there would have to be significant loss or damage of some kind.

But hacking isn’t a violation of copyright. You’re not copying someones work, and then selling it or distributing it. We’re not talking wares here.

You’re selling additional code to add to it, code that is entirely your own. If that was a copyright violation then you could never mod anything.

(B0rsuk) #37

I don’t think there was a single case of a EULA based lawsuit winning. My impression is that EULA has no power in courts.

WHY would you ban/remove websites spreading hacks ?!!? They’re very useful. You can just give a link to evenbalance/punkbuster team, so they can tinker with the hacks and see how they’re made. This should make it much easier to develop countermeasures and update the PB.
You don’t want the hack to go down to underground, do you ? Hacks hardest to nail down are those which don’t spread, because their authors keep them to themselves/small amount of people. Once a hack gets a bit popular, it’s easy to catch.

(SCDS_reyalP) #38

You failed to read the whole post. Depending on the circumstances, it can be.

You’re selling additional code to add to it, code that is entirely your own. If that was a copyright violation then you could never mod anything.

You are not allowed to sell mods of q3 games, if they contain any of the original code. Doing so is a copyright violation. You are only allowed to give them away, by special permission in the EULA. Not all hacks would be derived works of ET, but I suspect some of the most popular ones are.

They already are. Almost all the undetected ones are only for sale (or at least not public), not available on the websites you send evenbalance.

I don’t think there was a single case of a EULA based lawsuit winning. My impression is that EULA has no power in courts.

Or everyone settled before it got to trial. While it’s not the typical EULA, the GPL has been tested in court and withstood the test very well. Large corporations settled with a not particlarly wealthy non-profit, rather than face what would most likely be a negative judgement.

(senator) #39

Almost unbelivable to think that people would acually pay to get some software to cheat in games, I mean how low can you go? I hope that SD will just permamnently ban the CD-key of caught cheaters, just like Blizzard does in their online games, only way to make those kids think twice, whether they really want to risk their 49.90$ gamekey just to get some cheap wins using hacks :disgust:

(ouroboro) #40

No, but r_picmip 3 sure is. :bump:

(B0rsuk) #41

So are punkbuster people too dumb to buy a ‘tailor-made’ hack and then ban it ? Sounds like it would save a lot of work and money. And if ‘hacksellers’ become too picky/suspicious about ‘customers’, it’s great! Less people with hacks.

(Sauron|EFG) #42

How do you know they’re not? Unless they can detect the metod the hack uses (as opposed to some memory signature) it may be really easy for the cheat maker to change it though, and surely Evenbalance can’t buy them all…

(Joe999) #43

No, but r_picmip 3 sure is. :bump:[/quote]

still waiting to point me to the post where i said the things you grab out of thin air. until then please try not to keep making a fool of yourself :wink:

btw: woot about your firefox plugin? you were so happy about it here:

http://www.splashdamage.com/index.php?name=pnPHPbb2&file=viewtopic&t=14648

doesn’t work or what? gotcha? dude, you’re just a big mouth with nothing behind it, that’s … well, it’s just sad. :bored:

(Floris) #44

Most cheats you can buy are all unique, this means everyone buying one won’t have the same as someone else, this means even if punkbuster would buy one, no-one would get affected but themselves.

(Etnies) #45

Joe tbh half your posts are whine posts about stupid things that have been in ET since the start, you post in almost every topic here to not that its a crime or anything, but still you couldnt have something to say about absoultly everything thats posted here.

(bandit5k) #46

Actually, Counter-Strike has become very hard to cheat on since Valve installed a new version of V.A.C.!

Just kidding.

(jjpron) #47

I’m a Mac gamer, so this may not apply to all of yours situations, but if you remove all the plugins from the Photoshop folder, you’ll get awesome load times.
Awesome game, but I wish it had a multiplayer support.

(Joe999) #48

i’m whining about ET in really half my posts? show me. btw: you think the /kill discussion is stupid? why? because you like to use /kill and so should everyone?

dude, you’re a nice guy, that’s why i didn’t post anything regarding your quality “#Whine” comment. on the other hand, i didn’t care, everyone has their opinion, the problem is the way they express it. and about the postings: tell me one reason why i should let myself fool by some kid who imagines something that isn’t said and posts an argument for it in an offensive tone and obviously is a hypocriate. but don’t worry. from his post in the /kill thread and his post above you can see that he’s a liar as well, and i don’t deal with liars, especially when they lie because they run out of arguments, that’s the lowest line for me.

regarding post count: i’m a l33t spam0r. if you don’t like it, i don’t care, ask ouroboro how to set up a filter. if more peopz don’t like it, i’ll reduce it, if the admins don’t like it, i’ll stop posting. no problem with that. hey, it’s a discussion forum after all, why should everyone have the same opinion? :wink:

and to remain on topic: i share the opinion that it’s good that such hack spreading websites exist. after all people can see that there are hacks, identifiy them and create means to prevent people from using it. like it or not, hacks will be there.

(Etnies) #49

i didnt mean all your posts were whine posts a large majority are tho, and theres no crime in posting shit loads like i said. I dont /kill much at all really i judt dont whine or moan when people do it on me :>

(Joe999) #50

imo it all depends on the point of view and two words: annoyance and ignorance. even though there are people who have a constructive discussion, there are always other people who are annoyed by that discussion, but the problem is: they can’t ignore it. don’t ask me why exactly, i’m no shrink, it’s just a human habit, i think it has something to do with attracting attention :slight_smile:

i’d be glad to continue the /kill discussion with you and constructive arguments because i think it’s a fair solution to a general design problem. hey, if it weren’t a problem, there wouldn’t have been solutions implemented in several ET mods. dunno why none of the SD guys had an opinion about it, prolly they think it’s ok the way it is or they have discussed it over and over again or whatever. fine by me, but we still can talk about everything, after all this is a discussion forum :wink:

btw: besides being a l33t spam0r i’m also a master in driving threads offtopic :uhoh:

soz lads :slight_smile:

(B0rsuk) #51

There’s a ‘suicide’ button in limbo menu in latest build of ET:QW shown at E3 2006. Whatever that means.

(Nail) #52

hmm, vest full of explosives ?

(Popcorn) #53

I’m a Mac gamer, so this may not apply to all of yours situations, but if you remove all the plugins from the Photoshop folder, you’ll get awesome load times.
Awesome game, but I wish it had a multiplayer support.

What are you talking about?