The grey side of programming
So when questions like cheaters and aimbots come along, what's the general approach taken by the regulars?
Eg.
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/windows/258540/
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/beginner/258805/
Report and be done with it.
Ignore the thread altogether.
Pander to the OP, giving them what they want.
Educate the OP to be more constructive in their programming.
Admin unhelpfully suggests in the "Welcome -- read before posting" threads.
"users can to talk about any topic related to C++"
"Messages may be deleted or moved without prior notice and may prompt the suspension of user accounts"
So clearly the "any topic" isn't quite so inclusive.
Sure, the subject matter may not be illegal in the criminal sense (like say wanting to write a virus or trojan would be), but the ethics is dubious.
Eg.
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/windows/258540/
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/beginner/258805/
Report and be done with it.
Ignore the thread altogether.
Pander to the OP, giving them what they want.
Educate the OP to be more constructive in their programming.
Admin unhelpfully suggests in the "Welcome -- read before posting" threads.
"users can to talk about any topic related to C++"
"Messages may be deleted or moved without prior notice and may prompt the suspension of user accounts"
So clearly the "any topic" isn't quite so inclusive.
Sure, the subject matter may not be illegal in the criminal sense (like say wanting to write a virus or trojan would be), but the ethics is dubious.
I stand by a couple of assumptions, and hope for the best.
- I assume that any serious hacker would already know the simple stuff that is often being asked. Anyone that far behind is no threat even if they want to be, and won't be a threat for decades and anything I say is not going to do any serious harm.
- I assume that good guys need to know what bad guys are doing to stop them -- the good guy with a gun theory, of sorts --
- I assume that there are honest uses to most questionable techniques.
- Cheating @ games is the least of my concerns. Its a cottage industry and has been for 25, 30 whatever years, and its mostly harmless, its a GAME. yea, I saw the 16 year old that got millions for being #1, so there are some issues there, but alongside point #1, I can't see someone trying to scam a game for millions succeeding when asking rudimentary questions -- the people running the game know people want to cheat to get millions and will have some top notch security in place.
So, I answer the questions unless given some reason not to.
Ethics... are a subjective subject. I don't want to stop someone from learning things just because of what they COULD do. Someone could kill you if they learn karate, but we can't assume everyone learning karate is looking to commit murder... that sort of thing..
- I assume that any serious hacker would already know the simple stuff that is often being asked. Anyone that far behind is no threat even if they want to be, and won't be a threat for decades and anything I say is not going to do any serious harm.
- I assume that good guys need to know what bad guys are doing to stop them -- the good guy with a gun theory, of sorts --
- I assume that there are honest uses to most questionable techniques.
- Cheating @ games is the least of my concerns. Its a cottage industry and has been for 25, 30 whatever years, and its mostly harmless, its a GAME. yea, I saw the 16 year old that got millions for being #1, so there are some issues there, but alongside point #1, I can't see someone trying to scam a game for millions succeeding when asking rudimentary questions -- the people running the game know people want to cheat to get millions and will have some top notch security in place.
So, I answer the questions unless given some reason not to.
Ethics... are a subjective subject. I don't want to stop someone from learning things just because of what they COULD do. Someone could kill you if they learn karate, but we can't assume everyone learning karate is looking to commit murder... that sort of thing..
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If the questioner indicates "I want to use this information to harm someone", it would be unethical to answer. However, neither software diversifiers nor aimbots are inherently harmful technologies. In these cases, circumstance is relevant.
It would be unfortunate to deny knowledge to the community as a precaution, without reason to believe any intent to harm.
Nevertheless, if someone has concerns I'd encourage them to mention it.
It would be unfortunate to deny knowledge to the community as a precaution, without reason to believe any intent to harm.
Nevertheless, if someone has concerns I'd encourage them to mention it.
| if someone has concerns I'd encourage them to mention it. |
I do, have done so on several occasions.
And more than once have been reprimanded for doing so, until later when others become convinced I wasn't wrong.
I used to play competitive counter strike where there are plenty of cheaters. Any professional environment condemns cheaters. There are ways around it and one of the options is pay to play (www.esea.com) which I recommend. Also some cheats are used to improve your game (ex: where to shoot through a wall). But, cheating is unacceptable and there are consequences for their actions(hopefully not serious). Good luck and have fun.
I tried to do this before. Not because I wanted to cheat but because I wanted to see if I could do it. I assume if someone is trying to code it, they are trying to learn. Anyone who actually wants an aimbot to cheat probably is looking for free handouts rather than to code their own.
I'm curious about the code behind bots. It shouldn't matter if OP would really use it in a game. He or she will eventually get caught and banned from the gaming platform.
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You make a new account so your main doesn't get banned. It's for testing, not trying to look pro. In fact, you can hack and still get completely wrecked. I've beaten hackers before. Aim bot doesn't help if your reaction time is too slow to even pull the trigger first.
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