Written by There’s a difference between a hacker and someone using hacks
Misconceptions
It doesn’t matter if I’m playing Call of Duty, Apex Legends, PubG, or any First Person Shooter, there’s always some lunkhead telling everyone “so and so is a hacker, he’s hacking. Report the hacker” This is what you hear or see most of the time. Lets get a few things out the way. There is a difference between a hacker and someone that uses hacks.
1). A hacker is someone that writes hack software, uses the software to gain unauthorized access to data. 2). Someone that buys a hack, is not a hacker. He’s just using a hack to cheat in any given game he’s playing.
Do you have actual hackers that play video games? I’m pretty sure you do, but to accuse someone of being a hacker, it’s erroneous simply because you don’t know and you’re jumping to conclusions without any proof or evidence. Again, using hacks doesn’t mean you’re a hacker. The word “Hacker” get used a lot and it’s generally understood as someone cheating, that in itself is wrong. This entire notion that everyone is a hacker is nothing but a myth and it’s a false statement, Simply, most people do not understanding the difference between a hacker and someone using hacks. It’s the same as saying, someone that creates cheats vs. someone who uses cheats. It’s not the same.
Transition & Fear
Before moving to PC in 2016, for two years, a friend of mine kept telling me to come to and game on PC. I didn’t like that Idea, I’ve always heard of hackers in game causing all kinds of trouble, stealing people’s accounts, and other horror stories. I really didn’t want to deal with that. Besides, I didn’t know if it was true or not, at that time.
I was on PS4 for 2 years before I chose to quit paying a subscription. I had a simple rig at that time, and download Steam, bought my first game and went online. My first game I bought was The Elder Scrolls Online. There I learned about how some people run scrips. We call them scrip kiddies. In 2017, I bought CoD WWII. You learn quick about Aimbotting, Wall Hacks, Texture Hacks, Masking and other things that X amount of players bring to the game and how quickly it can ruin a game. As I’ve said before in my other blogs, reporting someone that uses hacks/cheats is pointless. Nothing ever gets done.
They Are Cheating, Not Hacking
All the hacking/cheating is nothing new and it’s probably older than you are right now. Cheats has always been around since the 80’s. We called them Cheat Codes. Back then, no such thing as an internet. I use to go to the Comic Store, buy a gaming magazine because in the very back, you would have a list of games with Cheat Codes. To enter a cheat code, you would need to be in the beginning of the game before pressing start, you enter the code. For example, UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT DOWN UP AA BB then SELECT or any combination there of. If you enter the hack/cheat correctly, you will hear a sound. I’ve always used cheats in all my games that the cheat applied, it’s nothing new.
Game Shark
The gameshark was a cartridge that had anything from godmode to infinite ammo to anything you can think of, again, all depends on the game type. Anyone that use to game back in Nintendo 64, probably had one of these. It was always a blast to use. We all understood, it was a game and nothing more. You always had a variety of ways to run cheat, no one cared. 30 years later, I still don’t care. So, am I a hacker now? No, of course not, but it bares repeating, it’s a game. In 40 plus years, I’ve never had an emotional brake down over a game. It seems that today, young gamers or, so called gamers, don’t understand that fact. Back then, there was no such thing as the internet, online multiplayer. If you wanted to play “pvp” you plug in a second controller and play with a friend. That was pvp back then, via a split screen. Even today, you still have single player games that have in-house cheats. Good! It’s just a game. Lastly, always remember, It’s Only Cheating If You Get Caught.
Nintendo, PlayStation & Xbox
Every game, no matter what system you were on in the 80’s and 90’s the majority of games came with cheat codes. What some call today, hacks. How ironic. GTA4, on both consoles had cheats, open your phone and enter the corresponding telephone number. You can have unlimited ammo, spawn a heli, cars, tanks, whatever the game offered, Vice City, San Andreas, the list is endless, they all had some sort of cheat code to use. And it was fun.
Then & Now
Back then, nobody care about cheat codes, nobody. We all had fun running cheat. It never broke the game it self and the cheat were provided by the developers themselves. It was fun, harmless, it was a game, no one took it serious. Cheating has always been part of gaming. It wasn’t until gamers figure out how to bring cheats from single player to multiplayer. That’s when it all changes, using cheats against a real human.
Thing evolved after that. Companies that use to make cheats, it now became “pay to cheat”, hence, microtransactions. Pay for money packs. Pay for this or that. Very seldom now can you find a game that has cheat codes. That aggravated me to no end. Especially in GTA 5 were you’re suppose to be a “criminal” I’ve never heard of a criminal going and asking for a loan. They “steal it”!
Now, you have companies that write cheats and sell it at a price or for a monthly subscription. We call them hacks now. These cheat are mainly used in FPS games like Call of Duty, and other FPS games. However, many of the cheats are brutal, from aimboting, spamming someone’s IP Address in the text chat to ending a multiplayer game just by pressing a key. Companies are in a constant battle with Hackers that write hacks and those that use hacks to cheat in-game, implementing all sorts of anti-cheat mechanisms to slow down or end cheating all together. How ironic.
Conclusions
If you were to ask me, where do you stand on all this cheating/hacking business? My answer is very simple. I’m a gamer. I have zero problem with running cheats, doesn’t mean I’m a hacker, in single player games with no multiplayer component. However, I do have a problem with cheats in multiplayer settings. It brings a disadvantage to other gamers and it brakes the level playing field. It’s not hard to understand. We all pay full retail price to enjoy the game and the multiplayer aspect. However, I do, however, feel cheated out of my money when a hand full of people bring hacks into a multiplayer settings. It ruins the game for everyone playing. Lastly, I understand that I’m going to wreck and get wrecked. No one is top dog on a constant bases, don’t care how good you think you are.
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