New Post by Chogon

[Karkadann]

Can someone remind me again why I bother with this community at all?

Perhaps because the majority of the community just wants to have fun in Uru live, or Uru CC and its worth bothering with, supporting and being a part of because its so varied and diverse
and for myself I act very different in the Caverns then on the forums. The caverns is a place to have fun I use it to escape what I have trouble dealing with in reality and sociaty. Forums on the other hand I use to voice my opinions. Ill be the first on to say opinions are like someones back side everybody's got one and are neither right nor wrong

[theclam]

Karkardann, what is it you mean when you say "hack"?

There are no consequences from converting an age, in itself. Converting a Hex Isle world or Crowthistle village or MagicQuest whatever is an action occuring entirely on your own machine, and thus affects you and only you. Nobody controls what is on your computer but you, so you are free to manipulate the data on it as you please. Drizzle is merely a tool to assist with data manipulation.

Furthermore, many people mess with Plasma-based games for reasons other than trying to use the content in a story. As andylegate pointed out, hackers like a challenge. Reverse-engineering the uncomplicated (some say simple) encryption systems Cyan uses can be fun. And other Guild of Writers members use the other games to take a look at how Cyan builds different worlds. There are things to learn from their professional modelers and texturers. Even better, converting new games can help explain the more confusing aspects of Plasma programming.

This last point is why there's good reason to try converting MagicQuest data.

[Karkadann]

Nobody controls what is on your computer but you, so you are free to manipulate the data on it as you please

not entirely true, some of the hacks I have encountered actually allows someone else to manipulate the data on my computer in a bad way and its unfortunate such things have the potential of being a part of Uru, To them it was a challenge, to me it was a pain in the backside. Its this kind of hacking I feel Cyan wants nothing to do with, but its this kind of hacking that does have a potential of happening. If the ages are converted successfully and its just to enjoy the MagicQuest ages in an Uru setting and for personal use I can't see to much of a problem with it, However the same theory of "hackers like a challenge' apply to those who would use people who also wanna enjoy the Magicquest ages and do not have the skills to convert them. They download the Converted Magicquest ages and find out their is something else in them that does not belong and causes damage to their PC something put their deliberately, Its that same kind of challenge for some.

The hacks into Uru that are designed to improve a work of art are one thing, hacks into Uru that are designed to damage a PC are another. I think Cyan knows about the potential of both which may be why they have taken a Don't ask don't tell position about it, they may very much want to be a part of what happening in the hacking world to improve Uru but at the same time want nothing to do with the ones who would use Uru as a vehicle to allow the kind of hacking that is very much undesirable.

I don't think Cyan or any other software company can afford to associate themselves or their software to such malicious hacking, and even though most of the hacking into Uru is Artistic improvements or additions their is some that is not, and the best way to insulate themselves from one is to insulate themselves from both.

I do get kind of confusing I hope this clears things up

[kaelisebonrai]

@Karkadann: Actually, rather than you getting confusing, its more you're... rather confused, yourself.

No one is at all suggesting that kind of hack. No one. I don't see why its even being brought up.

If you don't trust the person releasing something, don't download it, its pretty simple.

Anything you download, well, sorry, lets be more correct, /almost/ anything you download on the internet could have a virus, trojan, etc. That's the internet for you.

Now, if someone here was going to do that, they probably already would've. Better check your computer over then, eh?

Now, I don't think Cyan is at all worried about someone putting malicious code into an age in Uru. If they were, then I'd be really worried, since I'd hope that their game didn't have a way of accessing random data on my computer. So, I personally wouldn't worry too much, since, well, I'd certainly hope they were half-way competent in their coding practices.

[Chacal]

Most people don't understand the true meaning of "hacking".
What we do here, all of it, is hacking.
What malevolent people do to your computer is vandalism.

[semplerfi]

I'd like to add to this ‘malicious hacking and or vandalism’ notions.

There are a lot and I mean ‘a lot’ of very savvy folks in this fan base. From me a hearty “Thank You to all of you.” At any given moment in time there are many of us watching what is posted literally everywhere. The first instance (and I mean with in seconds) of any ‘malicious hacking and or vandalism’ appearances, the word is instantly posted across all the fan forums here. This is one of the main attributes I have been part of this fan base for so many years. We protect our own almost to the point of eating our own.

On a personal note, everything I download to my puters is ‘isolated & scanned’ by several programs before I let it loose. This is the way of the Internet. IMHO: Anything less and you deserve what you get for you are part of the problem for having a venue for this crap to live and propagate.

Join the force, start isolating & scanning and be part of the solution here.