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Top Counter-Strike Players Embroiled In Hacking Scandal
An anonymous reader writes Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the world's fastest growing eSports, but the community has been rocked by scandal in the last week, with several top players being banned by Valve for using various hacking tools to improve their performance. With the huge Dreamhack Winter tournament taking place this weekend, the purge could not have come at a worse time for the game, and fans are now poring over the archives for other signs of foul play in top tier games — be sure to look out for these tell tale signs while playing.
Wall hacks: a common accusation when a player doesnâ(TM)t see their assailant is that they shot them through a wall. There are also hacks that let you see player outlines (like in spectator mode) or grenade paths. One of the more blatant cheats.
Aimbots and triggerbots: like auto-assisted aim on consoles, these hacks can be configured to either snap to a target, or otherwise improve accuracy. Triggerbots fire as soon as the crosshair moves over a target, âoeimprovingâ reaction times in corner ambushes. Can be obvious, or rather subtle.
The âoeESPâ hack: gives you âoeextra-sensory powersâ to know, telepathically, your opponentâ(TM)s ammo/health count and whether theyâ(TM)re walking or sprinting. Can also boost sound levels of footsteps or distant gunfire.
Mobility hacks: these range from slightly increased speed to ability to teleport anywhere on the map. Can include noclip, or âoeghostingâ, through solid objects and walls, however these are less common and almost entirely removed from the game other than cheat console-enabled servers.
Wall-hacking and tracking stuff mostly. Since your client knows the location of all the players for the purpose of generating 3d sound etc you can extract that info. These hacks were distributed through steam workshop due to a flaw in that system, and were thought to be hidden from VAC.. until the bans hit ;)
It's half the reason I stopped playing it 15 years ago.
I don't play video games but I'm an obsessed chess fan. There was recently a scandal with a player being banned for cheating. They never found the device, but it was assumed he was using a computer to help him win tournaments (and money).
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06...
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
I don't know anything about this so-called "sport", but it sounds to me as if people bring their own machines to these events. This is a very curable problem. Get Alienware to sponsor the event with hardware which gets sent back to them at the end. All machines equal, all machines running the same image. This isn't hard.
Distinguishing stupid unimaginative satire from stupid posts isn't as hard as Poe's law makes it out to be. Consider reading things twice.
Look, you glued yourself to a movement forged in pure unadulterated misogyny and now whine about how people accuse you of being a misogynist.
It's like wearing a swastika and getting miffed about all the people who accuse you of being a racist, even though you totally don't mean it that way.
I am unfamiliar with E-sports so please bear with me. Do you mean to say the players play from home on their own computers via the internet? Like regular gamers?
And anyone is surprised that people hacked?
I was under the impression that E-sports was like regular sports (NFL, etc) and that players got together in real life in the same location and played on identical computers provided by event organizers. I guess this is this not the case?
I used to play people in online chess, but would mirror the games using the game Chessmaster. That way my opponent would not be playing me, but rather Chessmaster. Eventually I got a really high rank and someone beat me. I congratulated him for beating Chessmaster, the game, on the hardest difficulty. He told me that he too was using Chessmaster. His version was higher than mine.
I found that pretty much all the top ranked players were using Chessmaster or some variation to win. In conclusion, all the top ranked players cheat at games if they can get away with it.
I'd say the game actually would get more interesting if hacking would be allowed. It would expand the skill set demanded to win.
...in counter strike?
The hell you say.
lose != loose
I keep hoping and praying that one day someone will come out with a way to effectively deal with this, but the reality is that the problem is here to stay. The way this pans out is that you get a day or two of hack free game play when the publisher updates their anti-cheat code. Then the hackers come out with new binaries that cannot be detected and the game sucks again.
I like FPS games and I really like FPS games on the computer where I can use a keyboard and mouse. Hackers just kill the game though. On a hacker free BF4 server, I will go 3:1 or 4:1 frequently. Yet my overall ratio for the game is down around 0.8:1. That gives some sense of how often the hacks are going undetected.
I do not understand why companies like EA, Valve, etc do not just subscribe to the hacks themselves and update the detection routines as soon as they come out. They have proven that they have technology that will catch the large majority of them. It just seems like they are too lazy to stay on top of it. The cynical side of me thinks that they are have only been aggressive with the BF4 hackers in the last week or two due to Hardline coming out soon.
It really does not require any more skill. If hacking were allowed, it would come down to who has the fastest computer and lowest ping to the server.
Playing the game without hacks requires skill.
...nothing of value was lost.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
Thank you James Tiberius Kirk!
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
This article is terrible. First it says it's going to tell you how to spot hacks, then it goes on to give the names of those hacks and what they do... as if that's going to help you spot anything. At best this is going to result it more false hacking allegations. Which are a far worse problem than the actual hacking.
I'll be playing an FPS, have 5x the score of anyone else on the map, and there'll be this heated argument over some other guy hacking. If he's hacking... why does his score suck so bad? Why hasn't he killed me once? Oh, that's right... because he's not hacking, he's just knows the game better than you.
I think the suggestion is that it requires *other* skills, namely hacking skills. However, since hacks would be wind up being distributed (after all, doesn't information want to be free, even if one person worked on it and everyone else is just freeloading?), the skill would be "researching hacks" rather than 'creating hacks".
if opp_score >= my_score opp cheats, otherwise, they're playing fair!
and they'd probably be called "misogynists" too, the players' actual genders be damned.
Women can be misogynists. Just like minorities can be racists.
Take the number of cheaters in all major cycling tournaments, multiply it by the number of cheaters at every major magic the gathering tournament, and multiply it by 10,000 and you've got the number of people who cheat at Counterstrike.
By the way, there is so much wrong with this article I don't know where to start. Reporting people is a fucking joke. It does NOTHING. Going over logs to see who cheated just tells you who cheated. Nothing happens. There is nothing the user can do about it. Until companies get serious about cheating, nobody will play their completely ruined games.
In MW3 for the PC, it became unplayable after about 3 months. You literally cannot play one single online round without someone floating through the air and firing at you with zero recoil. That's a $100 million+ game. They just don't give a flying fuck about cheating.
Here's THE answer. Google [name of game] hacks. Download the hacking utilities that everyone else is using. Look at what directory it installs to or what DLLs go where. Have the game check for those files in the next patch. Permanently ban everyone with the hack installed and ban them from Steam so basically those cheating pieces of shit aren't allowed to play video games anymore.
This could be a thing, but would be uninteresting with a hitscan game. When your shots are point and kill (headshot from extreme range) then computer reflexes trump interesting play. But if it's only slow moving projectiles it's possible more interesting gameplay could result.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
I believe you, but in this case I was referring to the investigators being libeled, not the players
"hacking" is not related to any game playing skill especially in MMO, and is never supposed to be, period...
We need to have a discussion about what a "nerd" is. Here's what it ain't: some vaguely, almost tech-savvy dude who likes to argue politics on the internet and poo-poo's anything actual nerds care about. You're not a nerd; you're a wanna-be hanger-on. Reddit is for you.
Pretty surge a purge of cheaters and revelation of what tools to look for is the BEST THING to happen just before a serious tournament. Probably a week earlier would have been ideal.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It really does not require any more skill. If hacking were allowed, it would come down to who has the fastest computer and lowest ping to the server.
Playing the game without hacks requires skill.
Sooo .. sorta like high frequency trading?
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
"No see, I joined after the misogyny, just like I joined the skinheads after the holocaust, and I really care about immigration".
The fact that being really outrageously offended over a metaphorical statement in an editorial is fucking petty is just icing on the stupid cake.
You joined a misogynistic movement. Accept that and learn from it, or see overly defensive users with mod points guarding you as a justification for how right you are. I don't care that much.
Very much like HFT.
Hacks are so sophisticated that (this is for nearly a decade now) you can pay a monthly fee and a business will guarantee you their hacks will not get you caught. This means that if you are caught, they will buy you a fresh copy of the game. The hacks come by way of a client software that gets the latest undetectable hacks direct from the company and implements them as your game begins. These can include aimbots, wallhacks, etc. Interestingly, the aimbots are engineered to be less detectable, having some deliberate slop and acquisition time in them so that when a player's game is reviewed, it may appear more natural instead of a quick 'snap' to a headshot.
I know this because I played in competitive BF2 and was a huge proponent of detecting and outing the hackers in the top competitive community. Several of my colleagues were anti-hack people who were assigned to infiltrate those very hack selling companies as clients. Guess what? Those companies have forums where hackers assemble to get together full teams for (I'm sure you've got the picture by now) the top leagues and competitive games.
I'm so glad I don't game competitively for many reasons. I loved it at the time, but the paranoia and concern over hackers was such a big deal. Also, be wary of gamers from quebec. Of the competitive gamers caught in BF2 for hacking there were as many from Quebec as there was from the western hemisphere as a whole. There was a huge culture of disrespect coming out of quebec at the time.
Why think only offensive, when things could be really interesting with the possibility to code algorithmic defensive mechanisms. The execution time of the hacks on the server could be adjustable and be protected from hacking. That would allow for human reactions to come into play. Besides the actual weapon systems could be programmable, but this is not the traditional Counter-Strike anymore I guess.
That all those triple flip, spinning, no look, cross map headshots were actually people NOT using a hack.. ROFLOL...
All of them, no, I don't, as I watched someone repeatedly do something very similar using the stock Xbox controller.
I saw his character jump from one platform, spin and kill with a rocket launcher, then keep spinning and land on the platform across the gap.
I think the suggestion is that it requires *other* skills, namely hacking skills. However, since hacks would be wind up being distributed (after all, doesn't information want to be free, even if one person worked on it and everyone else is just freeloading?), the skill would be "researching hacks" rather than 'creating hacks".
Why bother with the hacks then? If you want unlimited wall hacks you might as well just hold your tournament in a flat open arena with no cover anywhere and disable all the equalisation algorithms. If you want a hacking challenge try hacking some major corporate network. This also has the benefit of being followed by a stretch of vigorous physical exercise as you try to run away from the FBI SWAT team.
when your playing for cash.
It wasn't one statement or even just one editorial. It was at least ten article across as many sites, all synchronized to launch a smear campaign that's still going on.
Most of the gaming press still tries to throw the word "mysogyny" around like a "Get Out of Journalistic Ethics Free" card. Your use of it doesn't fool anyone either.
Ahh, crap, didn't realize I wasn't logged in. Above post is mine.
Doesn't really matter I suppose, but was complaining about anons flooding /. and other places anytime GG comes up, so didn't want to be part of the problem.
to Zombocom!
Take place on third party computers with cameras and spectators watching your every move, both digitally and in real life.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
I'm so glad I don't game competitively for many reasons. I loved it at the time, but the paranoia and concern over hackers was such a big deal.
Your whole post reminded me of professional gaming and doping scandals. Only the methods change.
Hell, I would not be surprised if 'professional gamers' are occasionally doped up on a cocktail of drugs intended to decrease reaction time without screwing with fine motor control.
I don't read AC A human right
people on counter strike cheating cheating no way. theirs a reason i call it cheater strike.and thats way back on the orignal.
https://screen.yahoo.com/weeke...
Part of the problem is that it is very difficult to tell a player using hacks from a player who is simply good at playing the game. I remember, a long time ago (10+ years) my brother was a counter-strike player who specialized in head shots. He was very good at it, but standing behind him while he played there were numerous occasions where he got kicked off a server due to players thinking he was cheating. He wasn't. I was standing right there behind him.
I think the only real solution is to video yourself playing the game so other players can see (after the match) that you were not using any cheats or hacks. Either that or play at an official location with monitors and public hardware.
-Matt
I guess it's some kind of meta-game, the same way every forum attract trolls every game attract cheaters. Even playing free recreational chess, no prizes, no loot, nothing but a meaningless, unofficial ranking you run into people who set up a bot for shits and giggles. Then again it's better than the people who play games like a job, the goal is not to have fun it's to grind so you can reach the next level for more of almost the same. And with "Freemium" you can take the addicts' money too, not just their life.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
It really does not require any more skill. If hacking were allowed, it would come down to who has the fastest computer and lowest ping to the server.
You've just described high frequency trading.
I agree that the people who do it for a job have more reason to cheat. You get almost nothing out of cheating in games for recreation.
On occasion, I used to play on servers that allowed cheats. When I played with them, the experience was interesting at first, but inevitably got boring very fast. In the end, all you do is remove the work done to generate good levels and turn it into a super-flat experience where your ping, cpu, and possibly your actual aim/weapon skill matters. If there are auto aim or other weapon hacks, there isn't even the weapon skill.
So, it gets boring. Especially against other people with the same hacks. It is probably marginally more entertaining when you are playing against people who don't have hacks and don't know that you have them.
However, ultimately, what is the point of playing a game if you don't actually play the game? There are people out there who enjoy trolling, but I can't see that being as interesting as trying to beat other people on a well-designed map.
Getting hacks is easy, although using them covertly is dangerous due to VAC and possible bans. For all of that, it's just a waste of your time, other than perhaps to understand a little of the mechanics of how the game works and how hackers might be using hacks on you.
I have to wonder if they didn't catch 'em using the same trick Vegas uses to catch cheaters, looking at the odds.
It never fails that cheaters get greedy and forget that if they tilt the odds too much in their favor a look at the stats over time will give them away. Sure somebody can have a lucky streak but not THAT lucky, but because they can insure a win they will, or only lose when there is nothing on the line...which again sticks out like a sore thumb.
I remember back in the late 90s when such hacks just started hitting shooters and it would never fail, look at the stats over time of a cheater compared to a really good non cheating player? The ones cheating would become obvious.They always seem to forget that no matter how good they are there will be the occasional "lucky shots" where somebody just happens to be in the right spot at the right time and catch them unaware but that doesn't happen with the cheaters, again they just get too damned greedy.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Which is entirely valid in CS as well. I remember taking almost blind shots into the dark because I heard someone moving in a manner that I was used to hearing people move through certain areas. It worked because the sound is well placed and you get a feel for what a charge down one side sounds like, as opposed to a push down another.
Hell, if you got on the most common maps, you could run to a certain place, count to 1 and then just fire at a door, and 50% of the time you'd headshot someone who ran the same path, full speed, as everyone else always runs.
Or, here's an idea: don't get involved with a misogynistic-and-violent-as-fuck movement, then try to claim moral superiority.
Making an argument from ethics can't be done from the low-road.
I think it's more like the peaceful protesters in Fergusen all being labeled as rioters and looters because some among them are rioting and looting.
This has been going on since what, 1999?
I sucked so bad at CS that in the 00s I went to LAN parties to wire up, run the hackpot, and distribute 'clean' USB mice, monitor the LAN, and cycle the overhead monitor showing leaders and their screens to the gallery. This before Valve got serious about the hax0rs.
Yeah, wireframe and autoaim hacks, way fun. Cheating bastids all of them, anything to score.
I got free pizza and beer. And played Avatar over an OC-3. woot. rockin dayz.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Entirely true. When you steep yourself in the echo chamber, your perspective on reality twists and contorts. Gamergate was built on a lie and on hating a specific person.
There was no "customer revolt." There was a bunch of assholes who got pissed that the gaming press called them out on their abusive and unwarranted behavior.
Keep lying to yourself if it makes you feel better, I suppose. Righteous self-indignance is the same whether it's built on reality or bullshit I suppose.
I like how you keep reiterating that this is some sort of "movement" that you "join."
There was no "customer revolt." There was a bunch of assholes who got pissed that the gaming press called them out on their abusive and unwarranted behavior
Who is the "their" that you're mentioning? I have no patience for misogyny and it's a very small minority of dickheads who cause trouble, but like every other normal gamer, I got roped into it with the shoddy "gamers are misogynistic assholes" articles pumped out by "games journalists" trying to deflect the blame from their own issues in a transparent attempt to make themselves seem more important and listened to than they are.
There is, in fact, a well-documented "conspiracy", though not a very secret one. There was also a well-coordinated effort in social media sites that gamers frequented to suppress all mention of gamergate (Reddit shadowbanned everyone talking about it, 4chan (of all places) banned everyone talking about it).
No, there's a difference between investigation and the concerted harassment by gamergate idiots.
Sure, but both "misogyny" and "journalistic ethics" are dodges here. Neither is really what gamergate is about: it's about a full-on culture war between the majority of the gaming press, and the actual gamers. The call for more gender sensitivity in game design, for example, seems harmless enough, what provokes people is simply outsiders to their culture demonizing that culture and insisting that it has to change - culture war.
Mostly, I think the real issue is just semantics - the culture of, say, CoD players (and other FPS games that attract mostly teen boys) can be toxic at times, but to criticize "gamers" as if they were all in that group really pisses off all of us addictively playing every other kind of games - from Candy Crush to Civ5.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
I agree. However they use their own computers.
Obviously they aren't using wall hacks in a place where people watch your screen.
I'm gonna guess the most popular hack is aimbot with a very low FoV. Followed by timed auto fire to destroy recoil and offer a primitive no spread effect. Also makes pistols act fully automatic.
But IDK, CS tournaments are lame. I'd never watch that.
Even if you don't do it professionally (i.e., compete in tournaments) you can still benefit financially from the cheats.
So that's a good motivator - you obviously cannot play in a controlled environment like the final tournament, but if you can get "up there" in the local tournament, you can end up being a local celebrity and get various low-level sponsorships and other things. Do it well enough that you make a name for yourself so you can get on YouTube and get paid for videos on topics not related to what you're cheating in and you're in a good spot.
You may not be able to get the $5M grand prize in a tournament (that requires work), but you can probably make a half-decent living on sponsorships, content sales and other things, without doing too much, either.
"I cheated and got a high rank, therefore anyone who has a high rank is cheating."
Looks like you failed Logic 101 in addition to Sportsmanship. No wonder you had to cheat at chess to be happy. (Not saying you're automatically wrong, either, but not on account of your logic.)
I WIN!
That's it. Game over. Every game ever. I just won them all. Even "Thermonuclear War".
See, computer screen says so. Go me!
You are free to stop thinking about it now.
Cause I just won them all.
With my clever hack.
"Hacking" gameplay is bending and breaking rules. Not playing the game. Playing outside of it.
Real life comparison would be winning like Tonya Harding - by clubbing your opponents outside of the game.
She just got a bot to hack her opponent's rig and downgrade her abilities a little.
Stupid bitch didn't know I won at skating too.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
So...like the stock market essentially.
As gaming becomes worth more money I can only see this expanding right in line. The more you stand to win, the more you can invest in doing so.
You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
VAC catches the people bad at it. Without it we would have a huge number of free hacks floating around. The ones being used now cost money, which limits the user-base somewhat at least.
There is, in fact, a well-documented "conspiracy",
As you say there is a toxic culture in some places and if you stand up and fight besides these people you have lost, or if they fight for you cause. It's a common problem.
NO.
The correct way to identify a cheater is by what they DON'T do.
Cheaters don't:
1) Check common hiding spots.
2) Hop.
3) Dive.
4) Dodge / strafe.
5) Voice or text chat.
6) Reload until they're out.
7) Do anything with thrown weapons (knives, grenades, etc).
8) Go into the center of the map (they stay on edge where no one can get behind them and thus not be seen by the wall hack).
Statements like cheaters trace you through walls is ridiculous. I can trace you through walls because I have 7.1 sound and hear you.
EASY TO MAINTAIN LOW-TECH SOLUTIONS
IMHO, the best way to deal with cheaters is every game should have a "weapon" like Modern Warfare's shield. Aimbot cheats focus on the center mass where you are invulnerable using shield. I love using shield to pwn cheaters and mocking them for having hacks and still dying. They go away very quickly.
Also, for forced matched games like Modern Warfare 2 & 3, there should be a "I never want to play with this person again" button. Kind of an "anti-friend" button. Once their client can't find anyone to match with they won't be back.
Am I the only one that still reads MW as MechWarrior not Modern Warfare? Kids on lawns and all that.
No, you're not the only one. I thought that's what he's talking about. Of course, I was playing MechWarrior Online last night, so maybe that's why.
It was an aim bot but one that only kicked in when you were already close to your target. So much so that even when viewing recorded footage it wouldn't be spotted. That's how they managed to get away with it at LAN events. Someone either has to see it installed or catch it running to detect that hack and apparently that is what happened.
To eliminate the competition in an upcoming tournament:
1) Hack into your competitors' computers and install online game cheats.
2) Wait for VAC to catch the "cheaters"
3) See your competitors banned from the tourney
4) Profit!!!
This isn't a "all top players cheat" kind of thing. Sure, there are wall-hacks and instant headshot aimbots and every other ridiculous hack out there, but these players play four times a year at $250,000 prize pool tournaments LIVE at LAN centers. They have judges standing behind them watching each computer monitor on computers that are freshly wiped by the LAN center. These players were found guilty of having hacks that can still go undetected in these environments. This really sucks for the community because it was well regarded for a long time that LAN events are the proving grounds of great players to show off their skills without any accusations that they are cheating. That all changed though, which is really sad.
There are two ways of dealing with this and neither has been done. Everyone does the cat and mouse game of chasing down constantly mutating hacks that never works. You have to either lock down the system or add a system that looks for the behavior the cheats present (not the cheats themselves).
A behavior analysis program based off data could very easily do this with little to no false positives. Essentially it's doing what everyone else is already doing, which is looking for the behavior of cheaters. There was a version of this called 'Hack Cam' which came around almost a decade ago, but got shut down due to various nefarious reasons and nothing has risen to take it's place. It works based off the players behavior and scores them accordingly. With enough data the player can be reliably banned.
Aimbots function like a machine, if the game detects a cross snapping to a bunch of peoples faces in a linear fashion with machinery precision - ban.
If someone is looking at someone through a wall constantly before they ever see them - ban.
If someone is manveuring around someone they don't know is there constantly - ban.
If someone moves to dodge something they shouldn't know is coming - ban.
Constantly going around the map dodging people - ban
There is a lot of behavior that could be easily compiled and then used for this purpose. Valve has databases of players and infrastructure to process and take care of this stuff. There is an example of the above system working that I preserved here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIfXd-RTiQM
That came out almost a decade ago and the idea and methodology for it hasn't changed, because regardless of how cheats and change and mutate, people don't. The way they interact with the environment and process information does not change. It does based off stimuli, especially off stimuli they shouldn't have access to.
The other option for cheat detection is a completely locked down system and I don't know why console developers haven't been advertising this in spades. This is the ONE area consoles excel at: They're locked down. Meaning it's incredibly hard (not impossible) to cheat on them. They could even be seen and marketed as 'the competitive system', because cheating would be almost none existent. If they took this concept even further I'm sure they could further lock down the systems so it would be next to impossible to install anything on it without their permission, especially with things like soldered on storage. Making it neigh impossible for the average joe, let alone advanced ones to do anything on it. They just need to offer the same experience as on a PC along with the ability to use a mouse and keyboard in all games. This is actually one of the reasons I went from PC FPS's to consoles. It's not worth playing FPS's on the PC anymore, regardless of how good they are.
Locked down is easier to do then behavior heuristics, but heuristics would catch almost all cheaters over time. Locked down would just prevent them up front.
I been playing online games since DOOM (yes online via dialup BBS) and I have never cheated, not even a macro, I think its cheating. I loose to cheaters all the time. But the day I start cheating is he day I will just quit. I got better shit to do that let my PC play the game for me while sit back and think I am cleaver, I would rather just go do something productive that probably should have been doing anyway.
Yet more proof that The Market just makes everything better.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
IRC is client/server yet it broadcasts your IP to everyone when you join a channel ("coward - some_ip_address_format joined #blah"). Which I find unnerving as it's one more thing to track you down on the internet, and it's right in the open, it even leaks your local username (on your computer) if you're not careful.
If players meet up on IRC as is common, you just got their IP.
I assumed OP was being sarcastic.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
it's stupid though.
if they want it to be even, make them play on the tournament holders computers and raffle them at start of the game.
seriously, I thought the serious tournaments were played in this fashion but I suppose not. otherwise it's like letting javelin throwers bring their own stuff and not have people go through them(and yes sports like ski jumping have quite scientific ways to measure things like suit lift, because all that has been regulated).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
they have managed to take what should be a major scandal ("hey, you guys, you probably shouldn't be LITERALLY SLEEPING WITH THE PEOPLE YOU'RE COVERING")
Even if it was true it wouldn't have been that major a scandal - one journalist and one gamemaker.
As it wasn't even true, it's amazing the amount of sound and fury this has generated.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
It just doesn't have anything to do with the fact that racism is essentially an institutioinalised problem of the powerful oppressing the weak.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Actually it could also come down to who can program the best hacking software as well, possibly that may be the most important part. Regardless, hacking is so stupid, the only way it could be fun to use that I could see, is if you are the one making the hacking software to test your code to see how effective your coding skills are at dominating the game vs. other people's hacking software.
As you say there is a toxic culture in some places and if you stand up and fight besides these people you have lost, or if they fight for you cause. It's a common problem.
Nope, it doesn't work that way. You're just wrong, sorry, you lose.
See what happened there? You used a tactic that works mostly against people who avoid confrontation. Why is gamergate still a thing after all these weeks? Because SJW tactics don't work against people who seek confrontation online, and are used to achieving their goals by endlessly grinding, week after week, until they win.
You will not succeed in convincing all "gamers" that an ugly stereotype applies to them. Best give up now.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.