The Hacker Project - a free online game

It takes humans to develop software.

Therefore, research of software should primarily be factored by human involvement.

One hacker with a huge CPU farm should not be able to research faster than several hackers with the same (or even smaller) size farm.

I propose that researching the same software with parallel processes on one machine be removed, or if not removed then at least the effectiveness of additional parallel processes decreases in some fashion.

ummmmmmm we need a way to make it balanced, i think that was the point of research being as it is

however i would think that the more hours you have logged for using a program would make you better with it, and so i would like to see research be quicker of cheaper if you've logged,lets say, an hour of use, then it would take only 30 minutes for that software to be upgraded instead of 1 hour..........

wont work.

for example, breaking a high elvel password protect can take anywhere from an hour + nowadays, whilst a 0.1 (newbie) hacker needs around 5-10 minutes.

Since i can run parallel breaks through really in-efficent means anyway, that means i would get more experience, despite the fact that in the current system (which said author has problems with) i have the advantage in teh first place.

i love my programs =P

I'm not following your example very well, what won't work?

was referring to this:

however i would think that the more hours you have logged for using a program would make you better with it, and so i would like to see research be quicker of cheaper if you've logged,lets say, an hour of use, then it would take only 30 minutes for that software to be upgraded instead of 1 hour..........


this would mean that since i, for example, could run anywhere from 100x+ more process'es than a newbie using his system i would be far more proficient with it, resulting in me getting an advantage i already have.

could ahve limitations on it, and the version you run would have to be much higher, and maybe a cap on the level to which it's effective, it's a suggestion for newbies so they can upgrade on their own quickly..........

This sounds like a skill or ability.  Use 'X' and you get better at the 'X skill'.

We gonna turn this into a RPG with character stats?   :21:

i wouldn't mind that.......... but only to make things quicker, or maybe cheaper on the hardware end........

How about the following (I suggested this elsewhere too):

Every time you use a piece of software, there is a chance you find a way to optimize it a small amount (on the order of .00001)
Every time you attack a piece of software better than one you have, there is the same chance to optimize it.

These numbers should be small, but change based on the software. IE:

Every time you crack someone, your software improves Max(0, {[opp Level]-[your level]+Rand*.01-.03}*.01)
Every hour your virii has been running when you collect, your software improves
Max(0, {[Installed level]-[Current level]+Rand*.01-.07}*.01).


In every case, the benefit should be very small, but noticeable if you use the same software repeatedly. It's not the same as specialization in an RPG, but similar.

Now all in fair, the ideal of gainin alittle for bypass/break, hide files, and so on is an ideal thats great, but when it comes to the spam or spyware, not so good, whats to keep the top players with farms from optimizing to the point that new players cant even get an hold on secert servs, or anything good? Not everybody uses dis-infect progs :12:  (Even if it is as low as .00001 or something like that)

this might have been said already in a different form but, when you research a program you have three things to do, one what program, two # of hours to research and three renaming (opptional). There could be forth one that is research speed. The speed would be on a times scale. So you could reseach at double, triple, or quadruple speed. Oviosly it would require double, triple, or quadruple CPU and RAM. And to make a point to it all it would still cost 100 hpd's per hour and 80 hpd for members. The good thing about it so it dosn't cause problems is that it gets hard to process at higher levels so those that have more power dont explote it against noobs.

Should only get xp for active aps on your gateway. A virus running somewhere in singapore doesnt make you smarter in any way (you dont get xp). There should be xp for certain actions; Cracking, Researching, Installing Viruses and Antivirus. The more you crack the faster you will get at that, the more you research... The more you hunt viruses... You get faster. And there should be a check for duplicate applications of the same type so if you run 10 Dr.Snuggles Passwd Breaker at the same time you only get xp for one of them.
Getting xp for firewall and passprotect is difficult becouse you start it and you go away. not much learnt there...
Installing a virus will give you xp becouse you have to guide the process(aka a process that takes time to do)
Log deleting is just clicking a button.. done! (no time to wait for it to finish, no xp gained)

This is just a incoherrent ramble but I guess somone will get where im going about...

I like that idea for certain programs to get expirence. In real life what happens is with some anti-viruses when the scan they make the point where they last found a virus so it seaches there first making the scan faster. So it would make sence that certain programs gain exp when you use then.

i know for a fact that there are several firewalls that will learn from your computer and mold itself to it............ an example would be comodo firewall, when you have defense+ as well

So the more people that break and try to break you firewall the slite more exp the firewall would get.

My idea was that the more a program was used, the more chance you would have to see how it worked, and thus the better you could make it.


In GURPS, for example, there are three speeds at which you can learn something:

Normal speed for study. Taking classes, reading books, and the like fall into this category.
Double speed for intensive study. One on One training, military Boot Camp, and similar things fall into this category
Half or Quarter speed (I forget which) for field work. I'm not studying, but I'm practicing it.



I was suggesting a similar thing. Research represents study: you are actively looking for ways to improve your program. However, if your program is running, you might notice things that would make it better. These small improvements aren't going to be close to what you get when you're actively looking, but you still get minor improvements that help it out a little.

So your saying if the programs do start gaining exp it would be very little?

The gains for using software should be small enough that researching is still the best way to get better software; even after factoring in cost of research vs. Pay for using software. However, it should be large enough that it's noticeable.

Sorry but using software does not make it better.  Anyone remember the Computer Game called Starship Troopers??  That game is so riddled with bugs etc that no matter how many times you play it the bugs are still there.

Software gets better by actually hacking away at it.  That is where the term Hacking actually comes from.  Hacking away at code to make it more efficient.

One perfect example of this is Aircrack-NG (http://www.aircrack-ng.org/) which can crack WEP in under 5 minutes.  It can crack WPA and WPA2 as well but those both take longer.

0.0 that solves key problem at school..........

Works great.  I won't go into detail as it is against the law.  But I only posted it to show how the human factor could be implemented.

That software pack is a conglomeration of work by several people working together.

It also shows how something that is fully functional under 1 operation system, linux, is still in the process of being made functional under another operating system, windows.

That way it kills 2 birds with 1 stone since you had suggested having different operating systems in this game.

So it will be like a program experience modification?