Exploit

An exploit, in online games, is the use of a bug or design flaw by a player to their advantage in a manner not intended by the game's designers.^[1] Exploits have been classified as a form of cheating, however the precise determination of what is or is not considered an exploit can be controversial. This debate stems from a number of factors but typically involves the argument that the issues are part of the game and require no changes or external programs to take advantage of them.^[2]

Controversy

Whether an exploit is considered a cheat, or all exploits are cheats, is a matter of widespread debate that varies between genres, games, and other factors. The distinction is important as it decides how the developers and community responds to the issue and to the players who exploit the issue. On the one hand exploits can be considered illegitimate cheats that the developers should address and exploiters should be banned, while on the other hand exploits can be considered simply part of the game.

Arguments in favor of the cheating view involve the spirit of the game and the potentially damaging effects of the exploit on the game's community.^[3][4] While the rules or game code may not explicitly disallow a specific exploit, it may be seen that using that exploit goes against the spirit of the game.^[3] The potential damage of an exploit on a game has been described by a World of Warcraft community manager as "devastating".^[4]

In defense of these behaviors are arguments that the rules of the game allow it and that players might not know they are behaving against the designer's intention.^[5][6] So-called exploits, in this view, are not cheats because they do not change the game in any way and therefore could be accessible to all players if they know how to do it.^[2] The players using the techniques may view anything that is not explicitly as features fair for use in the game.^[5]

Griefing

While players more frequently exploit issues to gain advantage for themselves, sometimes they may use them instead to irritate other players, known as griefing.^[3] One team of gamers in Team Fortress 2 produced popular online videos demonstrating their griefing and also several exploits present in the game, most of them being of little use for personal gain.^[7] Another famous incident during the Ultima Online beta test saw a player kill Lord British when that character was supposed to be invincible; the tester was later banned for exploiting rather than reporting the bugs he found.^[8]

Common types

Common types of exploits include:

Duping

Duplicating items or money.

Holes

Literal holes in the map geometry may allow the player to go places they should not be—such as under the world, inside walls, over the sky—or traverse distances faster and easier than expected. Holes can be used in player versus player situations to sneak around and get behind an opponent, or attack from safe positions where they cannot be attacked back.

Lag and disconnection exploits

A game with inadequate lag handling may let players intentionally cause lag for themselves to cause an advantage.^[2] Similarly, a game that lets a player disconnect immediately with no consequences may let players to exit a game without suffering a loss.

Movement speed bugs

These usually allow the player to move faster than intended, such as bunny hopping. Many of these have been embraced by certain games, such as skiing in the Tribes series.

Safe zones

Places where a player can attack without no risk of being attacked back.

Each game has potential for exploits unique to that game's rules. Wall-walking, found in World of Warcraft, allowed a player to climb steep mountains that are supposed to be impassable to get into unfinished areas or make one's character not attackable by mobs or other players. EverQuest had an exploit in player versus player analogous to weight cutting in sports whereby a player would intentionally lose levels by dying in order to compete against lower-level players while wielding higher-level items and skills.

Response

Developers may find it difficult to identify and respond to an exploit because a player who discovers a vulnerability in a game may be reluctant to inform the game's developers so they can exploit it.^[2] However once they do find it the response to an exploit ranges from banning players and adding rules to combat it to embracing it. Positive opinion of the exploit can lead to the designers embracing it as emergent gameplay, such as when skiing in the Tribes series of games gained developer support. Otherwise the developers may try to fix the underlying problem or discourage use of the exploit if the issue cannot be clearly addressed by technical means. In severe cases players may be banned or the game state of the world may need to be reset to restore game balance. For example, following a serious currency dupe exploit in EverQuest II, the developers removed large amounts of duped money from the game to address the rampant inflation it caused in the game's virtual economy.^[9]

See also

• Cheating in online games
• Emergent gameplay

References

External links

• Online gaming's cheating heart Article about cheating and exploting.
• How to Cheat at Online Games Trials, Triumphs & Trivialities #145