There is an individual who, for 20 years, made his residing solely from hacking on-line video games. He would search for software program vulnerabilities unknown to the builders – known as zero-days – and use them to copy helpful items, which he would then promote to different gamers through eBay.
Manfred hacked a few of the best MMORPGs on PC.
Speaking to Vice’s Motherboard below the false identify ‘Manfred’, the hacker says he noticed himself as offering a service: providing in-app purchases earlier than they have been a factor.
It all began in 1997 with one of many first MMOs, Ultima Online, which had a finite variety of participant homes. Manfred discovered a solution to delete different gamers’ homes and take over their tons, enabling him to construct extra homes than he ought to’ve been capable of. He had the thought of promoting a fortress on eBay, and wound up fetching virtually $2,000 for it.
Over the subsequent twenty years, Manfred hacked such video games as Lineage 2, Shadowbane, Final Fantasy XI, Dark Age of Camelot, Lord of The Rings Online, RIFT, Age of Conan, Guild Wars 2, and extra, at all times giving himself helpful items or forex to promote on-line. In Dark Age of Camelot, for example, he discovered an exploit that allowed him to sign off and again in once more with out the sport noticing, permitting him to clone his character and its stock advert infinitum.
“I might simply create as a lot cash as I wished,” he says. “This was invisible to different gamers and the sport firm. It was a income stream for twelve years.”
Manfred declines to say precisely how a lot cash he made, however he does say “it’s been a good living” (he additionally mentions that he’s offered round 100 Ultima Online homes for a mean worth of $2,000). He makes use of the previous tense, as a result of, as of final yr, he’s now making an sincere residing at a consulting agency.
Over his years of hacking, he developed a private set of ethics, and in the end determined to stop when in-game purchases turned such a widespread monetisation mannequin – one he now not felt snug undermining.
The full interview is effectively value a learn – head over to Motherboard.
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