I've been thinking about this kinda recently, just along my journey
of introspection - am I a hacker?
If you look at the recent definition, you might think a hacker is a super
l33t computer wizard who canpenetrate exotic cyber systems with and take
down banks and governments and I guess that's what it is because facts are,
these are these kinds of people who has the most exposure to the real world.
But I am not these types of people... I'm not l33t coder, I barely know
networking protocol. If I were to genuinely surmise my skills; I am an
intermediate tech enthusiast who knows enough about computers and software
but doesn't have a specialized skill or mastery. I'm a generalist who is I
a jack of all trades, master of none.
Just made me think as I tried cracking a game launcher mod. I basically own an
online only game but dislike the online environment and prefers the PVE aspect
of the game so I found an SP mod but the mod needs the original game installed
to circumvent piracy, which I didn't like because why do I need 2 copies of the
exact game.
So I tried cracking it manually but got lazy and the idea of patching through via
already patched cracks had me searching online till I found a manual patch, which
was close to my idea but was missing 1 component. I installed it and the game works
fine now but it made me wonder if I can really call myself a hacker because I didn't
execute a more elegant solution.
I would probably be called a script kiddie back then and today, nocap.....
The definiton of a hacker might've been interpreted differently by myself as
I think a hacker is someone who utilizes the best tools they have to circumvent
a system, but I don't necessarily think that technical elegance is a staple, I
can make the tool or download it but as long as the result is reached, I think
it's fine.
hot take?!?!