I’m not sure how I feel about hactivism. I truly do appreciate the upside of the hactivist behavior. It draws attention to situations that would otherwise be ignored. Hacking can be about voice or evil or boredom or any number of things. Today Respawn/EA’s Apex Legends game was hacked, primarily as a way to bring attention to the troubles of Titanfall 1 (and possibly 2). T1 has become a cesspool of hate activity to the point where it is impossible to play the game without being raked with hate speech. I don’t pretend to understand the motives of racism beyond hate, power, and fear. Multiple articles have come to light about this over the course of today’s hack. The hack itself switches users to a new ‘game mode’ which is unplayable and locks them out of all playable modes. The new mode is merely a renamed link to the firing range (which is unaccessible) which reads: Savetitanfall.com This site was created by the The TF Remnant Fleet and NoSkill communities, who have vocally argued they are not behind the hack.
Who is? That is unclear. It could be the same forces that exploited Titanfall having a bit of fun. It could be white hats bringing attention to the problem. What is certain is that the hack is being noticed this holiday by the massive number of people unable to play the game. I’m disappointed that I cannot play. I am more upset about how these companies failed to protect prior released material simply because it was old. That doesn’t justify the hack. It does mean that it is effective.
Some Thoughts:
- I’m just expressing some feelings about hacking. Don’t hack me, please.