I have noticed many threads popping up stating "hackers suck" and "why hack?" and "why pay money to screw up other peoples games?" so I thought I would clear up the definition of a hacker and tell you all what they really are and what they actually do.

The definition of a hacker is someone who gains un-authorised access to data, e.g. if you log on to somone's computer by accurately guessing their password you are a hacker.

Many of you seem to think hackers all spend hours coding and illigally modifying data just to annoy you, this is not the case. If we take my definition of hacker, we can see it does not contain anything that means you have to screw around with other peoples data to annoy them.

So, how do we apply this definition of hacking to Phantasy Star Online? They must gain access to restricted data, an Action Replay can do this extremely well. For example, gaining access to an NPC classes as restricted data, because it is an infringement to Sonic Team to use these copyrighted characters withought having a legitimate way of doing it, it is a further violation to use such a 'hacked privilage' online.
Technically, you could hack PSO by guessing the password to somones Hunters Lisence account. So you see, coding (or using an Action Replay) really is not a necessary part of being a hacker, and neither is messing up other peoples save files!

That is closer to being a 'Cracker' and even they do not have to damage others whilst in play.

There are many people out there who hack simply because it gives the game more playability for them. You might say "I have hacked and it makes it more boring for me!" but that is just a generalisation that assumes everyone finds hacking as boring as you do. Just because you dont like strawberries doesnt mean other people dont, other people are not you! We have to accept when playing online that there are a number of individuals who have different ideas of fun to ourselves, if you dont like their style then go somewhere else.

Yes, people who harm games are hackers/crackers but not all hackers/crackers can or will harm you! So you see, there really is nothing to cause you to say "All hackers suck!" as some are very nice people. A more correct phrase would be "That guy who hacked me and corrupted me, he sucks!" but not all hackers are like that and I cannot stress this enough, so please... I never thought I'd be the one to say this (*points to name*) but -
please stop flaming people just because they hack!

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Additional Information Provided By Legato2471:

Legits - People who play the game with no use of hacked, duped or stacked items. Some dupe so they can have back ups of rare items incase of FSOD.

AR users - Players who use Action Replay. A cheating device that edits the hex memory of the game file allowing users to gain access to many things legit players cannot get. These things include fast leveling, rare items, becoming an NPC like Sonic, swearing, and even FSOD. Some players admit they use AR and got codes from the internet, other people, FSOD noobs think they are real hackers. That's only true if they made the codes themselves.

Script Kiddie - The majority of Action Replay users fall into this catagory. These are people who use codes and cheating devices without any knowledge on how they work, or how to make codes.

Hackers - They can be catagorized in the same way that computer hackers can. Black hat, white hat, and grey hat. First, hackers don't use Action Replay, but rather they packet edit and stream edit. This allows them to send commands from client to server which can affect the game in ways that an Action Replay cannot

Black Hat - Hacker who stream or packet edits to do harm to other players. (Lobby Reload, PK, NOL, BSOD etc.)

White Hat - Hacker who uses their programs to help other players or fight the black hat hackers.

Grey Hat - Hacker who does both. They can harm or help players depending on how they feel. Some Grey hats go on to become Black Hats because it's just easier to harm than help.

Everytime I try to go on the online mode it just says

101

The connection failed it could be that the server is under maintenance
blah blah blah
Signing out now.. press start :|

Im using a network connection and am on BT broadband

Is anyone online now or whats happened?

I NEED HELP!!

my fo is level 65 here is the stats (with no weps/defance)

atp (404)
def (165)
mst (595)
ata (124)
evp (400 odd)
lck (32)

i have used

54 pow mats
12 def mats
29 mind mats
7 evade mats
11 luck mats

rate out 10 and feed back on what to do mat wise plz

I don't know, this could be fake, but it seems real enough . Kinda cool to see what people can do with a simple piece of gaming hardware.

http://www.dslinux.org/?page=main

Ok my freind is having trouble connecting and he needs help answer soon please. All I need to know is how to do it all.
P.S. He is using my hunters lisence.

I just got this game its pretty good. and i only paid 3 dollars for it. man i love yared sales. but ive been cheating in offline {its sooooooo easy} havent been online yet i thin k ill just try now

Hey whats up everyone I have been gone for awhile and just like to say I maybe on alot more. I have been busy with xbox live and beating some games I got stuck on. It's nice to see the forum is still here.

Which is the best episode of PSO.

Join my friend's site:

http://s12.invisionfree.com/PSOGC

I dont understand why people pay $9.00 a month to screw other peoples game up