Internet Mercenaries

[olicon]

So what if a few developers and publishers get together to scrounge up a few millions to hire hackers to bring down their competitor? Let's take a look at big targets like WoW--bring them down for a month, and you could potentially free up 11 million people for that month, and it is possible a good amount would not go back (I would predict 3 to 4 million people).

Would be quite a lucrative business, wouldn't it?

ps.
Whoa--I got a Munchen with the horizontal ":" accent for my captcha. That's the first time I've ever seen an accent in one.

 

[Valate_v1legacy]

Lucrative? Absolutely not.
Hysterical? Quite possible.
Practical? Not really.

 

[Giest4life]

Lucrative? Absolutely not.
Hysterical? Quite possible.
Practical? Not really.

*End of thread*

 

[octafish]

Not what I thought this thread would be about. See Grunty at the Alliance of International Mercenaries website for details.
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[evilstonermonkey]

Yeah... bringing WoW down for a full month would take a lot of effort I would imagine... And while some people would jump ship after a month, I would say at least two full months would be required before any large amount of people would leave permanently. Anyone who left in the first few weeks would most likely just find something else to distract them while they were waiting for WoW to come back, whereas after a lot longer they may have actually put some money towards or made an emotional investment in a new game, or just gotten frustrated at Blizzard and decided to tell them to shove it. Similarly, how Blizzard handle it would have an effect as well. And just because they are jumping ship doesn't mean they are jumping to you. Say the Guild Wars guys spent thousands of dollars to bring down WoW just to see a million people switch to Warhammer Online and 4 people restart their already purchased Guild Wars accounts...

As for how lucrative it would be as a business... I can't help but think that it would be illegal. I don't know much on the law but destructive hacking is a crime, and doing it against a competitor might constitute a form of industrial sabotage or espionage.

 

[olicon]

I know it sounds really underhanded and unthinkable, but there are some developers who are located in pretty questionable parts of the world. I would be happier to think that such thing is not possible, but when you have to pay protection fees to keep your business aloft in some region, one has to wonder.
And yes, that part about protection fee is a very real thing for me.

 

[artanis_neravar]

Hacking is illegal, no one would risk it and not a lot of people would jump ship after a month, or even 2 month. Also you don't mess with Blizzard, you just don't. Blizzard would probably hire people to kill them all

 

[Blindrooster]

The recent attacks on PSN have made me hate hackers. this is a terrible idea, as it would not help the consumers who pay for a product.

 

[artanis_neravar]

Also if word of what they did ever got out they would have 15 million people, around the world pissed of at them, that's not something anyone would want

 

[umadbro]

DISCLAIMER: I am a PS3 owner and what is happening to Sony and their customers is tragic.

Unlike the closed-minded responders to this topic, I think that it could possibly be a profitable business. Mind you, I have absolutely 0 knowledge about hacking. I do know however know it would be very hush hush and if you get caught, you're on your own, but it could be worthwhile. And YES it could be practical. Polls show that if PSN isn't back up within another week they would willingly switch to another console. I am willing to bet money that Microsoft is LOL'ing back at HQ at this situation. So OP, dont listen to these unintelligent posters, and if you are thinking of making a band of internet mercenaries, count me in!