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免费游戏中的作弊属于盗版行为吗?

发布时间:2013-11-30 09:10:06 Tags:,,,,

作者:Garret Bright

中断上瘾

对于《Candy Crush Saga》我有一种罪恶的快感。我想大多数人都听过这款游戏,但是对于那些不知道它的人来说,这就是《宝石迷阵闪电战》的复制品,即你在一个网格桌面上交换两个物品去连成3个或更多相同颜色的队列,如此它们便会消失。而《Candy Crush Saga》通过在每个关卡添加目标而进一步升华了这一游戏机制:有些人在特定时间限制下获得了一些分数点,有些人消除了特定的砖块,还有些人将X个特殊物品带向了桌面底端。游戏利用了各种噱头去保持乐趣性,如漫游龙卷风,在每个回合中传播的巧克力砖块,通过创造邻近匹配而销毁的固定砖块等等。

自从2013年6月份以来我便一直在玩这款游戏,并努力达到了第421个关卡。关卡让你能够移动50次去组合2个条纹糖果共7次。你通过连续一行匹配4个正常的糖果便能够创造一个条纹糖果。除了这一要求外,你必须想办法清除游戏桌面上的16个组块从而获得足够的空间去创造条纹糖果。通常情况下,我会在平均15次移动下清楚这16个组块,并留下35次移动去完成目标。粗略算来,你在每次组合时用掉了5次移动。在这5次移动中只有2次可以是失败的,而剩下的3次移动必须满足目标:第1次移动去创造第1个条纹糖果,第2次移动去创造第2个条纹糖果,而第3次移动去组合它们。不用说,这也需要很大的运气元素。

candy crush saga(from gamasutra)

candy crush saga(from gamasutra)

运气?或钱?

我陷入这一关卡2个多月了。因为我在游戏中的节奏始终都很稳(游戏邦注:平均每个月会完成100个关卡),但是这一关卡却突然出现并成为阻碍我前进的路障。我想要继续游戏,但这一关卡却让我大受挫,从而导致我不能继续游戏。它让我开始想着退出。而出现这一想法的人不只我自己。

也许这是King在发现70%的《Candy Crush》玩家都是未支付任何费用玩到385关后做出的回应,他们认为这是赚不到钱的。也许这只是让人受挫的推测,但是我却足以相信这一特殊的关卡将游戏放置在一个减少了许多非付费玩家的情境中。

玩家可以通过花钱推动自己在关卡中的移动或购买特殊的升级道具。一种升级道具需要将近40美元,并能让玩家将任何数量的普通糖果转变为条纹糖果。不管怎样,只要输入你的信用卡信息,你便能够获得所需的工具去通过这一特殊关卡。

Cheat Engine

Cheat Engine是让你能够在自己的Windows PC上访问任何运行应用的内存地址的工具。你打开工具中的处理器,扫描出一个数值。工具可能会发现许多匹配的数值,如此你便可以回到应用并改变自己正在搜索的数值,并在之前找到的结果中扫描新的数值。你将不断重复这一步骤直到剩余一个地址,即你尝试着去寻找的变量的地址。当你发现了该地址,你便可以随时调整数值了。对于Android,iOS,Mac和Linux,你也可以用其它工具去替换Cheat Engine。

我之前便使用过这一工具,所以我会想要在《Candy Crush Saga》上试试它。不需要过多努力,我便能够找到连接着自己在不同阶段上移动的数值的地址,并且我将数值改为500以上。我能够完成关卡并向前移动。我本来需要支付0.99美元去换取额外的5次移动,但是我最终通过操控在自己计算机上发现的1′s and 0′s而省下了这些钱。

candy crush saga(from gamasutra)

candy crush saga(from gamasutra)

我相信自己可以使用这一工具去推进预备的升级数,降低我所需要的目标数去面对任何关卡,或给予自己无数的生命值。

我同样也相信自己可以在大多数免费游戏中使用这一技术,只要变量并不属于服务器一端。例如,我能够在《最终幻想:勇气》中扩大团体的规模,或调整自己在《幻想曲》中所拥有的收集卡片的数量。不过因为我并未真正尝试着去做这些事,所以事实可能并非如此,我只是在想象罢了。

这里的要点在于:我可以使用Cheat Engine或类似的工具帮助自己避免在免费游戏中花钱而继续游戏。

所以这属于盗版行为吗?

第一,免费获得本需要通过购买的1′s and 0′s通常会被当成是盗版行为。第二,在免费游戏中作弊,你便只能调整自己已经拥有的1′s and 0′s。第三,免费游戏只会通过应用内部购买生成利益,围绕着它们进行作弊便是在窃取发行商的收益。第四,我们很容易认同作弊者在一开始就不会为应用内部购买花钱,因为我自己也不会怎么做。第五,先前的辩论成为支持一个人对于盗版行为的依赖的永恒备用论据。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Is cheating in Freemium games the same as Piracy?

by Garret Bright

Addiction Cut Short

I have a guilty pleasure called Candy Crush Saga. I’m sure most of you out there are aware of this game, but for those who aren’t, it’s a Bejeweled clone where you swap two items on a grid-based board to line up 3 or more of the same color so that they vanish. Candy Crush Saga takes this gameplay mechanic to the next level by adding objectives to each level. These objectives vary from level to level: Some have you score a set number of points within a time limit, some have you eliminate specific tiles, and others have you bring X amount of special items to the bottom of the board. There are a number of gimmicks to keep things interesting, such as roaming tornados, chocolate blocks that spread each turn, immovable blocks that can be destroyed by making adjacent matches, and so on.

I’ve been playing it since June of 2013, and steadily made my way to level 421. The level gives you 50 moves to combine two striped candies a total of seven times. You create a striped candy by matching four normal candies in a row. In addition to this requirement, there are 16 blocks on the board that you have to clear out of your way to give you room to make the striped candies. Typically, I cleared these 16 blocks in an average of 15 moves, leaving 35 moves to complete the objectives. Doing rough math, you have 5 moves per combination. Of those 5 moves, only 2 can be “wasted” moves, since 3 moves are required to meet the objective: One move to make the first striped candy, a second move to make the second striped candy, and a third move to combine them. Needless to say, this requires a great deal of luck.

Seriously, this level is lame

Luck? Or Money?

I was stuck on this level for around 2 months. Given that my pace throughout the game was steady (averaging 100 levels per month), this particular level was a sudden and frustrating roadblock. I wanted to keep playing the game, but this level frustrated me enough that I just didn’t want to continue. It made me want to quit. I’m not alone in this desire.

It seems that King reflected on their finding that 70% of Candy Crush players made it to the end of level 385 without paying a dime, and thought that wasn’t profitable enough. Maybe that’s just frustrated conjecture, but it isn’t hard for me to believe that this specific level was put into the game as a way to reduce the number of non-payers.

Players can spend money to give themselves additional moves for their level or to buy special powerups. One powerup up costs nearly $40 USD and will allow the player to convert any number of regular candies to striped candies. Either way, typing in your credit card details gives you the tools that are virtually needed to get through this particular level.

Enter Cheat Engine

Cheat Engine is a tool that allows you to access memory addresses of any running application on your Windows PC. You open the process in the tool and scan it for a value. Likely, the tool will find a large number of matching values, and so you return to your application and make some changes to the value you’re seeking, and scan within the previously found results for the new value. You repeat this until one address remains, which must be the address of the variable you’re trying to find. Once you’ve found the address, you can adjust the value on the fly. There are alternatives to Cheat Engine for Android, iOS, Mac, and Linux.

I’ve used this tool before, so I figured that I would try it out on Candy Crush Saga. Without much effort, I was able to find the address associated with the number of moves I had remaining on the stage, and I changed the value to over 500. I was able to finish the level and move on with my sugary saga. I could have paid $0.99 for five additional moves as many times as I would like, but I instead made my way around that by manipulating the 1′s and 0′s found on my own computer.

I have no doubt that I could use this tool to boost the number of powerups I have in reserve, lower the number of objectives I need to meet on any level, or give myself an unending number of lives.

I also have no doubt that I could use this technique on most fremium games as long as the variables aren’t assigned server-side. For example, I might be able to boost my party size in Final Fantasy: All the Bravest (which is a terrible, terrible game, by the way), or possibly even adjust what collectable cards I own in Fantasica. I haven’t tried these things so they may not be possible, I’m just brainstorming here.

The point is: I can use Cheat Engine or tools like it to give myself things in fremium games that I could only otherwise get by paying for them.

So, is this Piracy?

Getting 1′s and 0′s for free that you should only get through payment is generally considered piracy. On the other hand, by cheating in fremium games, you’re only adjusting the 1′s and 0′s you already own. On the third hand (you mutant), fremium games only generate their revenue through in-app purchases, which cheating around them is robbing the publisher of their revenue. On the fourth hand (Goro?), it’s pretty easy to make the argument that the cheater would not have paid for the in-app purchase to begin with, as I would not have. On the fifth hand (what is this, a game for octopi?), the previous argument has been a timeless stand-by argument to support one’s dependence on piracy.

What do you think? Share in the comments your argument for or against the notion that cheating a free in-app purchase is the same as piracy.(source:gamasutra)


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