Offset Hacking

How I Got Banned from EverQuest

by Darbycrsh

Offset hacking - the process of finding out which offsets affect what using a hex editing utility like WinHack or SoftIce - has been around for a long time.

Games like Diablo have been quite well known for it.  However, they never seemed to ban players for it.  As a matter of fact with Diablo 2, they made everything server side to stop that practice.  But in the spirit of good fun they still have their open battlenet which still can be modified and offers that option of play to others who want to play that way.

In all honesty probably every online game that's out there gets hacked.  Why not?  It's fun.

Typically it starts off with most people the same way.  They play the game a long time, then get bored.  Then they start to try and figure out ways to hack the game.

Think of it - you don't have to worry about going to jail and you still have the pleasure of beating the system.  Considering most of the people who do it are power-gamers and put enough money into these game companies' pockets, the companies usually don't care that much about it.

Then along comes Verant Inc. with their all addicting EverQuest game or "EverCrack" as most like to call it.  First off, let me state this company has probably had the worse level of customer support right from the start.  Their so-called guides are rarely ever on and usually will say they need to refer you to a senior gm who is never on.  Not to mention all the bugs they still haven't fixed.  Come on, after two years you would think they'd get it right.

Obviously, you bring all these elements together and of course now offset hacking EverQuest seems like a mighty attractive proposition.  And you may even think they don't care since they obviously don't care enough about good customer service.  Wrong.  Warning signs of their attitude about any applications came when Ben Ziegler came up with a macro utility to make game play better.  It was called EQ Macros.  He was stopped in his tracks as you can see from this quote from his website:

"EQ Macros is temporarily on hold - it is not being sold or developed.  John Smedley, CEO of Verant, sent me an email and requested that I stop work on EQ Macros.  I responded asking him to consider developing a 3^rd-party developer support program, like Origin's UO Pro program, so that we could work together on improving the EQ gaming experience.   then received communications from Verable's lawyer asking me to cease & desist such activities."

What's also interesting is that Verant wanted to be to scan your PC for third-party apps.  They changed their minds after users protested.  It would have required users to allow Verant to upload any data that could "interfere with the proper operation of EverQuest."

Now the thing to keep in mind is that the offset hacking is going on at the client end of the game which sits on your hard drive.  So what Verant is implying is that you can't sniff or look at something that is on the PC that you bought.  Also consider the fact that you bought the software as well as paying a $10 a month subscription fee.

Recently Verant and their jewish squad banned over 300 accounts for hacking.  Now when people asked for proof they received some nice form letters.  Live human contact was not offered.  Many users were first greeted with this email:

"It is my regretful duty to inform you that your EverQuest account, --------, has been banned for violating our EverQuest Rules of Conduct and our EverQuest User Agreement and Software License, to which you have affirmatively agreed to abide by each and every time you play EverQuest.  The use of a third-party program to alter your gameplay is not tolerated and as such has warranted the removal of your access to the game.

"If you have any questions or concerns regarding this action please feel free to contact eqaccountstatus@station.sony.com.  As a result of this action the registered credit card will no longer be billed for the EverQuest subscription fee.

"We thank you for your past patronage."

Now granted we all knew the risks and we paid the price.  But what I find interesting is that they will not offer proof to back up their claim that you were hacking.  Which leads me to believe that they are doing some kind of client side scanning.

I do know some innocent bystanders did get banned.  If Verant Interactive is not going to offer up proof of how they know your hacking, I think they should restore your account.  Or is the real truth that they are scanning your PC which is an invasion of your privacy?

I think the mass bannings with no offering of evidence is almost the same as Kevin Mitnick's case.  What's the world coming to when some gaming company can get away with this shit?  Saying the customer is always right definitely does not apply to Verant.

One thing the company doesn't realize is that while it's only $10 a month, the time put into building up those characters was a lot more than that.  The fact that Verant is not showing how they caught you and just answering with a form letter is B.S.

I will end this with a post that John Smedley himself put on the Hackerquest board:

This message is addressed to those of you that are attempting to hack EverQuest:

Read other messages on this board VERY carefully.  You will find that a large number of people are being banned today.

We have been logging things on the server for some time and will continue to do so in the future.  If you hack, you will be caught, and you will be banned.  It's that simple.

Regards,
John Smedley
Chief Operating Officer
Sony Online Entertainment

By the way, the thing he claims about logging is B.S.

If they were logging as they claimed, my friends would have been banned as well.  But they were fortunate enough to be out of town during that week.