Strange...I'd thought more ppl would have filled in the questionnaire by now. But perhaps that has to do with the title. I must admit I don't fancy myself a "wii hacker". At best, I'd say I'm a script kiddy. But to be honest, I just go with "user" (I haven't coded or even compiled anything...I just go with what's available).
It's well possible this makes the rest of the post null and void, but hey...I can just as well answer.
Why are you using this particular community?
Erm...I don't fancy the word "using" in this sentence. A community is made of people, so I prefer "visiting" instead of using (communities work best if you encourage everyone to do something).
That aside: I come here mostly because a good deal of the people tend to know what they're talking about without getting overly technical.
How much are you using it (roughly)?
I come check it out about everyday. Mostly in the hope of getting to know some interesting stuff...but it's nice to read (and reply) as well.
What do you think of this tendency, hacking systems even though it’s discouraged by the producer?
In essence, it's simple: I bought the product, so it's mine. As such, I can do whatever the hell I want with it.
Keep in mind that you have to separate "hacking" from "pirating" here. With pirating, you haven't bought the product, so that freedom to "do whatever the hell I want with it" doesn't apply there.
However...I can't deny that hacking makes pirating easier (and may often be the whole reasoning behind the interest in hacking).
As such, I can understand nintendo's position on "hacking". I like to think their main concern is pirating, but when I hear that people tend to send back the wii's they fried themselves, I can't but conclude that they don't like people messing with their product either.
In which way does it appeal to you to be a part of the development of these hacks?
As mentioned before, I'm not part of the development. At best, I point out to people how to use certain hacks other have made.
The hacker ethic’s hands-on imperative says that everything should be hackable, and if the law prohibits it, the ends justify the means. What do you think?
I believe in user's rights and responsibilities. If you buy a product (
any product), it's yours to do with it what you please. Let's say you buy a bread. You usually get a sack to go with it. If the law then said that it was illegal to use that sack to pack anything other than the original bread in it...would you obey it? Of course not: you bought for the bread and the sack, so it's your right to use it how you want.
Or take guns: they're legal in quite some countries, yet shooting other people or their properties isn't (which, incidentally, leaves them kinda useless).
But to get back at hacking (of the wii): in this case, the law itself is there for a reason. It exists to give gaming companies the chance to actually make some money with the games they make.
So here I am again with that difference between hacking and pirating: the hacking itself shouldn't be illegal (though it is just as valid as a reason to void your warranty as, say, give your wii a sponge bath). If every wii in existance got
hacked (and not pirated), the sales of wii's and games would be exactly the same. Which would leave the law in itself useless. But like I said before: hacking and pirating are hard to distinguish, so hacking may always remain on the rather shady side of the law.
What are your thoughts on hacker communities in general?
I don't know much hacker communities. I'm not even sure if this is a hacker community to begin with (I think the majority of the visitors here just have enough basics to pirate successfully). But what I can see...
To take it roughly: there are smart people (a select few that know just about everything), decent people (that may know a good deal about some areas, or a bit about everything) and everyone else (script kiddies, newbies or guys without any knowledge whatsoever). Now...with the complexity of the issue at hand, the "everyone else" group is most likely not going to code their own cIOS (that includes me
). They tend to be the most enthusiast about things, though. Which is kinda obvious: because we're not hindered by knowledge, we can safely ignore any kind of work, hardware restrictions, knowledge, inquiry, testing, whatever...a certain idea has.
The people with more knowledge (of course) tend to ignore this, and work on their own projects. And because these projects tend to be long and hard work, teams may be formed, code may be exchanged and work may be continued by others when the first author quits.
This
usually tends to go well (eg. Dacotaco is doing a good job of maintaining priiloader...originally the work crediar's preloader). However...there have been some heated discussions about things like anti-piracy (riivolution) or source code (make your way through
this thread and judge for yourself). These things happen as well. Hard to say to which degree these arguments are normal...but I doubt they're isolated ones.
Which experience relevant to Wii hacking do you have?
I hacked my own wii (softmod). That's it. Compared to some others, I may have fingled with a bit more homebrew than the 'average' user, but all in all, it's pretty much zero.
What kinds of Wii hacks do you enjoy the most?
I use wiiflow (an USB loader) the most. But considering that is 'just' a homebrew, I'd go with priiloader.
(okay, and to those that really want to get technical: that probably isn't a hack either, so I have to go with bannerbomb)
The Wii is the most hacked gaming console yet. Why do you think that is?
It is? Wow...I read in a Dutch gaming magazine about the hacks of the Ds. It said that they (nintendo) weren't too concerned about the wii at that time, but that the sales of the Ds games was really swindling because of piracy. In addition, the one other guy I know isn't interested in hacking his wii, and the two others I know that thought about buying a wii weren't going to hack it to begin with.
But anyway...if it is the most hacked one, I'd say it is because it's the most popular console. Which, in turn, may have something to do with the price of one being lower than either an xbox360 or PS3 (of which I hear they're harder to crack).
All in all, a hacked wii gives you the potential of the most games for the least money.
Do you have any supplementary thoughts on the subject of hacking?
I'd like to point out that hacking gets depicted as something negative or shady. Without reason, if you ask me. Hacking tends to improve what is already there. The wii always had the potential of being a multimedia player, allow amateur programmers to write their own piece of software, or load games from USB rather than from DVD. Nintendo overlooked its potential...so why are we to blame to actually make use of it?
