1st realistic mission ethics?

[radicool_systemite]

Hi,

I'm still working on the basic missions, but I had a pick at the realistic missions out of curiosity (well, only the first mission so far) and felt a bit concerned about the scenario being played out. Here is the description on the first page after clicking on "relistic missions" from the home page...

Code: Select all

Uncle Arnold's Local Band Review
Your friend is being cheated out of hundreds of dollars. Help him make things even again!

Ok fair enough; someone is being cheated and wants to get even. However...

From: HeavyMetalRyan

Message: Hey man, I need a big favour from you. Remember that website I showed you once before? Uncle Arnold's Band Review Page? Well, a long time ago I made a $500 bet with a friend that my band would be at the top of the list by the end of the year. Well, as you already know, two of my band members have died in a horrendous car accident... but this ass hole still insists that the bet is on!
I know you're good with computers and stuff, so I was wondering, is there any way for you to hack this website and make my band on the top of the list? My band is Raging Inferno. Thanks a lot, man!

Hmmmm...I don't see how the guy is being cheated. He foolishly made a promise that he can't keep. In fact, it seems now HE is asking for help on how to cheat the OTHER guy out of winning the bet. So his band mates died and he could not win the bet; shit happens, but to now say that the OTHER guy is an asshole for holding the guy to his promise seems a bit unfair just because the guy doesn't want to pay up.

If I'm missing something to the story please do let me know.

I understand that this is just an example for practice, but I am only talking about the ethics of the story describing the example and not the usefulness of the mission itself in terms of the technical insight to be gained.

[godofcereal]

You may want to read through all the realistics then.
Its just a scinario where your "friend" asked for help, and if you were his "friend" you would try and help him.
Remember it is just a mission.

[Endymion]

Based on the score of the top band, I would say that he is being cheated. An average of 23.11 on a scale of 1-5?

[radicool_systemite]

Its just a scinario where your "friend" asked for help, and if you were his "friend" you would try and help him.
Remember it is just a mission.

If this was the tech section I would agree with you; it's just an exercise to practice how to do practical stuff. However, the issue I am addressing is the ethics of Ryan's argument for WHY he wants help. You see, he's not just asking for help, he's asking for a way to win the bet based on criteria that was not agreed on by both parties when the bet was made.

Based on the score of the top band, I would say that he is being cheated. An average of 23.11 on a scale of 1-5?

After going back and having another look I see what you mean. It does look a bit odd, but I think it brings more questions than answers. For example, why is Ryan's complaint that he can't win the bet because two of his band mates died, rather than a complaint about fidgeting with the numbers? The ethics change a bit according to what his motive is for wanting "extra" help.

If he's just bitter about circumstances, i.e. that he can't win the bet now because two band mates died, well, tough shit. Stop making stupid promises. It's simply not ethical to use your hacking super powers to help your friend just because he thinks the other guy is an asshole for holding him to his word.

One possibility is for Ryan to argue that the bet is no longer valid under the terms to which he origianlly agreed because of circumstances beyond his control, though in the world of betting I think that would be a fairly week argument.

Another possibility is for Ryan to get new band members to be able to reach the top spot.

On the other hand, if the other guy is fudging the numbers then I think there is a much better reason for intervention, though just boosting your friend up to the top spot may not necessarily be fair if, when all the real votes are tallied, they deserved to be 2nd place rather than last. I don't know how realistic it would be to find those real figures, but without them you put yourself in a very tricky ethical situation. It's very likely Ryan will be going out making all kinds of bets and then, when things don't go exactly his way, coming back to you every week complaining that the guy he made the bet with is acting like an ass and he needs "extra" help to win the bet.

I think the mission itself is worth doing just for the sake of gaining the technical experience of knowing HOW to do it, but, to me, the scenario seems to encourage a situation where people run off to their hacker buddies asking for divine intervention when things don't go their way. If Ryan really is being cheated, I think it would be helpful for him to make that clear in his request for help.