I do know that that code obviously then inst available, since that’s why the recent leaks are significant…but why is it significant? Obviously cheaters will use that to more easily make hacks, but why is that code not part of the game? How does that code not exist in the game files? Is it hidden in some way or is some of that engine code or what exactly is it?
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Computer code is a list of direction for the computer to follow, similar to the directions someone might give you to bake cookies, or navigate to the grocery store. But when someone write these directions, they do so in a “high level” way, meaning that their instructions sound simple to a human “add sugar” or “mix until even” but are actually very complex concepts. How do you add sugar? How do you mix? How do you know when it’s even? But the computer needs much more simple instruction “move arm, circle patter, 10″ radius, 60 seconds” so there is a special program that translates the instructions into more detailed ones.
The version of the code that you get to download is the very detailed, very simple instructions. The “source code” though, is the more complex, but more human-readable set of instructions.
So the source code will say “add sugar” but the code you have is a bunch of lines about moving joins, angles, amounts of pressure, twisting, and analysis of sensory input. The instructions aren’t just how to add the sugar, but how to move your body correctly to grasp the sugar, and the measuring cup, and how to rotate your wrist to dump the sugar into the bowl. All, in incredibly minute detail. But it never actually says “add sugar” at all! Instead, there are enough instructions in there that by the time you get to the part about adding the sugar, you have already placed the sugar in just the right location on your counter top, and placed the measuring cup, and the bowl, that by simply giving the instructions on how to move your body, the result is picking up the sugar and pouring it into the bowl.
Because of all that detail, a computer – which is very very simple – can go through each step and do it as instructed, and the results are always the same. But the computer doesn’t actually know what it’s doing, just that it’s doing each little step. If a human reads these instructions, they aren’t very useful – we think in much more abstract ways. We don’t need told how to move our arm, and we have trouble following instructions so specifically. And since the code never says “add sugar” it may be nearly impossible to figure out that that is what a given part of the code is telling you to do.
So imagine you built a robot that can bake, and you sell that robot. Then, you sell/give people the instructions for making your legendary cookies. If they buy your robot, they can have it make the cookies. But if they don’t buy the robot, they can’t, because the instructions don’t make enough sense to a human to follow them. Plus, you were clever, and you added some special instructions that look normal to a human, but that the robot knows it’s supposed to just ignore. If a human tries to follow them, they will end up with gross cookies! But the robot knows that certain types of instructions are false, and just skips them. You add this “feature” so that people trying to copy your instructions won’t be able to, and they won’t be able to sell them or use them without a robot they bought from you.
Leaking the source code of a video game, is like someone sneaking into your kitchen and stealing your recipe card. Now they have a version of the instructions people can understand, and they can use it all they want, and it doesn’t have any of the false instructions to trip them up. They can also clearly see how each part of the recipe works, and modify it however they would like, or use portions of it in their own recipes.
Worse, they can now make their own copy of the robot instructions, without your false instructions, and give it or sell it to other people so they can make the cookies with robots made by other people, and then they don’t have to buy your robots anymore, or pay for your recipes.
The source code is so important, because it’s something that can be used to replicate the game, reuse portions of the game in other places, or find/remove any parts of the code that prevent piracy and cheating. You actually *can* do those things with the game code you download, but it take a lot of time and a lot of patience to figure out what the code really does, how it works, and how to modify it to produce the desired results. With source code though, you can skip all that hard difficult work, and just do as you like with it.
Both of the two bodies of “code” are instruction on how to do the same thing: run a game. But one is too detailed and lacks human-understandable descriptions for anyone to do much with it. While the other is very easy for a human to understand, and if it’s publicly available, makes cheating and piracy incredibly simple.
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