Hackers are ruining Modern Warfare

It is my opinion that every person has the right to enjoy their experiences with videogames, and I believe that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion of how a game should be enjoyed.  However, I have recently come across something that I simply cannot abide by.  It is well known in the gaming community that a group of individuals took it upon themselves to hack into the decription software that regulates the Playstation 3 security protocols.  In effect, these individuals made it possible for users of the PS3 gaming console to install non-proprietary software (or homebrew software) applications on the system.  The response that Sony has provided to this threat is one of relatively low consequence.  Users are generally banned, and their systems are rendered useless if they are discovered to be using non-approved software, but the damage has been done.  You may be asking, how does this affect other gamers?  Well, by opening up the PS3 security code, users can install patches that alter the way that the games they play online perform.  Due to what officials call, a high subscriber base, the result of these "hacks" are highly prevalent within the online multiplayer lobbies of Activision's Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2 titles. 

This attack on the gaming community hits very close to home for me as a fan of the Call of Duty series.  I understand that many people dislike the series, and several of them claim that it was a broken system before these hacks started showing up, but what do these people really stand to gain from this disruption of the gaming world?  The number of lobbies that have been infiltrated on the PS3 side have effectively ruined online play for honest players.  I have been playing Black Ops almost exclusively for the past month and had no idea how extensive the intrusion had become.  When I put the game disk in today, I played 5 matches and of those 5 rounds, 3 were plagued by hackers, or individuals who have purchased hack patches from malicious sources.  One hacker was even blatant enough to post the source of the hack on the top of the screen and an open dialogue box containing the various hacks he/she was switching off and on at will.  Some hacks would allow players to "spam" killstreaks or lethal grenades, and others enabled the increasingly popular "aimbot" that makes it impossible for a player's shots to miss.  Other hacks would take their malicious nature a step further than this by altering or erasing other player's game stats and leaderboard data.  After experiencing some of these violations, I abruptly ended my session with Modern Warfare 2. 

Once again, I ask myself what these people stand to gain from this activity?  Gamers in general are tenacious and proud when it comes to their virtual accomplishments.  Many honest gamers devote hours, days, months, and maybe even years to collecting accolades that represent their status within the gaming community.  Is it that people seriously just like messing with other people so much that they are willing to collapse the gaming communities that they love?  I find it difficult to believe that anyone who actually enjoys gaming would actually subscribe to this type of behavior.  In fact, it would seem that gamers who try to take the easy way out in multiplayer games like Call of Duty are relatively miserable individuals.  I am not a particularly skilled gamer, but I would not want to break the rules of a game simply to gain an advantage.  What ever accomplishments that I accumulate are a result of my dedication and resolve to fight through my disadvantages.  What it boils down to is that just because a person can do something doesn't mean that he or she should do it.  Let your fellow gamers enjoy the games as they were meant to enjoy.  If a game has a fault, try to improve it rather than exploit it.  Most of all, respect each other and the gaming community.