BSD hackers game!

[DNAeon]

Hello, mates!

Here's what I'm intending to do... I'm currently running a website aimed at BSD for the Bulgarian users, where I and other people are translating and writing howtos primarily for BSD.

Anyway writing and reading documentation for people like me and you is a daily task, but I want to make the whole process of learning the BSD systems a little more interesting for the beginners - learning while using the BSD systems - a hackers game!

What I'm thinking of is using a virtual BSD system, where the users use ssh to connect to the system - when a new user registers he receives a login name and a password - for example login name level1 (level2, level3, etc... according to the level they are on) and a password for the correct level.

Each level requires more advanced skills of BSD - for example using the basic tools, pipes, redirecting, using exploits, ssh tunnels, and even at the last levels writing a simple C/C++ code or shell scripts in order to accomplish the task for completing the level. With each level the tasks are getting harder and harder and this way the users will be stimulated to start reading and searching for information on how to get to the next level while learning BSD.

Once upon a time there was such a site - Hackerslab.org - now I think it is down.

Anyway what do you think of the idea, where to start from? I'm looking forward for any suggestions and feedback.

Cheers,
DNAeon

[BSDfan666]

Looks like you found the wrong site; what you want is ubuntuforums.org.

[vermaden]

You can also use something like that:
http://www.masswerk.at/jsuix/
http://billyreisinger.com/jash/

[DNAeon]

@BSDfan666
I don't think that you got the point, BSDfan666.
I do believe that this is the right place I have posted this topic, since it is BSD related, and not Linux!

@vermaden
Thanks for the links, vermaden! There are really interesting things on these links, that I have not seen before.

But what do you think about creating the game from scratch? Using php/mysql I could write some web interface, and also I can track which user has accomplished a level, who did it the fastest, etc. But this is the easy part.

The hardest part I think would be to make the levels - to create the exploits in the system, the tasks which needs to be accomplished and so on..

Of course for security reasons the virtual system which the game will be running on will allow only incoming connections and no outgoing.

So what do you think - is it worth doing such a game or it is a waste of time?

Thanks!

[BSDKaffee]

I think games are a good way to learn things, but they have to be entertaining and self-contained. Just like typing games have to be somewhat amusing and guide the typist in their quest. Even still, the person who uses a typing game must have some sort of ambition to learn how to type.

If one has to read documentation to complete your game, I don't think it will get much attention. Let's face it...if people aren't willing to read documentation or use Google and then post somewhat basic questions on this forum for their real-life problems, they probably aren't going to do so for a game.

There would also be a heck of a lot of topics to cover, so keeping the levels concise would be important or the game could go on forever. I've been using FreeBSD as a desktop for over 5 years and I learn new things every day. That said, I would steer clear of programming languages as part of a BSD intro, especially C/C++.

Good luck!

[vermaden]

Originally Posted by DNAeon

@vermaden
Thanks for the links, vermaden! There are really interesting things on these links, that I have not seen before.

But what do you think about creating the game from scratch? Using php/mysql I could write some web interface, and also I can track which user has accomplished a level, who did it the fastest, etc. But this is the easy part.

The hardest part I think would be to make the levels - to create the exploits in the system, the tasks which needs to be accomplished and so on..

Of course for security reasons the virtual system which the game will be running on will allow only incoming connections and no outgoing.

So what do you think - is it worth doing such a game or it is a waste of time?

If you have time and skills it will be great idea, check BSDA certification for example exercises, imho using jash or other javascript/ajax sollution with you php/mysql backend, imho better use postgresql backend with django, itd far far better sollution then php and mysql.

level, imho start from basics, find that and that, enable that and that, and so.

[robbak]

There should be a shell-over-ajax projects somewhere. You'll find most of the heavy lifting has been done for you already.
Remember 'write' and 'talk' - two ways for persons to communicate. Nice ways for the mighty sysadmin to praise you for working out how you use 'echo', or express his annoyance over your misuse of 'sudo'.
While I see the point of it being self-contained, the main thing a BSD user needs to learn is where to find his answers - handbook, mailing lists, google, forum searches, etc. Search first, Try second, Search third, try fourth, bug someone else fifth!

Oh, Edit: Don't forget that there are more than two ways to do anything: Try hard not to penalize someone who does something with awk, when you thought of sed. Check out the recent thread on 'renaming files with sed' to see this in action. Your students will probably find better ways to accomplish a task than you did - don't fail them when they do!

[TerryP]

I believe there is a web based 'shell' interface written in PHP somewhere, Found it:link. But I'm not sure how much use it would be.

[Beastie]

Originally Posted by vermaden

You can also use something like that:
http://www.masswerk.at/jsuix/
http://billyreisinger.com/jash/

There's a similar one for vi alone. I though I would share the link.
http://gpl.internetconnection.net/vi/