Contemplate this, if you will:

I realized a couple days ago that I am bothered by the number of hacks certain games are receiving. RHDN hosts 32 different hacks for Super Mario Bros., 14 different hacks for Final Fantasy, and about 10 hacks each for a handful of other games, including Final Fantasy VI and Metroid. While I agree that these games are liked by quite a few people and it would seem logical that people would hack games that they like, it seems to me as though the efforts of the community are going to waste and that simple graphics hacks are becoming the standard of accomplishment.

To anyone who has read The Cathedral and the Bazaar, the concept I present should be familiar. That is the concept of a "gift culture," a community in which status and prestige are gained by giving away time, effort, and usable products. I see basically the same makings of a gift culture in the ROM hacking subculture. Those individuals who have hacked many games (successfully), hacked particularly difficult games, hacked lesser-known or more obscure games, or hacked entire games from the ground up are the most prestigious members of the community. Just look around you for the proof.

The point at which I find myself pondering is: Why, in the face of all this, do people continue to hack games that have already received a substantial amount of attention already? Is it merely because these games are already well-known to the hackers? Is it because they think that if they hack a popular game, more people would want to play it, thus earning themselves more prestige? Or is it because hackers are losing their creativity and no longer wish to take on challenges? Is the ROM hacking community "closing up," so to speak?

I'm not trying to say that "this is the way it is." On the contrary, I'm only presenting an observation for discussion. What do you think about "overhacking?" What are your views on the current state of the community and its goals and outlooks? I'd like this to be an open forum for discussion, so please, speak your mind.

ROM hacking (not translating) 5-7 years ago was not wide spread--unless it was Super Mario Bros.  When I started my FF2us hack in 2000 there wasn't any documentation just floating out there--I had to find it myself.  And at that time there were no editors for it released to the public (Yousei's FF2ed was private when I started).  And when I started my FF3us hack it was also 2000 and there was just one document  (cless) and no editors (Yousei's wasn't released yet).  I think with the popularity of emulation as a whole has brought a large group of people who are lazy and would prefer to just use editors to make their hacks like Gideon said.  I blame the XBOX generation for this exclusively.  The age group of these new "hackers" is very young and very inexperienced--with not enough attention span and patience to LEARN about the game through HEX or ASM or good old fashioned corruption.  They want instant gratification.  "I got an idea now someone else make it now!"  Honestly, how many topics do you see where the person has posted 1 screenshot of some simple BS and then proceeds to ask for people to "help them"?  I see this even when there are editors available for the game!

What's funny is most specific ROM editors were originally designed to aid the ROM hacker themselves--and only released to the public out of generosity.  I think it should continue to be this way. 

ROM hacking in the traditional sense may be dying, but at least there are a few of us "old tymers"--both figuratively and literally--sitll around.

JCE3000GT, what you've said has been said before. like 9 years ago. Romhacking has been "dying" with the "new kids" killing it since sometime around 1999.

I remember several threads on zophar's domain back in like 2000/2001 where people were saying that editors were the wave of the future and that someone soon was going to make some magic general all in one decompression tool to allow the lazy of the world to skip over the learning step and produce (one would assume) a plethora of half assed hacks. ah, those were the days.

i'm still waiting for the scene to die. doesn't seem to be happening. for ever hundred or so flash in the pan "make me a hack" thread creators, you've got someone relatively new showing up and blowing everyone away. Ryusui for example, who came from the wretched hive of villainy known as gamefaqs.

in the past 5 years or so, even the general romhackers have gotten better. the side of romhacking that was once made fun of for producing (as the joke went) nothing more than cheap smb1 hacks like penis bros. and bong bros. has started to really get playable. 5 years ago i wouldn't have bothered to play pretty much any graphics/level hacks. These days it seems like every week i see someone working on something where I just say "sweet!!!".

I don't think there is such a thing as over hacking. I think sometimes you need a bit of a build up to get certain game mods out there. That's how things get perfected after all... endless tweaking and the exchange of ideas.

But...there ARE too many bands...music hasn't been good since the late 80's early 90's.   

Games are often, in most cases in fact, designed by multiple people. The level designer, the graphics guy, the composer... more often than not doesn't wear the programmer's hat. Editors allow people to play to their skills.

If you're talking about the same (original) game hacked by the same author, I'd tend to agree. (There are exceptions, of course; I currently have no fewer than three SMB2 hack ideas.)

As for multiple hacks of the same OG by different hackers, that's just the way of the world. Everyone wants to see *their* take on a beloved classic, and said take tends to reflect upon at least some aspect of the creator. The obvious downside to this is the endless phalanx of Reeferdick Mario -style hacks; the upside is the digital buffet of positive output, whence comes such gems as Ice Mario, Zelda: Outlands, etc.

Another way to look at it (again, speaking from personal experience) is that n00bs sometimes opt to shelve hacks of more obscure games, or games for which documentation is scarce, until they get the hang of the basics. And one of the best ways to get one's feet wet is to hack something *with* extensive documentation, level editors, etc.

I'm glad there are editors out.  Manipulating data in hex, no matter how experenced you are, really is a chore.  If I had programming skills, I would create editors for all the games I enjoy.  I don't, however, and I mainly do data searching so that the next person will have somthing to work with.  For me, the aim of the game is to enjoy figuring out how things work.  I've got no desire to worry about Mario or Final Fantasy.  In fact I am surprised that there hasn't been much of an interest in the gameboy Zeldas.  In fact nobody has really done anything major with any zelda games, except Zelda Challenge and ALTTP.  No comprehensive Zelda 2 hacks, no really big Zelda 4, Oracle of Seasons, Ages, whatever.

If the rom hacking community stopped wasting effort, there would no longer be a rom hacking community.