The Icon Hack Controversy

Ever since 2.2's release, the community has been conflicted on the "ethics" of the Icon Hack, a hack that allows players to unlock every icon and cosmetic for free...

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[willthewindmill]

My biggest issue is the demon key chests. For someone like me, who plays the game casually, I don’t necessarily want to grind hundreds of thousands of levels to unlock all of the chest icons. I still won’t cheat or anything, but the game has become EXTREMELY grindy now and I can see why some players are turned off by this.

[IzzyIsntReal]

It’s really not that deep. While I personally want to spend hundreds of hours unlocking cool icons, it’s entirely reasonable that other people do not.

[cuzwhywhynot]

In my opinion, when you don't use icon hack, it can feel more rewarding when you finally get a cool-looking icon that you've been working for. But on the other hand, using icon hack doesn't affect gameplay at all, and sometimes people just want to use icons they think looks cool, so it's not really harmful when someone uses it, but I can see why some people don't.

[Ericlerma]

The fact that if the community catches someone no clipping, then apologizing, it's over with. (like cursed fake Silent Clubstep completion.) But when it comes to the community complaining about a hack that doesn't hurt anyone or anything, just to unlock cosmetics, is really damming.

[Spotth]

Crying over cosmetics is actually crazy

[ideac.]

i waited for 2.2 for years and if anything icons are what gives me motivation to get the new achievements
but i think the biggest problem in 2.2 rn is just some cheaters insta completing platformer levels on the leaderboards being able to be shown on top
genuinely one of the cringest things ive ever seen

[renebrade]

The way I see it, the icon hack is like playing in creative mode vs survival mode. Some people just like how things look and don’t want to spend hours grinding

[tob_bob]

telling somebody to kill themself over using a hack that changes some pixels on their character is actually insane

[wimpyspace]

the fact that this is even a debate is stupid. no icon gives more of an advantage than other ones, and it has absolutely 0 effect on the rest of the community except for the people butthurt that "they're hacking by using an icon they haven't earned!!! 😠😠😠" while i myself prefer grinding for them because of the memories and achievement it gives me, i have zero problem with someone simply using an icon they like. i see it the same as custom icons. why aren't people upset about that, but upset about this? it's so overblown, and i think it's a stupid argument.

[eyeballdoorknob]

0:01 fun fact each syllable when he said 2.2 syncs perfectly with the ufo jumps

[dooblom]

Personally, I'm neutral. The feeling of satisfaction from getting an achievement and unlocking an icon is a good feeling, but I also understand that some people don't want to grind for a _really_ long time just for a cosmetic.

[xdbananaman]

I still dont understand why people get mad over video game icons💀💀

[thedevin]

The only advantage that certain icons have over others is psychological, like the perceived aerodynamics of a ship or wave or the hit box of a ufo, even though it’s all the same performance. People will have different play styles and different reasons they enjoy the game. Not everyone is an achievement hunter, not everyone is an orb grinder. Let people have all the icons if they want, let people have fun.

[nintySW]

I understand why some people think icon hack is "cheating" but personally i just want a cool icon set that i can use to represent myself. I like beating difficult levels, and because of that i basically only play demons that take me weeks to beat. If i wanted all my icons I'd have to grind for keys and shards and orbs etc etc. That's not enjoyable for me.

[Stukleak]

1:42 the derpy spider is unlockable by completing the spider gauntlet, which is not yet released. The derpy ship is also only obtainable until 2.21

[Alex-kvje]

If the only argument against it is that it hurts their ego then it isn't a problem

[xenok]

My Opinion:

Icon Hack is completely fine, since it not really cheating. Yes it unlocks things you shouldn't have. But who does it harm?
Noclip for example is way worse since you actually cheat with that but Icon Hack isn't anything else then cosmetic, it doesn't even give you any advantage.
This is one of the reasons I don't use twitter, they always manage to make new Drama. Nobody was even judged in 2.11 for using Icon Hack. Just because 2.2 added so many Icons it apparently worse now.

[zkittlesbutbetter]

I don’t really play levels super often aside from the official levels, and I’m not a very good player (my hardest is Fingerdash), but I like building layouts and stuff and I think a lot of the new icons are super neat, and that’s why I’ll probably use icon hack for this update like I did in 2.1.

[leugim]

This is the problem with anti-icon hack users, it is completely fine to grind for these icons its a really good goal to play the game more, but its absolutely unreasonable to force this mindset to other people. Maybe they would think it would disregard their achievements but the point of a game is to have fun and people just want to play casually with their favorite icons.

[unamix]

I kind of like that there's icons that take a lot to get. I feel that these rewards motivate me and other players to play the game more and play other levels that they otherwise wouldn't. I like having a goal to work towards and it gives me motivation. I'm not angry at anyone who doesn't want to grind like that though. They might not even be casual players. Demon slaying (my definition for only going after really hard demons or only doing ones that are challenging to you) doesn't net many resources since you spend a lot of time on one level. This is how I've played for a while and as a result, dispute just recently breaking 2000 stars, I'm almost done with supersonic. Lately I've been grinding gauntlets to get diamonds and it's opened up my perspective a bit, it's a nice break from insane demons. What I am a bit peeved about is icons that are only unlockable in 2.21. I'm not mad that they are being hacked but rather, peeved that they are in the game to begin with. Like... why? why not just... not include them until the update? ngl was a bit peeved to see so much stuff teased for the next update in an update that took 7 years. If someone hacks those icons in I won't blame them, or any tbh. I don't care.