seeking entertaining game with hackable SQL database

[joeclark77]

Hi all,
I'm teaching a database course this semester, and will be teaching the students how to use SQL.  One of the things that I think would be fun for them is to show them how to use SQL to hack into a game and cheat -- give themselves more gold or something.  Can any of you recommend a game that is build on a SQL database (could be MySQL, or Access or something else), which is accessible (i.e. not encrypted or hidden on a remote server)?

I'm thinking that a lightweight and graphical RPG would be better for this than something complex, just because I'm not sure all of the students are "hard core" enough to enjoy an ASCII masterpiece like Nethack.  But a game of any genre could be useful as a class exercise.

[fiorel]

I think it is very uncommon for any game to use an "open", unprotected SQL database.

Single player games, that are installed and run entirely on the client PC, typically won't use an SQL database, because that incurs too much "heavy weight".

I would recommend you to hire some very cheap webspace with LAMP stack (Linux, Webserver, PHP, MySQL). Then build a very simple website on top of that, using PHP forms to interact with the database.
In your course you can then use that system for demonstration purpose. That approach will give you a lot of flexibility, about what you can show or what exercises you can offer.

There are also bundles like XAMPP, which allow to install such a system on local PCs quite easily.

[joeclark77]

I think there are a few games that are built like this, not commercial games but maybe some personal projects like roguelikes.  Aurora4x, for example, is built right on top of an Access database.  Building database-driven websites is part of the course, but that'll come later.  Right now I'd like to simply show students how to peek at an existing data model in an interesting place and try to hack it with SQL.

[Krice]

You teach hacking? What kind of school is that..