Should I confess? Am I even guilty?

Hey everyone, I'm a first year Economics student.

As part of one of my modules my University runs this online virtual economy game. The login to the game was extremely flawed as all you needed was a uni username and an email both of which was available to everyone so I was curious as to whether it would be possible to get into someone else's account.

Yes in hindsight I can see how incredibly stupid and foolish this was.

But I've always been overly curious and I just wanted to find out if it was possible if I could do it, so on the last day the virtual economy was open I tried and succeeded to get into someone elses account. I just picked a name at random. Think I bought like 4 things maybe and then closed it, as I started to realise it wasn't a good idea to be doing this.

It's a game but it counts as 10% of our mark for this particular module.

You weren't just being curious - you were being an idiot.

Knowing that the results of the game would count as 10% of the mark for your module, you went into another person's account, then actually used the account.

Who the hell do you think you are? Did you negatively affect the account of the person who you logged in as?

I hope your lecturer isn't bluffing and that he deducts you the full 10% for the module.

That being said, he's probably bluffing.

Go on the offensive! Get your union involved! Tell the professor that the school are just as accountable for a poor security/safeguarding system that could have led to jeopardising a student's future, not to mention the stress and anxiety for all involved!

Or, you know. Just take it on the chin.

It's more likely that the person has noticed their account has been hacked, they have no idea how to find out who's done it (because let's face it, the whole thing is run poorly if you can get into the accounts so easily) and the lecturer is now trying to trick the person into owning up.

It's probably also a case of him not entirely believing the person who said that the activity wasn't them - it seems like the perfect excuse to get out of a bad decision on the game - but if someone were to admit doing it then it would confirm the truth.

This sums it up! Tutor doesn't believe them so is angling for someone to confirm it.

If someone calls 'hacked' and they trace it to you somehow, you just call 'hacked!' too

I don't think this is really in the plural. I think it was just you and nobody else. I think he is implying it is plural because it makes it sound like he actually knows something. If you say "one person did this one thing and I want to know who" it shows you actually don't have any information. With plural, you might think that maybe he has information on others doing the same thing - and also it makes confessing seem less scary, because other people would be in the same boat with you.

If you did this from halls they will have trouble finding you out, but from a shared house or via a uni VPN, it will be simple to trace you.

I did it on the Uni Library computer, so they could trace it to my uni account but as LolaLowe said can't I just claim my uni account must have been hacked into?

and are you saying I should confess or not?

I don't think you should confess. It would be no easy task for them to identify that it was you who had logged into another students account, even if you used your uni login, in the uni library. (IMO as a compsci student). Anyways, I do not think you are guilty, you were simply curious. The uni should have secured the accounts properly. I believe its more likely that someone has reported certain students for collusion.

If this does come back to you, I would plead ignorance. However, I highly doubt it will come to this. Hope you are OK, and I am sure this will all blow over soon.

I did it on the Uni Library computer, so they could trace it to my uni account but as LolaLowe said can't I just claim my uni account must have been hacked into?

and are you saying I should confess or not?