Neil S Primmer and Benji Vesterby join to share their experience organizing "Capture the Flag" at GopherCon 2023. They discuss the excitement of CTF events, the competitive nature of teams gathering digital flags, and the intricacies of this unique gaming experience.
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Quick takeaways
Go Capture the Flag combines coding, hacking, and problem-solving skills in a dynamic scavenger hunt-like competition.
The success of the Go Capture the Flag event at Go for Con indicated strong engagement from participants, especially those new to the event.
The organizers of Go Capture the Flag prioritize making the challenges accessible and enjoyable, incorporating diverse themes and skill levels.
Deep dives
What is Go Capture the Flag?
Go Capture the Flag is a competition where teams compete to gather digital flags, presented as strings, and submit them to the organizers. The goal is to amass the highest number of points by solving challenges and retrieving flags. The challenges are designed to test coding and hacking skills, and participants can use their problem-solving abilities to expose the flags. It is a dynamic and engaging competition, akin to a scavenger hunt for nerds, that combines skill, knowledge, and strategy.
The Origins of Go Capture the Flag at Go for Con
The idea to introduce Go Capture the Flag at Go for Con originated from the organizers' desire to have more community events. With a background in security, one of the organizers proposed the concept, drawing inspiration from similar events held at security conferences. The decision to proceed was made after assessing the effort and time involved. A team was formed, including Neil, as an early addition, and extensive planning began. The vision was to create a capture the flag experience that would be accessible and enjoyable for participants, regardless of their security knowledge or specific coding skills.
The Unique Approach and Challenges of Go Capture the Flag
Go Capture the Flag differentiates itself from traditional capture the flags by emphasizing coding and problem-solving skills rather than exclusive focus on security-related challenges. The organizers designed a diverse range of challenges, including ones that require participants to solve programming problems, exploit vulnerabilities in third-party Go packages, and engage in memory-based mini-games. The goal was to cater to different skill levels and provide a balance between accessible and more complex challenges. The organizers also prioritized making the challenges enjoyable, with a Fallout-themed event and challenges incorporating popular video game concepts.
Successful Go for Con with High Participation and Positive Feedback
The Go for Con event exceeded expectations with almost 20% of attendees registering and a 72% participation rate from those who registered. The feedback forum received a response rate of over 15%, indicating strong engagement. Most participants were new to Go for Con, and a majority had never participated in a capture the flag event before. The challenges were designed to be approachable, and the theme of the event, based on the Fallout game series, received mixed reviews. While some disliked the theme, many appreciated the depth it added to the challenges. In the future, contextual hints will be incorporated to improve the quality of challenge hints. The importance of having a theme or through-line to tie challenges together was emphasized, creating cohesion and engagement for participants. The open source community was discussed, and the unpopular opinion was shared that anyone should be able to develop and release a new project to the community, regardless of existing similar projects. The focus was on encouraging individual contributions and learning, while recognizing the benefits of collaborating and consolidating efforts in the community.
Future Plans for Go for Con and Open Source Contributions
Go for Con will be brought back in the future, with plans underway for the 2024 event. Exciting additions and changes are being made for next year's event, though details were not revealed. Spoilers and updates can be expected on the Go for Con social accounts, including Twitter, YouTube, and Slack. The name 'Capture the Flag' may be rebranded to 'Challenge Series' for clarity and to encourage broader participation. The focus is on welcoming new projects and contributors to the open source community, while also recognizing the benefits of collaborating and consolidating efforts in specific areas. The importance of a supportive and encouraging attitude towards individual contributions and choices was highlighted.
Angelica is joined by Neil S Primmer & Benji Vesterby to share their experience organizing “Capture the Flag” at GopherCon 2023. CTF events involve teams vying for supremacy as they strive to gather digital flags (presented as strings) and successfully submit them to the competition organizers. In essence, it’s a thrilling “scavenger hunt for nerds.” Join us as we unravel the intricacies and excitement of this unique gaming experience!
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