Hack: the game

At the outset, you are staring at a blank screen, with maybe a blinking cursor. You are armed with a keyboard, a mouse, a modem (in-game), and your personal collection of computer expertise. So you try something. Nope, that didn't work. How about this? Ah, there's something useful! etc, etc, /ad r33tN355/.

The idea is to set up a game that acts like some sort of foreign computer system. In the beginning, you have no idea what you're doing, but as you probe and spend time trying stuff you can gradually gain an understanding and make use of the system. At various times, progress will demand that you pore through logs, poke around looking for interesting files/systems, exploit bugs, spoof, sniff, etc. (maybe a more in-depth version would entail actual social engineering, with other people on a RL phone?) The ultimate goal is to achieve root at the core, and thereby become the unique super-user. (subject to dethroning at any time by any of the other, more clever participants; like king of the hill) At one of the lower levels, you would realize that you are not alone on this system, and if you so desire you could try to contact any of your competitors. As you progressed you would become more aware of the scope of the whole thing and learn of better tools to secure your position. A player's progress (and which parts of the game's simulated system would be made available) would be a function of how much time he has spent in-game, how much info he's gathered, how often he's failed vs. how often he's succeeded in doing anything, and how much total influence he has over the system at any one time (a sort of system-notoriety). There would be no sinister plot; no aliens, no NSA, no smoking man. Just egos and an atmosphere of exploration.