Welcome to the Game III makes a blocked hack a missed earning opportunity

Blocking a hack in Welcome to the Game III can also block a payday. The developer says successful counter-hacks earn DOS Coin, while firewall upgrades prevent intrusions but leave you without those earnings. Safer browsing removes an opportunity as well as a threat.

The opportunity requires work. The advertised counter-hacking minigames involve reaction, typing and puzzle solving. The store gives neither payout amounts nor success rates, so accepting the interruption cannot be called a reliable investment. It puts a task in front of the player instead of letting the firewall remove it.

That task competes with the main search: examining fictional dark-net sites and their source code for puzzle keys. NPC rivals can also buy attacks against you, just as you can pay to impede them. The exact timing remains unspecified, but the advertised activity already has more to attend to than the next counter-hack alone.

The decision is whether earning from an intrusion belongs in the plan while searching for the keys. A firewall can protect time and attention at the expense of that particular income source. If that tradeoff appeals, inspect what the next upgrade prevents—and what the prevented event would otherwise ask you to do.