I started programming mainly because I wanted to make a bot on an online game. I learned how to use Wireshark, how network protocols worked (the game used a bin

I started programming mainly because I wanted to make a bot on an online game. I learned how to use Wireshark, how network protocols worked (the game used a binary protocol I learned to reverse engineer, and I wanted my bot to integrate with IRC which uses a text protocol so I read its RFC), I learned how to decompile and read obfuscated code (the game was an SWF, and I could get my hand on bots made by other people), and even some design patterns to make my code slightly maintainable. I did it to have fun with my bot on the game, but in the end I barely used the bot, I had way more fun making it and learning how to improve it. I suspect the people making these emulators spend way more time writing the emulators than using them, that's where the actual fun is.