Cheating?

[Vertigo]

I read an article recently in GFW magazine about cheating in games, apparently there's actually been a serious study of the phenomenon and a recent book published on the topic. Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames by Mia Consalvo ( link )

I did some snooping after the article and decided to order the book, the article made me start thinking and examining my own ePrejudices, etc. And I thought I'd ask here, what do you consider cheating in video games? Do you cheat?

[Luke122]

I'm a fan of cheat codes only in certain situations. I wont cheat against other players, or against the game itself, but it's nice to be able to unlock all the features of a game for use in multiplayer without having to spend hours going through the single player content.

This applies mostly to racing games, and other multiplayer situations such as Tony Hawk, etc.

[dgrmkrp]

I cheat. Or used to.. I haven't played a game (..for more than half an hour to see how it plays on my system) in a few years now... Well, I played a few games that had no cheats I knew of, so I didn't count them in.. Except starcraft, age of empires 2 and counter strike, all other games where I could cheat, I cheated It is somewhat empowering in a strategy to beat the opponent all out.. especially if you just want to see how a game looks

[xRyokenx]

Unless it's like the Sims and you start out with too little cash or just something along those terms, I don't look up codes. I have this bad habit of using them too much whenever in a game, Morrowind is a prime example of that, I'd go into the console and just give myself too much good gear and set my skills too high, etc. I can't help it. Hence why I don't look 'em up, lol. I do get mods for games though, not god mods, those get annoying. Like, I have a crapload of mods for Oblivion that introduce better weather, water that isn't so damn murky, better textures for the people, etc. etc. I tried a mod where it got rid of the level restrictions on monsters and items, but that got tough, fighting a giant ogre at level one was impossible, and getting full glass armor with an enchanted ebony claymore was lame too, couldn't sell the loot (I can't just leave it, it's not greed, it's a sense of not wasting stuff that I've got) as I couldn't carry it or the shop keepers didn't have enough gold, etc. etc. But yeah, fun game though. I love just going into a dungeon and shooting bandits with a bow when they don't know where you are, and all of that good stuff.

[Blebbz]

I absolutely lovve cheat codes, but I only use them once I've completed a game, it feels so wrong when you complete a game, with reams of cheat codes at the side of you lmao. So now I've made a promise to myself - not to cheat until I complete a game and just want to lark about. But who needs cheats when you can play online on custom maps with loads of nifty tricks and custom objects.

[Spawn-Inc]

i used to cheat alot (only in single player games) i try not to anymore but sometimes it makes the game better. i never cheat on steam games as i don't want a ban. and cheating is handy like others have said when you want to unlock stuff you just can't.

[Blebbz]

Yeah it's a waste of part of a game really if you cheat with steam games, but who can blame 'em for stoppin cheaters. Then again anti-cheat has caused me a lot of problems in the past. Very buggy, and for that reason, I don't bother buying steam games. Oh i bought Half-Life two for xbox... but thats it really lol

[D1337]

I used to cheat in single player games as a kid, only when something was too hard (took more then 30 tries) or was just straight out only unlockable by using codes.

I do hack online mmorpg's just to combat the constant grind fest, but i wouldn't hack or cheat in FPS games, strategy games or anything that requires skill. Unless... I'd have a significant gain from it, IE special weapons for high ranks, cash, prizes etc. I also wouldnt ever sell accounts or gold because that ruins the game for the die hard players.

[shooter05]

I will usually cheat to see how to get though a level or something like that, if I'm having a hardtime getting through it. Sometimes my son and I do it just to fast forward. I don't save them and will go back to where I wasn't cheating with a little more knowledge. I don't see anything wrong with it when your playing a game by yourself.

[Greco101]

I've cheated in MP games and really, it can be fun but it's chicken****. It's when you stop cheating completely that you gain skill in a game. I was checking a banned character in BHD I had yeaaaars ago and my stats were almost 1:1. My non-cheating character are 4:1. Once I got banned in Black Hawk Down I quit cheating in online games... also because I know how lame it is to come across them.

Single player games? Well, in games such as NFSU2, I use a money cheat that adds 10g every time you use it and that's about it. I'm not too fond of infin money because it tends to get boring fast like pretty much any game after you put in a cheat.