Do You Cheat in Video Games?

dioblaire_sl said:

I only cheat in first player games when I either beat it, or get bored with it (pretty much every GTA).

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If we're counting things like entering cheat codes in GTA, then yeah, I cheat all the time in single-player games. However, I've never really considered that to be "cheating" per se. I wasn't doing it to make the game easier to beat. I was doing it to make the game somewhat of a sandbox to see how much mayhem I could cause. I don't really see it as the same thing as using a mod to get the best weapons or noclipping to get through levels.

Likewise, I think the only time I've done anything that could be considered cheating in a multiplayer game was when my friends and I could get together on a server to goof off (like turning sv_cheats on in a Valve game or mods in UT2004). I spent far too much time moderating TF2 servers to have much of a desire to use things like aimbots and speedhacks.

Tuco_sl said:

I think you'll have to define 'cheating'.

Some games I mod to make them harder than they could ever possibly be on their hardest settings. (BG, TES, Fallout games etc)

Some games I use the cheat commands to fix bugs or reallocate my character selections.

Some games I mod because I hate the default FoVs or key setups. Ex: When I modded the scoped view of Mass Effect 3 to have a wider FoV or when I made an AHK script to use WASD in Diablo3.

I also exploit the shit out of AI and developer mistakes in MMOs. Whether it's stupid mob pathing or misplaced vendor items you can guarantee that I'll abuse it.

I won't use map hacks, duping, bots, Z axis hacks, aimbots etc. I can't think of a game in recent memory where I've wanted to use any cheat codes or whatever to bypass singleplayer content. The easiest setting these days might as well be god mode.

People will disagree about whether the above is cheating, I don't really care. I'm fine with calling it all cheating or not calling any of it cheating.

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Pretty much what Tuco said. I'll also hack save files, etc to fuck around with games after I've gone through them once to add replay value.

I also considering "exploiting" to be very different from "cheating" and have no qualms about doing that in anything.

My friend uses a zoom hack in LoL and I call him straight bitch for it. He amounts that as a FOV hack, which I also don't agree with (obviously if its in the options menu then it counts).

Penance_sl said:

My friend uses a zoom hack in LoL and I call him straight bitch for it. He amounts that as a FOV hack, which I also don't agree with (obviously if its in the options menu then it counts).

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in what game?

Anyone here ever play Warrock.net?

Only if Contra counts

The last time I cheated, was when I already finished GTA4 and started using the cheat codes just roaming around. Count me in on the people who fucking hate people that hack in FPS games. I have played CS since its release, and still play cs 1.6 for atleast 10+ hours a week. It has gotten a lot worse on some servers, and even the protected ones get them, but the few servers I have been playing on seem to be free of them.

I used to when I was younger, but then I realized I don't want to make games easier, I want to make them harder so they feel more accomplishing when I complete stuff. I crank up the difficulty in every game to the max, and using cheats basically makes the game irrelevant, for me at least. I play games for excitement, and challenge is what provides me with excitement.

Usually don't, except when i'm catching up on old JRPG to make the grinding a bit less tedious really. (or any other game which artficially tries to make it longer by adding grind requirements, f that, dont have time for that).

I constantly use the console or mod files to make enemies less tarded when I have the opportunity to do it simply.

Like I'm playing Victoria 2 and Italy doesn't form by 1880, I run the event for them to do it myself. Dealing with 7 italian mini-states circa WW1 is trivial, and they need some time to get the peninsula in working order. Likewise with the Prussians forming Germany, except there are like 20 german mini-states. It's generally the exploitable AI that is the problem. They won't build point defense systems on their spaceships because the cost:value formula comes out at -4 or some shit, so focus your spaceships on missile weapons. That kind of thing people do to make the game easier for themselves. I either house rule to avoid doing it or cheat to make the AI play properly.

Back when computer games were more novel and I was playing Diablo, I used a trainer non-stop. But I very quickly realized that the game was meaningless to me if I did that. It was all just a bunch of empty numbers and red bars moving from right to left. It took a bit of time to reinforce that lesson, but I haven't cheated for my gain much since then.

Sole_sl said:

Only if Contra counts

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I watched someone beat it without the code, once. Was insane. He'd basicaly memorized the path through the game.

I've only cheated in games where I can't go any further. Don't think I've cheated in a while, though. Can't remember the last time.

One thing that makes me use cheats are bugs, Bethesda/Obsidian, I'm looking at you.

Using known exploits is most certainly cheating

Tenks_sl said:

Using known exploits is most certainly cheating

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Disagree. Using cheats or hacking is cheating. Exploiting is just taking advantage of bad design and absolutely fair game.

So because in Diablo2 I could TP PK someone or dupe items via de-sync exploits that is 100% fair game and completely cool?

Sean_sl said:

Disagree. Using cheats or hacking is cheating. Exploiting is just taking advantage of bad design and absolutely fair game.

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Then hacking is just taking advantage of bad security design. Where do you draw the line? Taking advantage of bad game design is clearly not playing the game as it was intended. The second a game company states you aren't playing the game as intended does it become cheating?

Hey, if the client let you do that without altering it then yeah, fair game and they could have done the exact same back to you.

The whole "playing the game the way it was intended" is a load of crap and it's on the developer to not have shitty design, not on the player to not take advantage of their inability to program/design.