Do You Cheat in Video Games?

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Wrathcaster

Fairly simple question; I was wondering how many people here use cheats, trainers, hacks, or all of the above in the games they play, be it PC or console. I just started playing Bioshock: Infinite while simultaneously playing DayZ and Shogun 2: Total War and thought about how much cheats would ruin games like Bioshock, DayZ, and Planetside 2 for story and competitive reasons, but admit to cheating in some single player experiences.

Personally, I couldn't imagine hacking in any context in DayZ for removing the brutal challenge and fucking over other peoples' experiences, or Bioshock for fucking with the story and character development. Also, I despise script kiddies, hackers, and exploiters in multiplayer games and consider them some of the most awful people to exist. I don't cheat in any sort of competitive game, as I really don't see the point other than being a supreme dickhead.

However, largely in strategy games like Total War, Galactic Civilizations, Supreme Commander single player, and oldies like Master of Orion 2 I completely admit to using trainers or various cheats. I always play through the game as intended first, usually multiple times to try out different factions, but after a few playthroughs I'll use a trainer to make the game completely ridiculous and build up absolutely massive armies quickly. In Shogun 2: Total War, it's setting the AI on hardest difficulty and longest campaign duration with the cheating AI's, so as to make every battle and siege I encounter truly epic and huge with 10,000+ unit armies regularly. It's hard to pull off constant epic battles in Shogun 2 without being weighted down by economic management and building, but the skirmish modes turn me off due to the lack of variety and randomness that a campaign can provide. Pretty much the same story with GalCiv and Supreme Commander, I do it just to produce crazy results that otherwise wouldn't be possible due to build order constraints and macro gameplay.

I'll also use the console commands in games like Fallout 3/New Vegas and Skyrim after running through the story a few times just for the lulz, like spawning 50 giants or deathclaws, spawning 100 or more villagers/bandits, and sit back and watch the carnage. You just can't reproduce that without the console.

What about you? What are your reasons for either cheating or not, and in what context do you think cheating might be acceptable?
 

Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
14,163
606
Not for a long, long time. Back when the only two games I played were Doom and Starcraft1 I'd IDDQD and Power Overwhelming all day every day.


After that I got huge into Counter-Strike and haven't used cheats since then. I loathed people who used speed, aim and wall hacks so I didn't want in on that.
 

Pikifou

Molten Core Raider
28
0
I used to cheat because i wasn't very good at games but one time i finished a game with cheats really fast and i didn't enjoyed it because it was too easy (yes i was cheating). I then realise that the fun in games is to progress in skill too. I was about 16 yo since then i don't cheat, it's way more fun
smile.png
 

Dandai

Lesco Brandon
<Gold Donor>
5,894
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I haven't used cheats since I was a kid and terrible at grasping and mastering complex mechanics. I remember using godmode in Doom and Quake and I vaguely recall cheating on some missions in Starcraft. These days I play almost everything on the hardest possible setting and enjoy it.
 

Valos

Golden Knight of the Realm
604
13
Always play through a single player game the way its meant to be played. If there are fun things to add into the game, I'll do it on another time. Some games have codes that just make the game more fun. Saints Row series for example. But cheating to beat the game? Just read the synopsis someone posts later on. The very point of a game is to give yourself a challenge.
 

Drinsic

privileged excrementlord
5,612
5,872
Depends on the game. In OoW I got lazy/bored and started using macroquest until I teleported in front of Astennu to pull some named mob. Haven't bought a PC game since the Orange Box, just play console games mostly. I'll abuse an exploit if it seems fun or removes tedium.
 

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!
<Gold Donor>
45,320
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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.
 

Azrayne

Irenicus did nothing wrong
2,161
786
Yeah, but usually only on later playthroughs, when I want to experience specific sets of content or whatever without going through the whole thing from scratch. I do it a lot in RTS's when I want to see the campaign storyline, but don't want to grind through the missions.
 

Chancellor Alkorin

Part-Time Sith
<Granularity Engineer>
6,029
5,915
Maybe when I was 15, sure. That was a very long time ago. I don't see the point, especially with today's games.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
I think the last time I cheated was when I was like 6 and had my dad put in some code in Punch-Out for the NES to skip fights or something
 

Deathwing

<Bronze Donator>
16,315
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I cheat when games become tedious or to remove imbalance that just isn't fun. Good example is the mechromancer in BL2. Building up max stack every time you start a new game, especially if that's a 400 stack, is tedious and not fun since that type of mechromancer is obviously meant to be played at or near max stack.
 

Camerous

Molten Core Raider
331
1,056
Only time I cheat in single player is after I have beaten a game. In MMOs? If I can find a way to get a head? Every damn time!

Maybe I need to elaborate some. I will NOT use a hacking program or anything like that. I NEVER cheat in combat games like Halo or MW.. if you suck you suck and I am really pretty terrible at those kind of games but I love them none the less. IN an MMO if I see a rusty sword for sale on a vendor for 2c and it sells back to him for 5c you better believe I will sit there until I can afford a full suit of leather or what ever the case maybe. And if I can fear a mob into a wall and it stand there while I hack it in the back till it dies? You better believe I'll be all over there that but here is the thing in my eyes, and yes I guess it could just be me justifying my behavior, if the game allows it then it is fair game. You don't want people selos disease kiting? Then don't put the damn things in the game that way. It pisses me off something fierce for someone to say: "BUT THAT'S NOT THE WAY IT WAS INTENDED TO BE PLAYED!! (fucking boohoo crying)" Oh well tough shit. *shrugs*
 

Penance

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,863
4,392
Haven't cheated since I was a little kid. Well, I put in the Konami code to unlock 1999 mode for Bioshock, but only because I wanted to start on the highest difficulty.
 

sl4ck3r_sl

shitlord
132
2
Younger me:
I would cheat playing Starcraft online during the Command Center drift glitch era with fog of war turned off hacks. Pretty sure I would do other stupid nonsense. That one sticks out the most, but it was a more of me being a 13-15 year old I don't care attitude.

Edit: I did the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game cheat so I could actually get to Shredder and beat the game, then again I was maybe 8 or younger.

Now:
Multiplayer Online games affecting other people - No, I wouldn't.
Fucking around in a contained game/environment with my buddies with known glitches - Why not?
 

Senelgor_sl

shitlord
18
0
For the most part I've grown out of it, but occasionally I still do in games like GTA or to respec characters in games that give no option to. That's the extent of it though.
 

xzi

Mouthbreather
7,526
6,763
It depends. As a kid in Warcraft 3 ROC I used maphacks for a small amount of time but I sucked shit anyways so it didn't matter. Then I stopped using them cause I played custom games like Tower Defense for a while before actually playing the game. Aside from that.. I haven't cheated in multiplayer ever again.

If I beat a game once or twice, or however many times it takes for me to get 100% of what my goal is: like finding all the unlocks in Bioshock for example. After that I'll cheat my ass off just to have fun and do really stupid shit. Like buffing my unarmed damage in New Vegas to 1shot anything and then just go to town punching the shit out of everything for the lulz.

MMO's? I'll exploit in the sense like other people have said. If a vendor is selling something super cheap and I even know it's not supposed to, I will indeed use that to my advantage. NEVER in PvP scenarios or something like a raid however. Like that one guild in WoW during AQ that altered the file so they could just walk right through the door into Cthuns room and try over and over. That's pretty fucking gay.
 
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Just a quick shout out to anyone who's ever cheated in multiplayer FPS games, you're the scum of the gaming world and I sincerely hope everyone in your family dies a slow death.

Also, I don't even like using what I personally consider to be easy-mode items/weapons etc.. let alone cheat. Why'd you buy the fuckin game if you just want to beat it ASAP.

Now MMOs on the other hand? Can't ignore that you/people can make a living off these if you get far enough ahead and play businessman.
 

Camerous

Molten Core Raider
331
1,056
Just a quick shout out to anyone who's ever cheated in multiplayer FPS games, you're the scum of the gaming world and I sincerely hope everyone in your family dies a slow death
QFT Fucking speed hackers need to DIAFF
 
6,216
8
Sorry for a double post, but I'd love to inject an FPS cheater with some sodium pentathol solely for them to answer this one question,

"What satisfaction do you gain from cheating in a game, where success is determined solely by the skill of the player?"

Cheat in Civilization? Lame, but why not - maybe you don't want to deal with some bullshit barbarian attack and you bypass it. Playing Metro 2033 and it's too dark? Cheat to brighten everything, fuck it.

Cheat in BF3 and somehow enjoy yourself? Illogical.
 

Punko

Macho Ma'am
<Gold Donor>
7,912
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Since I'm getting older and have less time, I cheat in single players. Rather skip an annoying part of a level with no-clip then slug through it.

I religiously bot D3, its ok revenue. POE looks very promising also, even though the bot I have is still an early alpha. Would not have done that when younger, as I wouldn't have had the means or knowledge.