The art... The game... You decide

[blackice]

CHEATING IN GAMES

Today's games come with intentional cheat codes and third parties create other cheats. This is fine; but a subtler form of cheating is exploiting a game's loopholes. This is also ok since finding and using a game's loopholes is a challenge and often the only way to survive.

But loopholes remove the rest of the game's challenge and its associated personal growth and fun. Sadly, loopless games are hard to make and rare. So, instead of not playing most games, people often just outlaw the loopholes. Seeking mastery, some people also outlaw simple, easy, or degenerate tactics to bring difficult and complex tactics to bear.

So, cheating is actually a continuum and is relative to the observer's ability and intention with the game. This causes disputes in games: the accuser says the accuse cheated. Usually though, they simply differ on what they tacitly outlawed. The accuser thinks the accuse intentionally cheated. Symmetrically, the accuse thinks the accuser is only angry that the tactic worked so well. Tensions will spiral if they share their thoughts.

Of course, sometimes a person intentionally cheats for emotional reasons, such as frustration or anger. Subtler is when, hedonistically, vu cheats just to feel the pleasure of winning.

Trying to win causes pleasure to be associated with winning (cathexis), while actually winning fires off that pleasure but lessens the association (inthexis or extinction). When a person wins by cheating, the pleasure association is quickly depleted (athexis) since vu doesn't have to try and the cathexis process is lacking.

Generally, once a game's challenge is gone, a person often uses cheat codes to wring out the last bit of pleasure from the game. This ruins the game for vu since, afterwards, playing the game without cheating is boring. This is actually good since it removes any residual addictions and provides closure to the game. However, vu shouldn't start out using the cheats.

A designer can assure a game's longevity by making its challenge adapt closely to the player's ability. Vu can assure its adoption by carefully balancing cathexis and inthexis at the beginning of the game. Vu can raise its popularity by making cheat codes explicit and minimizing loopholes.

John LeFlohic
March 4, 1999

[Rasputin]

hmmm very deep.. is this the appropiate forum foe this though??

[Provost Harrison]

I find people using loopholes in the game considerably more insidious. Say for example people are playing MP and someone decides to utilise these 'loopholes' for their own ends, then if other players decided not to use them and this person does, it spoils the game. All loopholes should be sealed up, cheat codes, yeah, but not to be allowed in MP and would be quite clear within the game when you have used them!

[Scouse Gits]

Very deep, but just what is the question?

Should cheating be allowed in any form of contest - NO

Should games have cheat codes - NO

Can loopholes be exploited - YES - as long as everyone concerned knows about them and it has been agreed that they are 'legitimate' (rush buying for example)

The purpose of a 'game' particularly a multi-person or competitive game is to provide a level playing field upon which the protagonists skill makes the difference.
_________________

What does "vu" mean?

[DarkCloud]

Cheat Codes: YES (enhance game: Age of Empires)

Trainers for games (I.E. give you 1000 coins in a game): YES (enhance game: Rollercoaster Tycoon) They are not illegal.

Multiplayer Hacking/Cheats: NO

[The Mad Monk]

Without godmode I would never have gotten the practice I needed to be a halfway decent shot in games like Duke Nukem, and would have gotten frustrated early on because of my lack of skill. The ability to target shoot and practice basic tactics without the fear of getting my rear blown off contributed greatly to my enjoyment of FPS games.

[Rasputin]

CHEATS should not be allowed,

Loopholes, as SG says, only if ALL know, which is rarley the case in MP games so I am totalyl against them

[Spekter]

Personally, I think loopholes fall under the category of knowledge gained through experience (or lurking in places like this ). The reason you discover loopholes is becuase you have spent so much time playing the game that you've tried all kinds of strange things just to see what would happen. When you've been playing Civ type games since two weeks after the release of Civilization you are entitled to an edge. If everyone agrees not to use them, fine; however, if you don't specify in advance that the loopholes can't be used, anything is fair game.