Cheating in single player games allows me to play the game for the experience, rather than for the sometimes aggravating challenge. I certainly don't need to cheat (as my triumph over any number of recent titles that don't have built in codes will demonstrate), but if I want to be invincible in a single-player title because I happen to like the mechanics/art/story/atmosphere/etc and find dying and restarting to be annoying, then why the hell shouldn't I be able to blithely wander about being invincible?
This is the one area where achievements negatively impact my gaming experience - you end up with ridiculous scenarios like Red Faction Guerrilla, where certain achievements unlock cheat codes, but turning ON those codes disables your ability to save your progress, since it would be much easier for cheaters to get achievements and we can't have that! If I didn't have the option to take no damage in Descent I would have given up in frustration long before I mastered the art of flying a spaceship through a mine in zero gravity, but if the game was made today the odds are good it wouldn't have that code anymore - surprisingly enough, not everyone finds losing fun.
And don't even get me started on RPGs that taunt you with wonderful equipment you can't possibly afford thanks to artificial scarcity of currency rewards...
This is the one area where achievements negatively impact my gaming experience - you end up with ridiculous scenarios like Red Faction Guerrilla, where certain achievements unlock cheat codes, but turning ON those codes disables your ability to save your progress, since it would be much easier for cheaters to get achievements and we can't have that! If I didn't have the option to take no damage in Descent I would have given up in frustration long before I mastered the art of flying a spaceship through a mine in zero gravity, but if the game was made today the odds are good it wouldn't have that code anymore - surprisingly enough, not everyone finds losing fun.
And don't even get me started on RPGs that taunt you with wonderful equipment you can't possibly afford thanks to artificial scarcity of currency rewards...
