Poll: The morality of cheating

[Tjebbe]

Playing games is about having fun. If you have this single-player game where you have more fun by using 'features' that were not intended or made by the developer (i.e. cheating), more power to you.

If you get your portion of fun from the actual challenge, you don't cheat. It's your game.

This of course does not apply to multiplayer games, where you actively and purposefully remove the 'fun' from your opponents.

 

[Omnidum]

I only cheat in a game when I get bored. I suddenly get excited again from all the mayhem I can cause.

 

[ChaoticLegion]

As long as you're not using cheats online, I don't care either way.

 

[katsabas]

Ok. I do not like cheating. In fact, I despise it sometimes. The only times I have entered a code involved a Spiderman game. Big fan, entered it to see comic covers and because it seemed absurd that the movie spidey did not have infinite web. But I do not like cheaters. Yeah, they do get what they want but it doesn't work that way for me. I like fairplay and recently, I learned its value playing online Street Fighter 4. I got cheated A LOT but when I won against a cheater, it felt a thousand times better.

 

[fwddgs]

Hey it's your game. You won't get the full experience but in some cases you won't get the full experience anyway because you can't beat the game! God knows I've cheated enough times because I couldn't beat a game even on easy. (Slow reaction speeds and poor fine motor skills are very detrimental to FPS's)

 

[Davic]

It depends. If your playing an offline game it isn't really immoral, but then again why would you want to? I live in Australia, where a game costs 100 to 120 dollars new. I want to get every tiny drop out of that expense as I can.

When your talking about online games, that's a completely different matter. It completely ruins the experience of the game for all the people involved, even if your on the same team as the cheater.

A lot of people argue that some games take so much effort to win that they're only fun when you cheat. I think that's a pathetic argument. If something isn't fun do something else, don't go out of your way to fabricate an achievement and make yourself feel better.

 

[Eykal]

Cheating offline after you win a game is fine. Essentially: Sometimes!
Middle grounds is wunnerful.

 

[New Troll]

If you're not man enough to beat a game by yourself, then by all means get all the help you need.

If you're not man enough to beat someone else by yourself, then just learn to play.

Personally, I sometimes look things up on wiki.
Endless fragging, I just admit to sucking.

 

[PureChaos]

it depends, really. if you've already completed the game and want to have some extra fun then fair enough but if, like one of my friends, you new game then cheat you way through it then shame on you. my friend once said that if he got a new game, he won't play it until he finds cheats for it. that's just no

 

[Sir Ollie]

I cheat if i have too in a game but these days games are so easy who the hell need cheats!

Find cheating in online games wrong completely wrong

 

[minarri]

I don't think it comes down to a simple, black-and-white, right-or-wrong morality. It's probably unfair to other gamers if you cheat in ways that involve them, but other than that whatever you're comfortable sounds OK to me.

 

[PandarenBa]

Single player, yes and no. I always try to finish a game without cheats first, then use cheats if I feel like it. Depends on the game difficulty in some cases and of course the quality of the game. I wouldn't let those filthy cheats even touch a superb game with replay value, but if it was like rubbing my face into a meat tenderizer covered in salt, I would cheat just to make the salt disappear.

That didn't really make sense.

Multiplayer, yes and no. If the cheat adds hilarity to the game and isn't continuous, I can stand it. Like using a cheap shortcut in a racing game, only to stop and wait honking for the opponents. But if you do it just to win, get out of my game.

 

[Lord Krunk]

Depends. If it's multiplayer, it's immoral. If it's Pokemon (and using the wi-fi system to trade with people - I've been sold a hacked Mew for my shiny Unown) then I want to strangle them.

In my opinion, if it's singleplayer or it's just for fun (e.g. Big Head Mode), it's a fun thing to do, and I approve. Otherwise, if you cheat, you suck.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

If you're playing an offline game it's your experience alone to enjoy as you please. Games developers do craft some brilliant games however and cheating takes away much of the challenge and accomplishment element they structured just so. Games are easier now than they used to be as there's never really a "Game Over", just a reload but even still playing through at least the first time should IMO be cheat free. It's not a question of "morality" or ethics...just your own enjoyment of the game. You cannot really claim to have beaten a game you've only beaten by using cheats.

Saying that, I personally enjoy beating a game once/twice for various endings (good/evil, etc) then maybe another play through to explore bits I missed and so on, and if available, I might use cheats just to have fun as I've already beaten the challenge. My favourite for this is when, in games like RE4 and Mass Effect for example, you can unlock powerful weapons/powers to start a new playthrough with, or in Goldeneye N64, where extreme skill in the game unlocks cheats (but you cannot unlock them if using any).

I did however get to the end of NWN: Storm of Zehir not long ago and found my party had no chance in the final boss fight. After 20+ increasingly frustating reloads with different tactics, I incremented my party's lvl, 1 level at a time, tried again, failed, repeated. Despite completing every side quest and about 50% of random encounters, I had to raise my party 7 levels (14 -> 21) before I could complete it. I don't know who they designed that fight for, but either I was rubbish, or my party were.

Oh...and those elephant demons in Jade Empire (PC) on master difficulty. Despite three playthroughs and almost every style maxed, I can't beat even one. Have to cheat passed them.

 

[Exploding8]

You're only cheating yourself. If a game is more fun when cheating for sustained periods of time, that means the developers were doing it wrong.

I dunno, GTA4 is pretty damn hilarious with or without cheats. I don't think they did something wrong.

 

[Derpus von Herpus]

In my opinion, cheating is only okay in two situations:

You have completed a game and are looking to spice it up (Big Head mode, infinite ammunition, whatever)
You are stuck and simply cannot advance at all

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Makes the game more fun? Cheat. Just don't cheat in multiplayer games.

 

[thomasronan]

As long as its on single player the only person your cheating is yourself so go for it. However, its not cool to do online. Not cool at all.