Cheating in Games

With all this talk of narrative and casual gaming, I remembered something about gaming which I haven't done in a few years at least; cheating. Yes, cheating has always been a part of gaming. The biggest factor here is whether the cheating is done in an online game (where it may affect other players) or in a single-player game (where it only affects your own gameplay).

Cheating in a single-player game is usually done by people who are sick of or are unable to finish the main storyline. Most game developers include a few optional cheat codes for the gamers that are inclined to break the boundaries. Cheat codes seem to be most common, and indeed most effective, in 'sandbox' games like Grand Theft Auto, as the rules of physics can be distorted which makes for some pretty interesting (flying cars, anyone?) gameplay. If one decides to throw away the game story and use a game like GTA purely for cheat-fueled entertainment (unlimited weapons, for example) and repurposes the game, much like the Halo H.O.R.S.E video posted by someone a while back.

Cheating in an online multiplayer environment is a different story. If the masses that paid to play WoW were upstaged by a cheater, there'd be riots in the virtual streets (or WoW forums) and people would feel legitimately robbed. After all, all the work a gamer puts in occurs within a strict set of rules, and these rules create the prestige around a gamer who has done the miles in quests and such. Game developers recognise this, and make sure an online game which people pay for is more or less cheatproof before being released for people to play, as well as having full-time in-game moderators to prevent cheating.

Why do gamers cheat? Perhaps the more hardcore among the gaming ranks (especially 'achievement hunters') won't feel like they've truly clocked a game unless they explore every bit of play that the game code has to offer. As a rule of thumb: don't cheat online when it will affect others, but go for gold if it's just you!