A Case for Cheating
Important Note: None of this should be taken in any way as to endorse cheating in multiplayer games, especially those in which significant amounts of money (like online poker) is on the line. Those who engage in such cheating are morally reprehensible and I have no tolerance for such behavior.
That being said, there is a place for cheating in video games. To explain why, we first need to examine the goals we seek to achieve when we play video games so that we can see how cheating can help us achieve those goals. (This list will not be exhaustive due to word count, but we can get a general idea).
Firstly, many people play games in order to let out feelings that they couldn't let out during their daily lives. This method of playing games is best served by games such as Skyrim, a role playing game that allows the user to feel like a powerful wizard or warrior, or by cathartic games such as Call of Duty that can help provide a healthy outlet for aggression.
It is for this kind of gameplay that the value of cheating is most apparent. Sometimes, after a long day of work or class, you just want to run around with your max-level character winning easy fights with low-level orcs. Sometimes when you want to do this, you don't have a max-level character to do so. Enter cheats. The judicious application of a few console commands can turn a frustrating grinding experience into a fun adventure (at the cost of the feeling of advancement that such a game gives of course).
Interestingly enough, this has also made its way into the world of strategy gaming. Those of you who played the Age of Empires series of games (a real-time strategy game series about the ancient and medieval world) may remember the various ways to cheat units into the game, sometimes including units that had no place in the game (such as the car, pictured below).
Secondly, there are those who play games for the challenge of defeating a difficult challenge. Here, conventional wisdom would dictate that cheating would take away from the fun of a game. This, of course, is generally true, but only if one cheats in one's own favor. Cheating for the opponent, however, is a completely different story.
The idea of cheating in favor of one's opponent may seem, at first, absurd. Why give them an advantage in a game which one is trying to win? But it is, in spite of this, a common practice, especially in strategy games (although oftentimes not at player discretion). In many strategy games, such as the Civilization series, the AI opponents are simply given advantages over the player (such as more starting units and combat bonuses) rather than having a more advanced strategy at higher levels. A player has the option to do so as well, using cheats to buff an enemy beyond what the game designers intended.
Of course, there are other ways to go about either of these goals, and cheating should only be used sparingly to accomplish them. But the mere fact that cheats can be used as tools to such ends proves that they still have a place in video games, if only in single-player games.
That being said, there is a place for cheating in video games. To explain why, we first need to examine the goals we seek to achieve when we play video games so that we can see how cheating can help us achieve those goals. (This list will not be exhaustive due to word count, but we can get a general idea).
Firstly, many people play games in order to let out feelings that they couldn't let out during their daily lives. This method of playing games is best served by games such as Skyrim, a role playing game that allows the user to feel like a powerful wizard or warrior, or by cathartic games such as Call of Duty that can help provide a healthy outlet for aggression.
It is for this kind of gameplay that the value of cheating is most apparent. Sometimes, after a long day of work or class, you just want to run around with your max-level character winning easy fights with low-level orcs. Sometimes when you want to do this, you don't have a max-level character to do so. Enter cheats. The judicious application of a few console commands can turn a frustrating grinding experience into a fun adventure (at the cost of the feeling of advancement that such a game gives of course).
Interestingly enough, this has also made its way into the world of strategy gaming. Those of you who played the Age of Empires series of games (a real-time strategy game series about the ancient and medieval world) may remember the various ways to cheat units into the game, sometimes including units that had no place in the game (such as the car, pictured below).
Secondly, there are those who play games for the challenge of defeating a difficult challenge. Here, conventional wisdom would dictate that cheating would take away from the fun of a game. This, of course, is generally true, but only if one cheats in one's own favor. Cheating for the opponent, however, is a completely different story.
The idea of cheating in favor of one's opponent may seem, at first, absurd. Why give them an advantage in a game which one is trying to win? But it is, in spite of this, a common practice, especially in strategy games (although oftentimes not at player discretion). In many strategy games, such as the Civilization series, the AI opponents are simply given advantages over the player (such as more starting units and combat bonuses) rather than having a more advanced strategy at higher levels. A player has the option to do so as well, using cheats to buff an enemy beyond what the game designers intended.
Of course, there are other ways to go about either of these goals, and cheating should only be used sparingly to accomplish them. But the mere fact that cheats can be used as tools to such ends proves that they still have a place in video games, if only in single-player games.
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