Hypothesis: people who cheat in video games are scum bags in other aspects of life. I wonder if anyone’s done a study on that. I feel like the kind of person who has to cheat in video games is a broken sad sack.
It depends if you’re only talking about multi-player or including solo too. I see no harm in customizing one’s experience with cheats in single player.
I don’t consider single player changes cheating. For something to be cheating, you need to break the rules agreed to by the players. If you’re the only player, you presumably can’t break the agreement you make with yourself.
I would further argue that it’s a bad behaviour only if one cheats in competitive multiplayer games.
Almost a decade ago, I was having fun playing Left 4 Dead 2. There is this survival mode where you and your human teammates play against neverending waves of zombies. In one stage, there was someone who invented a way to defend yourselves on a bridge by all four players strictly crouching and shooting straight to the front, at the far end of the bridge. If anyone runs out of ammo, they walk a few steps to pick up a new M4 and come right back. Cooperation is the key in surviving for more than 15 minutes, and everyone must strictly obey this play style.
Anyway, the way to communicate between players were limited. It was hard to tell everyone what to do by typing. I downloaded a mod which grants us infinite ammo, that way, nobody needed to get up to get a new gun. In late game, there were three Tanks spawning and charging at us, that even with perfect timing it was hard to defeat all three. The infinite ammo absolutely helped, and I think I just created an new way of playing this stage which depends more on one’s knowledge than skill.
I ended up had a great time with those strangers who played with me, who unlocked the gold medal of that stage, and way beyond the survival time requirement.
I think that the (only) relevant factor is whether everyone else knows and wants it. Suppose your mod affected only yourself (so other players wouldn’t know about it) and you played in a way that was mostly reasonable, but providing a little bit more covering fire than should be possible. Your teammates might still have fun while they’re playing, though only if you don’t overdo it; but even then, they probably wouldn’t be too happy to discover your cheating once they’d already finished the map. If you give everyone infinite ammo, and tell them about it then that’s fine, but because they know about it, not because they benefit from it.
For that matter, cheating in a competitive server set up for that purpose can be fun (though it can also be wildly unbalanced, especially if the game is asymmetrical)
HvH can be some of the most fun nonsense. Cheating in and of it self is not a problem. It’s breaking of the social contract everyone is assumed to be in place.
Nah, if someone on my PvE team is cheating/exploiting that still ruins the experience. I play games like that to get better, the skill improvement is a huge part of the experience for me.
When I was a little kid and I ran into cheaters in Halo: Custom Edition I still hated them and would never do it. I don’t think being a bored little kid is an excuse.
That said if you don’t do it anymore that’s a little more excusable at least you stopped.
It really depends on what you think about as cheating. I mod my Bethesda games and Stardew Valley heavily to the point that mod file sizes are way past the game file sizes themselves, but some people consider that as cheating, as I’m not playing the original games, I’m not experiencing the original spirits of them. Some people heavily against this. Is altering games only consider as cheating in online games or in all games?
Here’s my definition of cheating: The use of any 3rd party software, not allowed by the developer, that gives a material in-game advantage to the user against other players without their knowledge or consent.
So mods are not cheating. Purely single player hacks are not cheating. Optional 3rd party overlays or in-game aids like RuneLite for OSRS or the many external deck/stat trackers for games like Hearthstone or Genshin Impact also aren’t cheating.
Using Aimbots, wall hacks, infinite health/ammo/lives, and similar in online comp play is cheating.
Grey zone stuff would be things like unapproved in-game overlays.
I don’t care what people do in single player. Hack and mod as much as your heart desires, it doesn’t hurt any other players. The worst thing that can happen is you “cheat” yourself out of a personal challenge, but that’s your own call.
I hope everyone is talking about online only. Most single player games have difficulty modes so you can play casually or hard as desired. This thread sounds like anything but the hardest is cheating though.
Modding an offline sandbox game just to improve in-game quality of life is not the same as using cheat mods to get even at another and farm all the achievements for everyone to see.
Hypothesis: people who cheat in video games are scum bags in other aspects of life. I wonder if anyone’s done a study on that. I feel like the kind of person who has to cheat in video games is a broken sad sack.
It depends if you’re only talking about multi-player or including solo too. I see no harm in customizing one’s experience with cheats in single player.
I don’t consider single player changes cheating. For something to be cheating, you need to break the rules agreed to by the players. If you’re the only player, you presumably can’t break the agreement you make with yourself.
Sometimes i turn off hardcore mode when i get overwhelmed. I def agree in principle though
Shit, I play in easy mode. And I sometimes look up hints online. But yeah, I only play single player stuff so I don’t feel like I’m cheating anyone.
I would further argue that it’s a bad behaviour only if one cheats in competitive multiplayer games.
Almost a decade ago, I was having fun playing Left 4 Dead 2. There is this survival mode where you and your human teammates play against neverending waves of zombies. In one stage, there was someone who invented a way to defend yourselves on a bridge by all four players strictly crouching and shooting straight to the front, at the far end of the bridge. If anyone runs out of ammo, they walk a few steps to pick up a new M4 and come right back. Cooperation is the key in surviving for more than 15 minutes, and everyone must strictly obey this play style.
Anyway, the way to communicate between players were limited. It was hard to tell everyone what to do by typing. I downloaded a mod which grants us infinite ammo, that way, nobody needed to get up to get a new gun. In late game, there were three Tanks spawning and charging at us, that even with perfect timing it was hard to defeat all three. The infinite ammo absolutely helped, and I think I just created an new way of playing this stage which depends more on one’s knowledge than skill.
I ended up had a great time with those strangers who played with me, who unlocked the gold medal of that stage, and way beyond the survival time requirement.
I think that the (only) relevant factor is whether everyone else knows and wants it. Suppose your mod affected only yourself (so other players wouldn’t know about it) and you played in a way that was mostly reasonable, but providing a little bit more covering fire than should be possible. Your teammates might still have fun while they’re playing, though only if you don’t overdo it; but even then, they probably wouldn’t be too happy to discover your cheating once they’d already finished the map. If you give everyone infinite ammo, and tell them about it then that’s fine, but because they know about it, not because they benefit from it.
For that matter, cheating in a competitive server set up for that purpose can be fun (though it can also be wildly unbalanced, especially if the game is asymmetrical)
HvH can be some of the most fun nonsense. Cheating in and of it self is not a problem. It’s breaking of the social contract everyone is assumed to be in place.
Yeah, if everyone is in on it then it’s not cheating, it’s “house rules” as they say for board games
Nah, if someone on my PvE team is cheating/exploiting that still ruins the experience. I play games like that to get better, the skill improvement is a huge part of the experience for me.
I will accept this as truth without further examination. It’ such selfish, antisocial behavior that there MUST be something wrong with them.
I used Roblox cheats when I was younger because I was bored.
When I was a little kid and I ran into cheaters in Halo: Custom Edition I still hated them and would never do it. I don’t think being a bored little kid is an excuse.
That said if you don’t do it anymore that’s a little more excusable at least you stopped.
A big part of the boredom was the fact there was other cheaters ruining the same game.
But yeah, I wouldn’t use cheats now
It really depends on what you think about as cheating. I mod my Bethesda games and Stardew Valley heavily to the point that mod file sizes are way past the game file sizes themselves, but some people consider that as cheating, as I’m not playing the original games, I’m not experiencing the original spirits of them. Some people heavily against this. Is altering games only consider as cheating in online games or in all games?
I’ve never heard anyone but you call modding a Bethesda game cheating.
Here’s my definition of cheating: The use of any 3rd party software, not allowed by the developer, that gives a material in-game advantage to the user against other players without their knowledge or consent.
So mods are not cheating. Purely single player hacks are not cheating. Optional 3rd party overlays or in-game aids like RuneLite for OSRS or the many external deck/stat trackers for games like Hearthstone or Genshin Impact also aren’t cheating.
Using Aimbots, wall hacks, infinite health/ammo/lives, and similar in online comp play is cheating.
Grey zone stuff would be things like unapproved in-game overlays.
I don’t care what people do in single player. Hack and mod as much as your heart desires, it doesn’t hurt any other players. The worst thing that can happen is you “cheat” yourself out of a personal challenge, but that’s your own call.
I hope everyone is talking about online only. Most single player games have difficulty modes so you can play casually or hard as desired. This thread sounds like anything but the hardest is cheating though.
I think people who get angry at cheating/modding single player games are not to be taken seriously. Probably children.
Modding an offline sandbox game just to improve in-game quality of life is not the same as using cheat mods to get even at another and farm all the achievements for everyone to see.
I believe actual cheating requires there to be harm done to another player be it due to unfair advantages, theft of time or other malicious activity.