Drawing The Line Between "Assisted Gaming" And Cheating |
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It's not all that bad, the Post writer surmises in Monday's issue after looking through all his notes. First of all, in one way or another, we all cheat. Second, in many cases, cheating is built into the game. Third - and this one was interesting - it's a (mostly) legally-sanctioned multimillion dollar industry. ("(Mostly) legally sanctioned multimillion dollar industry dedicated to cheating?" said this QJ writer while reading the paper with his usual cup of coffee. "I knew I shouldn't have taken up politics in college!").
There's enough evidence in print and on the net to support the third premise. GameSharks, hacks, Tips & Tricks (and the cheat code sections of other game mags), strategy guides (both official and third-party), GameFAQs, even MyCheats.com, the impatient (or unscrupulous) gamer's version of Wikipedia. Even deleting the cheat codes alone, an industry built on holding your hands through a game makes a statement about cheating.Cheating is so un-PC. Maybe it should be called "assisted gaming."
Return to the first premise. That industry's customers: those who purchase the strategy guides, the gaming mags, visit the websites, even exchange tips and hacks with other players. If there is an industry dedicated to helping players to win at any cost (usually the price of the strategy guide), it's probably because there are players dedicated to winning a game at any cost.
To reiterate, is that necessarily a bad thing?
Probably not, in the long view. According to the source article whose link appears below, and the Post last Monday, this is probably because the general nature of games has changed as the hardware became more advanced, the software became more nuanced, and the game developers became more... er, cunning. First, developers started to make their games more complex (even to the point of devious, I think), that in some cases a guide is an indispensable time saver. And time is something people nowadays have little of. The presented example: remember the Celestial Weapons from Final Fantasy X?
The second reason - this one from the Post - is actually related to the first. Early gaming was about survival to the end of the game (Pac-Man, Mario, etc.). Today's gaming packs more depth of gameplay, story and character, and interaction with the game environment, that cheating - by way of guide or by way of code - is seen more as a way to access and explore all that depth. I count myself as part of that philosophy. Back to Final Fantasy - having something to hold my hand through games of that magnitude means I can access everything the game has to offer (so as long as my trigger finger doesn't fail me).
Simply put, cheating - okay, "assisted gaming" - makes games even more fun and accessible. I have a friend who regularly GameSharks every new game he gets - like getting the mine thrower immediately in Resident Evil 4. Every new game I got, I'd immediately log onto the Internet to download a gamer-submitted strategy guide.
But there is a catch, people. "Assisted gaming" to explore all a game has to offer (or to complete the thing, just as common) is alright in many people's books. Cheating to gain dominance in a video game - especially in multiplayer - has always been frowned upon. For the obvious cases - hacking into the code to boost player stats - we don't need to explain why.
But how about the less obvious cases? The Post article asks, "When roaming the online World of Warcraft, is cheating warranted so long as the only one is you? For example, buying weapons on eBay instead of earning them in the game?" Let's add our own examples: having the strategy guide on your lap as you play online, or plugging in a GameShark or Action Replay into your game to boost stats for future multiplayer games? How about the Joy Mac, designed to automate the levelling of MMORPG characters? Remember the player who got banned from WoW for using the "wrong" keyboard?
There is a point where cheating finally crosses the line (which, by the definition of cheating, it should). Gamers who have slogged their MMO characters and profiles through hard work will resent a newcomer who "breezes through" through one aid or another. Worse if that newcomer starts singing his own praises about how he "owned" the game faster than the others (or words to that effect). Maybe, as the Post article suggests, we all cheat; maybe, as the source article suggests, we need our gaming hands held every now and then, but there really is a point when cheating can be frowned upon, where asking for too much help is counterproductive at least, infuriating at worst.
The gamer's relationship with "assistance" is pretty much love-hate. What it should never be, especially in the multiplayer realm, is dependence. We'd love to cheat our way through games just to make the exploration a little bit faster. But gaming, even if it's "every man to himself" and "all bets are off" (Post), is also competition, especially between players, is also about fair competition, just like any other competitive sport (or at least, as competitive sports should be in the first place). There is still room to honor honest ownage - that is to say, he whose game is never assisted.
But, in the interests of full disclosure, I still download guides to Final Fantasy games.
Via 2old2play.com
34 Jumps PSP Homebrew - PSPDisp v0.4
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Comments [refresh]
Hey I have that keyboard! It rocks.
I also have this keyboard and yes it does rock. Even if the damn color is rubbing off the keys lol. I sure hope people dont think key binding is cheating. A keyboard doesnt make people cheaters.
Well a keyboard can make you a cheater if it allows for the binding and execution of X Keystrokes in a split second, that would take someone with a regular keyboard at least 1-2 seconds to perform...that's kinda up to the game though and is why WOW has the cooldowns n *****.
"assisted gaming" is fine I guess, although I think you have to be a huge newb nowadays to need it. Like stated , devs are making games easier nowadays and almost any 10 year old can beat anygame. Really it's a Joke, Look at N3 and Just Cause...impossible to die in those games. But if you want to waste your money and pretty much just follow what a book says and put no thought into it yourself, go for it.
It's really only an issue when it comes to online MP player, in which case NOTHING should be allowed that someone else buying JUST the game cannot do....whatever it is, aimbots, buying weapons/gold on e-bay, or using auto-levelers....if you can't do it by buying just the game and it gives you an advantage, then it's cheating.....
This is one reason PC MP games are so *****ty, if it's a slightly popular game, hacks are out within a week or release.....that's why I love my Live...until 360 gets hacked to crap.....but even then the only game to feature real hacks was Halo, and only because it was massively popular....
what is that keybord, ive never seen it b4, whats soo "cheap" about it?
he said that cheating is people sharing hacks, if you find the hack, and want to tell your friends, go right ahead, i think it is fine, as long as your not doing it to win, as long as it is you exploring the game, and finding cool stuff, and sharing it. what ever, if you look up cheats becus you suck, well that is cheating.
I just lost all my money and items in WoW. I have played the game more than a year. I am still trying to figure out how it was done. I didn't find anything suspicious on my computer. I was very disappointed that this happened. I will get everything back but that is not the point. Someone made off with all my stuff and cheated to get it. This affects the game economy and I just might hang up my cloak if someone can rip me off that easily.