Why cheat in a game?!

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 5:21 am

I see quite a number of posts in all game threads asking for cheats. Sometimes, I can understand why - if an item you have already found has vanished, for example, or if a quest is not working properly for some reason.

But most people seem to be wanting cheats for making their character into 'god', or to get powerful stuff they haven't earned by gameplay, and other suchlike reasons.

Why?

I don't understand. Where is the fun in virtually walking through a game because you have cheated blind?

The satisfaction of building up a character from scratch and knowing, when s/he is eventually a very powerful character, that s/he is all your own work, must far outweigh anything you get from cheating. After all, the cheater hasn't beaten the game at all. It's just a fraud.

Yeah, I've asked this question before, but I still don't understand.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 8:46 am

Basically - to try out (new/other) things in the game, or to move past frustrating elements which is putting a stop in the gameplay/enjoyment.

Some people read spoiler information as well, walkthroughs, strategy guides, without working to find out for themselves it in the game - same deal.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:30 am

The reasons are legion. Most of the time I will resort to cheats when I encounter a bug, or have to recover lost progress due to one. What I miss though are cheats that added content or in some other way changed gameplay mechanics to spice things up a little. The first Alien game had a cheat that made gravity come from all kinds of varying directions, giving you bad vertigo. There were others and they all did something weird.

Decalies · Post by **Decalies** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:50 am

Another possibility could be that somebody finds the game too difficult, but likes the story so much it wants to finish the game.

holeraw · Post by **holeraw** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:27 am

If someone asked me why I cheat in games I think the best answer I could give is: "Because!" :devil:

Though I rarely cheat and mostly in adventures if I'm more 'stuck' than I'd like. I agree that it does spoil the game... once I've cheated I start loosing interest so I avoid doing it (or maybe cheating is the sign that I'm loosing interest?... in any case it doesn't help)

What bothers me most though is not people that ask for cheats - that's their business and they can't spoil my game - but people that offer cheats to those who just ask for general advice for beginners. Once you read how you can make a 'god' character you can't un-read it and it might be too tempting to ignore it.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:57 am

There will always be immature players who treat games as a fantasy recourse for the perceived inadequacy of their lives. They don't want to win, they want to pound every NPC into the ground, and have enough gold to buy every legendary item on sale. It's the game-based equivalent of the person who wonders, "What would it be like to be a billionaire?" and answers their own question with fantasies of running a country, having the biggest mansion, getting their slightest whim catered to, etc.

For most players, though, I think cheats are useful to get around bugs, especially in mods. For example, I recently added an interesting mod in Oblivion, and spent a small fortune on what was identified as a "prototype" object at a merchant. It turned out that the modder had accidentally left that is from the beta stage of testing (not mentioned in his readme; I had to inquire), and the object in question added nothing more than a similar one 1/10th its price. I deleted the object, and refunded myself the cash, using a cheat.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:19 pm

fable wrote: There will always be immature players who treat games as a fantasy recourse for the perceived inadequacy of their lives. They don't want to win, they want to pound every NPC into the ground, and have enough gold to buy every legendary item on sale. It's the game-based equivalent of the person who wonders, "What would it be like to be a billionaire?" and answers their own question with fantasies of running a country, having the biggest mansion, getting their slightest whim catered to, etc.

Like dreaming about winning the lottery, when, like me, you don't even DO the lottery? (Though my fantasies about that involve giving the money to my children, not running the country, lol!)

fable wrote:For most players, though, I think cheats are useful to get around bugs, especially in mods.

Yeah, that's fine and perfectly understandable.

fable wrote:For example, I recently added an interesting mod in Oblivion, and spent a small fortune on what was identified as a "prototype" object at a merchant. It turned out that the modder had accidentally left that is from the beta stage of testing (not mentioned in his readme; I had to inquire), and the object in question added nothing more than a similar one 1/10th its price. I deleted the object, and refunded myself the cash, using a cheat.

It's reading stuff like that that puts me right off mods!

I only had 2. Now I only have one, and I'm thinking about losing that as well.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:20 pm

Xandax wrote:Basically - to try out (new/other) things in the game, or to move past frustrating elements which is putting a stop in the gameplay/enjoyment.

Some people read spoiler information as well, walkthroughs, strategy guides, without working to find out for themselves it in the game - same deal.

But that makes games so boring!

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:40 pm

Fljotsdale wrote:But that makes games so boring!

Consider that some games tend to be so extenstive that it's impossible to really be sure you have seen and experienced everything they have to offer. At some point you know these games inside out. Looking through a walkthrough or spoiler site might at that point actually reveal new and unexpected things to you, giving you incentive to go for another playthrough. Wouldn't you say that something good would have come from a spoiler site then?

holeraw · Post by **holeraw** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:40 pm

I wouldn't call 'getting around bugs' cheating though...
That's pretty much a necessity which has nothing to do with giving yourself an 'unfair' advantage that lowers the intended challenge of the game.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:55 pm

Fljotsdale wrote:Like dreaming about winning the lottery, when, like me, you don't even DO the lottery? (Though my fantasies about that involve giving the money to my children, not running the country, lol!)

If you can't be selfish, you can't be a gaming munchkin!

(Munchkins are kiddies who cheat to become godlike in games.)

It's reading stuff like that that puts me right off mods! I only had 2. Now I only have one, and I'm thinking about losing that as well.

Speaking as someone who has 200+ mods running successfully in Morrowind and 230+ in Oblivion, I would suggest you hesitate and think this over.

As a rule, the mods I run are time-tested and made by a solid core of modders who know their craft. This one, too, is very wellmade. It just had this peculiarity about it that should have been remedied. It's certainly not typical of the way mods are made.

And I should add that the mod in question is a real boon to alchemy users in Oblivion, letting you (among other things) save formulas you make to reuse or reedit, and select a number of potions to make based on available ingredients, instead of defaulting to one.

You can find out about Alchemy Advanced, here.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:35 pm

Tricky wrote:Consider that some games tend to be so extenstive that it's impossible to really be sure you have seen and experienced everything they have to offer. At some point you know these games inside out. Looking through a walkthrough or spoiler site might at that point actually reveal new and unexpected things to you, giving you incentive to go for another playthrough. Wouldn't you say that something good would have come from a spoiler site then?

Yes. Point taken!

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:36 pm

Decalies wrote:Another possibility could be that somebody finds the game too difficult, but likes the story so much it wants to finish the game.

In that case, put it on Easy setting. A lot of games, you can choose the difficulty setting.

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:36 pm

I very rarely cheat in games, and when I do its usually just simply adding an item ... for example I added a couple of reasonably powerful kukris to one of my NWN characters once as I wanted to play a dual kukri wielding monk but could never find any decent weapons.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:46 pm

fable wrote: If you can't be selfish, you can't be a gaming munchkin! (Munchkins are kiddies who cheat to become godlike in games.)

Oh, don't run away with the idea I'm unselfish! :laugh:

fable wrote:Speaking as someone who has 200+ mods running successfully in Morrowind and 230+ in Oblivion, I would suggest you hesitate and think this over. As a rule, the mods I run are time-tested and made by a solid core of modders who know their craft. This one, too, is very wellmade. It just had this peculiarity about it that should have been remedied. It's certainly not typical of the way mods are made.

And I should add that the mod in question is a real boon to alchemy users in Oblivion, letting you (among other things) save formulas you make to reuse or reedit, and select a number of potions to make based on available ingredients, instead of defaulting to one.

You can find out about Alchemy Advanced, here.

The alchemy sounds interesting. I used to just write useful formulae and spell combinations down on odd bits of paper - and promptly lose 'em! :laugh: So now I just mix the most useful, which are largely healing and magica and damage potions.

As for mods... well, only part of my concern is things going wrong and spoiling my game. The rest is simply that this machine is probably inadequate to take anything much without making the game run painfully slowly.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 2:23 pm

Xandax wrote:Basically - to try out (new/other) things in the game, or to move past frustrating elements which is putting a stop in the gameplay/enjoyment.

That's pretty much covers me too; although I will sometimes lose self control and 'Cheat Back' if I feel a game has shafted me, either by bad design or engine malfuction.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 5:06 pm

Fljotsdale wrote:As for mods... well, only part of my concern is things going wrong and spoiling my game. The rest is simply that this machine is probably inadequate to take anything much without making the game run painfully slowly.

Post your machine specs, such as your video card and RAM, and it should be easy to tell.

DesR85 · Post by **DesR85** » Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:54 pm

I rarely cheat, but when I do, it is done out of curiosity or because of the fact that part of the game itself is difficult to pass unless you cheat. As an example, in Resident Evil 5, the endgame boss is difficult to defeat and it isn't helped by the limited ammo held by both you and your partner. Not to mention that your partner tend to chew through ammo pretty fast. Only by using a trainer was I able to get past that stage.

Ode to a Grasshopper · Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:42 pm

It depends on the game but I usually cheat for all the reasons covered so far, partially 'cos I'm one of Fable's escapist gamers, and mostly 'cos I'm lazy. I'm replaying GTA Vice City right now and can't be bothered manually running around stocking up on guns, so I just cheat them in and then play. For my last BG2 run I edited my elf archer to be able to wear elven chain (and gave him ** in long swords), with the personal imposition that he only use elf- or ranger-themed/appropriate gear.
The way I see it, I play games for fun and with a few exceptions I don't find difficult to be fun.

Chanak · Post by **Chanak** » Thu Dec 31, 2009 10:30 pm

I'll typically use a cheat/walkthrough under the following conditions:

A bug in the game removed money and/or items from inventory (most common).
I have played through and want to check out any areas/quests I might have missed.
I've played through enough times that I want to skip early levels/intros etc.

That's pretty much it. I tend to bore of games that are too simple or too easy. For example, without using cheats of any kind, my Redguard in Morrowind could: fly everywhere; breathe underwater; summon endless amounts of Golden Saints and trap their souls; Fight and trash Vivec barehanded; and essentially never die at all. Awesome game, but the cheese factor was exceedingly high.