Cheating in Videogames
Cheating is generally defined as defrauding, deceiving, and eluding. In the gaming environment, it consists of methods used by players to gain advantage or move forward in gameplay through guides, exploits, modifications and hacks that are not part of the gaming instructions (as defined by the game creator(s)). Cheating affects all the players involved in a game, either intentionally or inadvertently, and has many different justifications and ethical consequences.
Contents
Forms of cheating
Code
Mostly found in single player versions of games, a "cheat code" is a cheat placed in the game intentionally by the creator. Cheats can range from 'level skipping' to player modifications that simplify the difficulty of certain levels, or even the entire game. If implemented, most cheat codes are activated via a specific combination of buttons or keys. Some games have a specific password screen and others require the user to know where to input the password, such as the start screen or a drop-down console. For example, in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto, players can input codes to make a helicopter or tank appear, making it much easier to escape from the police, one of the main goals of the game. In Sim City 4, users can simply type in a "cheat" to have unlimited funds to build their city and make it thrive.
Some games have cheat codes that do not affect the game play, but rather alter the aesthetics of the game, thereby personalizing and individualizing the characters, landscape, or the gameplay itself. In NFL Blitz 2000, a game for the old gaming system N64, there is a 10 second window before the football game begins in which the user is encouraged to enter codes for the game. Of course some include altering plays or increasing the abilities of the players, but there are several that are simply aesthetic and for the fun of the game. For instance, some non-consequential codes include making the football comically large, making the player helmets comically large, changing the field from a grass field to a dirt field, or even making the stadium a roman coliseum. These codes are all created by the game makers to improve game customization and the general entertainment value for its players.
Cheat codes provide a way to increase the satisfaction that players get from a game as well as a way for creators to make additional profit. Before the advent of the internet, video game creators would publish books containing various cheat codes and hints, thus making additional money from the development of the game. Today, these books still exist, but many of these cheat codes are online as well.
Modifications/Hacks
Some cheats are carried out through illegal modifications of game code. These are called hacks. They work by hooking into a game's code and manipulating it in nefarious ways. Specifically, the program is run before launching a game's executable. Once the executable is launched, the hack finds the game's code in the computer memory. It then searches for specific variables, that pertain to game mechanics, such as opponent location data or wall colors. The objective is to give the user an unfair advantage within the game.
Some examples are:
Aim bots
An Aim Bot is a program which automatically detects enemies within a game and then moves the user's in-game crosshairs to a set location on the enemy's body. Specifically, a user can set it to target an enemy's head, body, legs, or arms. It can also be set to fire automatically, so that the user only needs to move around the map, and the hack will do the rest. Furthermore, more sophisticated implementations can be set to occasionally miss the target, or have generally reduced accuracy. This allows the user to obfuscate the use of hacks to outside observers.
Speed bots
Speed Bots allow the user to move through the map at speeds which are normally impossible. This means that the user could, for instance, nearly instantaneously move to the other side of a game map. All the other players would see is a blur, making it extremely difficult to kill the player, and thus giving a large advantage to the cheater.
Wall hacks
This is a more subtle cheat, which is more difficult to detect, both by in-game players and observers, as well as cheat-detection software. As the name implies, it allows a user to see through the walls by making them transparent. Thus, the cheater would be able to see enemies anywhere on the map, without actually having an in-game line of sight. These can be implemented in two ways:
- 1. Directly though a game hack that modifies game variables in memory. This makes detection more likely, however, since any cheat detection system can see the hack running.
- 2. Manually editing the wall textures to be transparent. Since many games allow user modifications to game skins (ie: how maps and in-game objects are displayed), a wall texture modified in such a way would basically be indistinguishable from any other "modded" wall textures.
Scripts
Players can also use scripts to assist with gameplay. An example can be found in older shooters like Wikipedia:Quake and Team Fortress Classic where the game engine increased the speed of the user if they strafed in the air. Users, with sufficient practice, could learn how to exploit this to greatly increase their speed (Bunny Hopping). Scripts eliminate the need to practice the required timing techniques, because they automate most of the commands. Players could bind a series of commands to a single key, and when pressed, their character would auto execute the entire series.
Example[1]::alias +hop "alias _special h_jump; h_start; slot10; alias hop_t -hop" :alias -hop "alias _special h_stop; alias hop_t +hop" :alias h_jump "+jump;wait;-jump;wait;h_start" :alias h_start "+attack2; -attack2" :alias h_stop "slot10" :alias hop_t "+hop" :bind "some_key" "hop_t"
Exploits
An exploit is a game bug that gives the player an advantage not intentionally programmed in by the game creator. For example, the effect of a grenade might not be fully canceled by a wall, allowing players to use a grenade to kill enemies through walls if they are close enough to the blast.
Guides
Game guides have many different purposes. The use of a strategy guide to gain advantage can be considered a form of cheating. Guides generally tell the user exactly how to play a game, where to find items or powerups, and give step-by-step accounts on how to beat certain levels. They may also include other hints and tips to aid the player that he or she may not have otherwise been aware of.
A popular website for game guides is GameFaqs, which features elegant text-based guides and walkthroughs, along with maps and other aids. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and purchased by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves, and screenshots. Nearly all of the content is submitted by voluntary contributors. The systems supported in GameFaqs include just about everytyhing from the 8-bit Atari platform to modern consoles like the PlayStation 3. Submissions made to the site are reviewed by the its current editor, Allen "SBAllen" Tyner.
Other
Other forms of cheating include using external programs to interfere with the game which helps the user by allowing unlimited lives, adding items, activate in-game cheats, etc. Users can also modify game save files to cheat with methods such as making the game think that the user had 100 lives as opposed to 10 or possessing one or more door keys. In some games, such as Sonic the Hedgehog or Half Life, users are able to access developer debug tools which allow them to alter various aspects of the game environment, like weapon or item placement, and attributes of the player themselves, like invincibility or the removal of character clipping.
Reasons for cheating
All users have their reasons for cheating, such as frustration, difficulty, time, etc. In the case of playing online, especially in shooters, all players generally want to have the highest kill count and the lowest death count. When players cheat, they gain an unfair advantage over the other players that allows them to achieve the goal of being the best. It can also been seen as a lot more fun wreaking havoc on all your opponents, versus getting killed almost immediately every round.
According to Mia Consalvo, there are many possible reasons that may cause players to cheat, including:
- Players asserting agency
- Difficult scenarios: performing an instrumental action relative to gameplay
- Fun to play God: finding the complete gameplay experience
- Hitting fast forward
- Multi-player cheating
Some users may cheat because other users are cheating, and in interviews conducted by Consalvo, she found that players who cheat have few qualms about doing so. Others cheat just for the satisfaction they get from the frustration of other players[2].
Multiplayer cheating
See Also Online Cheating and Griefing
In the online environment, players enter a competitive world where the objective is generally to outplay others and win. Some players cheat to gain advantage and win the game, while others cheat simply to upset and interfere with other players. As said by Alfred in The Dark Knight: "...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."
Introducing a ranking system gives gamers another reason to exploit the system to rapidly rise over their fellows. This leads to a power-gaming mentality of accomplishing everything one can by any means necessary or allowing a gamer to brag about their skill by pointing at their top ranking.
Camping also becomes an issue in online environments.
Notable cheats
For the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)/Famicom, the game Contra made use of the Original Konami Code mandatory in order to get in a decent game.
In the late Nintendo Game Boy classic Pokemon Red/Blue, players could take advantage of a glitch in the system by battling the non-Pokemon "MissingNo" (Missing Number). This would grant infinite supplies of whichever item is in the 6th slot in the player's item menu. This was typically used for the Rare Candy item (which automatically boosts a Pokemon up one level) and Master Balls (which can capture any Pokemon in the game).
In addition to players' individual cheating, several companies have sought to capitalize on the cheating market by creating products such as the GameShark, Game Genie, and Codebreaker. These machines provide several types of cheats for hundreds of video games. They work in the same fashion as a conventional game hack by hooking into the game's memory space and making modifications to certain variables.
Prevention
In single player games, cheating only affects the person playing, and prevention usually isn't necessary. It is usually up to the discretion of the game developer whether they want to make cheating easily accessible for single player games. Some games have menus dedicated to cheating that are built in natively while others require the use of hacking in some form.
In the online world, prevention is more complicated and has many different methods:
See Online Cheating and Punishments in Virtual Environments
Ethical Implications
Cheating can be divided into a few different categories depending on the game environment. For example, cheating in a one player game has different ethical implications from cheating in a multiplayer game. For some, cheating has come to be an intricate part of gaming culture. For those users who employ hacks and other types of "home-made" cheating, the fun of a video game comes not from the games itself but the havoc they are able to wreak on other players and the system itself.[2] Heavier consequences lie from these "home-made" cheat codes rather than those who put in a code when prompted at the beginning of the game. The former implies that the user is purposely changing the game to better oneself, and to put the rest at a disadvantage. This kind of cheating is what makes the game unfair and frustrating for the users on the other end.
Another type of cheating is, as referenced before, prompting the user with a box to purposely enter in a code. This can be considered to be not "cheating" because of the way that the creators have programmed the game. Because the game is asking the user for the code, and the user is not the one to alter the original code of the game, it is not necessarily frowned upon. Furthermore, since this is consistent between all games, and all users have access to this feature, it is not cheating because each player has the same opportunity for the same advantages; it is now up to the user to decide whether or not he or she would like to use this.
A third type of cheating is in a one-player game, which is the least harmful because the game is affecting the player who is using it, and no one else. In one-player games there is a purpose for the player to accomplish and using cheat codes, whether prompted or not, is only affecting the one person to help achieve the goal of the game.
Cheating in video games may not seem like a problematic issue, however, can have very dangerous consequences if employed in real life. This kind of mentality is especially problematic because it makes use of a moral framework that is not currently accepted in real life, that it is ok to cheat as long as you are taking advantage of a flaw in the system. Cheating in video games becomes a slippery slope and when this thinking is applied to real life, the consequences are disastrous, as can be seen with users who abuse government programs and individuals that do not pay taxes.
See Also
External Links
References
- ↑ http://www.mpcforum.com/showpost.php?s=8534a1612c0de52073278a37b5cb22f8&p=98144&postcount=10 TFC Bunny Hop Script
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Consalvo, Mia. Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames (Chapter 4: Gaining Advantage: How Videogame Players Define and Negotiate Cheating). Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2007.
