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Game Cheats - A Big Business

Posted by simoniker on from the up-down-etc-dammit dept.

Thanks to the San Diego Union-Tribune for its amusing article discussing the use of in-game cheatcodes and other game spoilers. It can be big business - regarding the cheat/hintbook market, an analyst suggests: "When you look at the magazines, Web sites and hint books, it's clear that consumers are spending quite a bit of money not just on the games. It's well over $100 million (annually). It's a big, big area." The up-side of cheating is mentioned, too - Chris Ulm of Sammy Studios says "Some of the codes let you play the game again and have a different experience. It makes the game a toy that you can play with in a different way." But the dark side is also revealed, with one piquant passage suggesting codes could be "...akin to cheating at solitaire, a source of false accomplishment and just one more instance of the fraying in society's moral fabric."

4 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. Oh please by jvmatthe · · Score: 4, Funny
    akin to cheating at solitaire, a source of false accomplishment and just one more instance of the fraying in society's moral fabric.
    And when my wife skips ahead to read the end of a romance novel it's just pushing the handbasket even faster. Pshaw.

    Cheat codes are nothing more than the bonuses the developers liked enough to leave in for the regular folks. Well, the ones they can get by the suits, at least.

    --
    Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
  2. good gracious, i never! by buback · · Score: 2, Funny

    And of course, no one EVER cheats at solitaire!

    Or heaven forbid, poker!

  3. societies moral fabric could us a fray... by shaitand · · Score: 2, Funny

    If someone is contemplating how moral cheating in solo player games is, then perhaps societies moral fabric could definately use a lil fraying...

  4. so.... by Ty · · Score: 2, Funny

    "...akin to cheating at solitaire, a source of false accomplishment and just one more instance of the fraying in society's moral fabric."

    I fail to see how this is any different from what already takes place in society. Say for example, I screwed off my entire life until I was 40 years old, but my rich father ushered me into being president of the USA? Sounds mighty like having a secret code to me.