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Game Cheats - A Big Business
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."
The morality depends on your intended use, I suppose.
For instance, we occasionally play Test Drive LeMans (Dreamcast) at work in groups of four. We're at work, so none of us have any interest in sitting down and winning races against the computer in order to unlock new cars and tracks -- we just want all the cars and tracks we can get on those rare occasions when we gather to race. Cheat codes, in this case, are a godsend.
On the other hand, I'm playing Animal Crossing right now. The whole point is exploration and communication, and I'm staying as far away as possible from any kind of hints or clues as I can. The faster I get to the "end", the faster I use up the potential entertainment that the game represents.
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One recent example comes to mind:
Recently a friend pointed me to a little online adventure game. I loved playing it, because I took pleasure in each puzzle I solved. My wife, on the other hand, didn't like it much. She kept asking me to give hints so that she could reach the end quickly.
It turns out she takes no pleasure from puzzle solving whatsoever -- she just wants to see the payoff, and sees the puzzles as an unwelcome obstacle. I, on the other hand, don't care about the ending that much, and take pleasure in solving each puzzle.
It's an interesting example of the points of view involved in the larger cheating issue, I think.
When I was a kid, we played a lot of text adventures. Infocom had this great hint book system: the book came with visible questions, but invisible answers that could be revealed with the use of a special pen (included.)
;)
It struck a great balance -- it was impossible to accidentally read a clue and spoil the game for yourself, but if you got to the point that you couldn't solve a puzzle and were getting really, REALLY frustrated, a simple swipe of the marker would ease your pain.
The best part: if someone in your family claimed to "figure out" the answer to the puzzle on their own, we could peek at the book to see if they'd actually cheated by revealing the clue.
The fun is in the play itself, and if the designers - being only human after all - limited me in some way, I want a way around that limitation. I want a cheat.
In other words, it sounds like you want to make use of all the game has to offer. Explore and then push the limits of what you can do in that "universe".
Reminds me of a time back in the late 70's when a friend (Brian) and I popped in to visit the sysop (Mike) of our school computer system (PDP/11-70 running RSTS/E). Mike had apparently finished his day's work just as we showed up. We got to talking and the next thing we knew, Mike set us up with a system image just for us, and let us login as operator (which effectively gave us unlimited access).
All these commands we'd heard of or dreamed of were suddenly at our disposal. Brian and I spent the next hour or so locked in mortal combat! He forced me off the system. I logged back in and tried to force HIM off. That went on for a while and then we moved on to adjusting priorities -- I'd lower his and then boost mine. On and on it went. I swear we learned more operator commands in that hour than could have been taught to us in a month of classes... and we had a ball doing it, too!
In short, we were able to use all the commands the system had to offer... It was like someone told us the computer system we'd used for a couple years had cheat codes and gave them to us. Using them opened up a whole new universe to us!
For years I had uncanny aim in Quake2-engine games. I got kicked from servers a few times 'cause people thought I was a bot (just to note that pro players, or anyone at that level, is light years beyond my skill, now or ever, so I'm not bragging especially).
People asked how I did it, and it was simple. I'd start Quake 2 single-player on 'Nightmare' and use one cheat code to get the railgun and bind another key to give me railgun ammo. Then I disabled weapon switching. Every shot and every kill I made in the game was with the railgun. It was surprisingly hard. Do that a few times and your aim will improve, too.
My point is that this is one of the many uses that I bet id never imagined for cheat codes. Using them to get eternal life is kinda lame, but using them to create new and different challenges can be quite cool.
This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."
As most others said, in online games, cheats are a crime with victims, but in single player games / a game where your friends are involved and cheating too, cheats are meerly an expansion of the game. One of my favourite gaming memories is playing the N64 Mission Impossible game on the Embassey mission at the start, only with a weapon cheat.
That meant that I could covertly creep around, and kill isolated people. Many times you got caught, but it was brilliant fun picking them all off until it was just you and the piano player. I beat the game myself, which was fun, but never as much as steping outside of the missions, and causing the planned processes to screw up.
As for the sims cheating example, well anyone thats played sims a while knows the everyone unhappy and messy situation, which is just depressing. With a bit more cash, you can spend hours perfecting the deam house.. dam did that waste lots of my time. I find it laughable that these kids getting free cash are going to be deluded about the world after that.
puts ("Python r0cks\n");
I like cheats because sometimes I like a game, except for one stupid little thing.
For example, Command and Conquer doesn't have cheats as far as I know. I was having a great time with the game, until I hit the mission where the little commando dude has to make his way into the abandoned base and start it up. I must have tried 50 times, but couldn't get past that mission.
Sorry Westwood, you might have made some great missions past that point, and I might have actually purchased some of those many expansion packs that you put out. But, one of your missions was too hard to complete, and there was no way for me to skip that frustrating experience.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
First: to complete it (no cheats)
Second: to get everything & all secrets (cheats)
Third: to either kill everything or see how fast I can finish it (cheats)
Without single-player cheats I would only play a game once. Concidering how much they cost, only getting one 'original/unique' game might not be worth it to some...
at least to pay for...
The GEEK shall inherit the earth...
I always find it interesting when people try and analyse the reasons why Person X does Behavior Y.
It seems as though these philosophers/experts/whatever are pretty set at debating the morals of cheating in games, as has been reflected in the posts to the story as well, but I don't think that's the end of the story.
I used to use cheats when I was young (not that I'm very old now), but that was just a way of getting through the game on a very restricted schedule of play (my parents didn't let me veg out in front of the TV). It had nothing to do with usurping power, and I've never cheated at anything outside of videogames.
Right now, I personally don't choose to cheat at games because I feel it takes away from the experience of figuring out the game on my own. However, I won't look badly upon somebody who does decide to cheat. I'm sure many people have many different, even valid, reasons for using cheats in videogames.