Cheating Sans Guilt

[stompy]

By your definition, I cheat compulsively because I look at a FAQ quite a bit. I draw the line at using cheats again other players, and don't use actual cheats, but I feel no shame in using a guide. Mah, I suppose it's because I prefer to let my brain turn off while gaming, and use my fingers more.

 

[Acervusvlos]

"What games do you feel no shame for having cheating at?"

Disgaea. Any of them. I always exploit the hospital's "Random Item Rarity" system, to build up a load of money at the start.

 

[Iravu]

007 golden eye... would use super slow or fast forward cheat with invcibility to get a funny cinamatic (like on slow when james bond grabs onto the helicopter on slow it makes it look like the copter was leaving as soon as he jumped in the air and then he flew off)

 

[Altorin]

I don't agree with your definition of cheating, I think in order to cheat you have to be using some method outside the parameters of the game, either by hacking it with an AR or Game Genie or other hacking software, using a cheat code in the game, or having someone else play the game for you and claiming it as your own.

Guides don't count as cheating, neither does getting help from someone as long as you're still playing the game.

That being said, I don't usually even LOOK at a guide or any other documentation about a game until I'm done at least one playthrough. I made that mistake with Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced and it ruined it for me, not just with spoilers, but knowing that you can get Steal Weapon really early means that everytime I play the game, I have to do that.

I don't count guides as "cheating", but I do feel they can detract from my own gameplay experience, but once I have played through the game, I'll ALWAYS crack out a guide and try and get everything I missed on my first playthrough.

 

[Copter400]

1. Mark of Kri. There's a certain point of difficulty where it stops being challenging and it becomes poor game design. An action game with a neat combat system that was bogged down with eight hours of compulsory stealth missions.

2. I don't think I've ever played a game that didn't require peeking at a walkthrough. Now I'm depressed.

3. Just too fucking depressed to answer this one...

 

[Arcadia2000]

I don't agree with your definition of cheating...

Guides don't count as cheating, neither does getting help from someone as long as you're still playing the game.

And this is a prime example of why humans as a species are at the top of the pyramid - we cooperate. I knew someone was going to come out and finally say, "I disagree." I was actually surprised it wasn't in the first 3 posts. Bravo!

So do we revamp the definition to write out strategy guides? Or are we talking about a whole different question here?

Because the original point was to determine what you've managed to accomplish on your own without help. Calling it "cheating" may have just been a convenient label. I certainly don't consider it cheating to look up what level Pikachu learns Thunderbolt at because trying to remember 490+ different leveling gains is freaking impossible.

I agree with you, actually. Cooperating with others isn't cheating, unless the rules specifically forbid it, and typically only carriers of online accounts mess with that (how many people have access to your account, and such).

So the question isn't exactly like wondering who cheated on their last math test, it's just wondering what you've done all on your own, what you feel bad for needing help with, and what you feel absolutely nothing negative (or maybe even you feel positively) for needing help with.

For the purposes of this thread, I'm only *calling* it cheating to need someone's help other than your own... but it certainly doesn't apply in the real world. If we stopped helping each other, the human race would have numbered days. I'm a survivor! =)

 

[NewClassic_v1legacy]

I don't agree with your definition of cheating...

Guides don't count as cheating, neither does getting help from someone as long as you're still playing the game.

And this is a prime example of why humans as a species are at the top of the pyramid - we cooperate. I knew someone was going to come out and finally say, "I disagree." I was actually surprised it wasn't in the first 3 posts. Bravo!

So do we revamp the definition to write out strategy guides? Or are we talking about a whole different question here?

Because the original point was to determine what you've managed to accomplish on your own without help. Calling it "cheating" may have just been a convenient label. I certainly don't consider it cheating to look up what level Pikachu learns Thunderbolt at because trying to remember 490+ different leveling gains is freaking impossible.

I agree with you, actually. Cooperating with others isn't cheating, unless the rules specifically forbid it, and typically only carriers of online accounts mess with that (how many people have access to your account, and such).

So the question isn't exactly like wondering who cheated on their last math test, it's just wondering what you've done all on your own, what you feel bad for needing help with, and what you feel absolutely nothing negative (or maybe even you feel positively) for needing help with.

For the purposes of this thread, I'm only *calling* it cheating to need someone's help other than your own... but it certainly doesn't apply in the real world. If we stopped helping each other, the human race would have numbered days. I'm a survivor! =)

I agree with most of this, although I may be inclined to disagree for Adventure games.

 

[Caliostro]

I don't agree with your definition of cheating...

Guides don't count as cheating, neither does getting help from someone as long as you're still playing the game.

And this is a prime example of why humans as a species are at the top of the pyramid - we cooperate. I knew someone was going to come out and finally say, "I disagree." I was actually surprised it wasn't in the first 3 posts. Bravo!

So do we revamp the definition to write out strategy guides? Or are we talking about a whole different question here?

Because the original point was to determine what you've managed to accomplish on your own without help. Calling it "cheating" may have just been a convenient label. I certainly don't consider it cheating to look up what level Pikachu learns Thunderbolt at because trying to remember 490+ different leveling gains is freaking impossible.

I agree with you, actually. Cooperating with others isn't cheating, unless the rules specifically forbid it, and typically only carriers of online accounts mess with that (how many people have access to your account, and such).

So the question isn't exactly like wondering who cheated on their last math test, it's just wondering what you've done all on your own, what you feel bad for needing help with, and what you feel absolutely nothing negative (or maybe even you feel positively) for needing help with.

For the purposes of this thread, I'm only *calling* it cheating to need someone's help other than your own... but it certainly doesn't apply in the real world. If we stopped helping each other, the human race would have numbered days. I'm a survivor! =)

If you don't do it yourself it's cheating. You may call it "cooperation" to help you sleep at night, or to not feel like your "great accomplishment of 100%" or whatever is completely moot and worthless cause you didn't do it yourself, thus it could have just as easily been accomplished by anything with motor functions and enough IQ to barely function.

If you don't do the thinking yourself it's cheating, because YOU'RE NOT DOING IT YOURSELF, you have no merit in it. Try using that logic in college. "I didn't cheat on my test! I was merely cooperating with my fellow mate in order to learn the answer to the question"... Yeah, that'll work.


As for when I personally "cheat" in a game, 2 occasions:

1 - When the game developers pull one of those "dick moves" I consider a cardinal sin in gaming: "You have 1 chance to acquire this super rare and awesome item/whatever. We give you no clues whatsoever, and if you fuck it up, you gotta restart the whole game".

2 - To bypass the stupid arbitrary gameplay lengthening grind quests and/or moon logic puzzles. A good example are those "Erm... So I have to blink this light at that spot on the wall that looks like....the rest of the wall....3 times, then go talk with that guy I saw 2 hours ago, spin in place once in each direction and then fight the monster...right... None of this was even referred to before..." kind of quests, and pointless stuff like "collect the 100 hidden packages" in GTAs long after I finished the game and collected most of them.

 

[Flour]

I almost never play a game without cheating.
I play games to enjoy myself, not to be challenged.(I do complete missions without cheats, but only when I can be bothered to retry some sections multiple times)

I play RPGs with a guide.
I play every game with god mode(except RPGs, those are easy enough) active.
I will, at times, use a trainer for infinite ammo in an FPS, but never before I've completed the game at least once.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

Back in the N64 era and perhaps before, cheat codes were an integral part of many games. It was understood that you would beat the game legitly to unlock the super awesome cheats. In Goldeneye, you would give everyone tiny bodies and giant heads, then run around with paintball rocket launchers wasting 'em. I remember using the second Bunker level for maximum carnage. Turok and Shadows of the Empire also had great cheats that were too fun to use.

EDIT: And of course, Age of Empires had some really great cheats. Like that freaking insane rocket car, or the best one ever: George Crushington. I've grown out of cheating in my strategy games, but I have really fond memories from my youth.

 

[MarcusStrout]

No shame: Sims 2. I reprogram the guy using boolProp testingcheatsenabled true every time i make a new character, just to get the right lifetime aspiration.

No help: PoP: two thrones and PoP: warrior within. Damn, some of that stuff, i couldnt find BUT I SWORE ID NEVER CHEAT cause itd make me feel like a complete tool.

Still shameful: I shit you not, I cheated in the GBC Harvest Moon game on the island. I couldn't get enough turnips once, so i figured out how to cheat. It ruined it for me.

Also, a distinction should come up between cheats and codes built INTO the game, like many in casual games and the master weps in a lot of games, and those cheats that are related to Gameshark and Fastplay and stuff. The former is legit to a point, as long as some realtime gameplay must be approached to get to them. Bond ones are more like upgrades.

 

[LewsTherin]

No shame at ALL: Last Terran stage of Starcraft. Constructed about 12 nukes. SUCK ON THAT
ARCTURUS!!!!

No help: That one puzzle with the doorways in the bathhouse in Sands of Time. Your basic Go through the doors in order, but we won't give you any hints at all about with ones.

Still shameful: Ran out of lockpicks in Oblivion...../unlock ;-;

Something fun: an army of LAZAR BEARZ!! in Age of Mythology. FOR CANADA!

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I cheat during GTA games, and use walk-throughs for sidequests or optional quests, but other than that, I'm totally legit. Other than using Hyperspeed on Guitar Hero, but that doesn't really count.

 

[mark_n_b]

I don't use cheat codes until I've completely beaten a game legit, and never online.

Same here. Although I will admit that sometimes the cheating is more fun than the real game, if slightly less challenging.

People who clearly didn't read the original post.

For me, when I cheat, it is a time / value thing. So I don't usually think about it. But, I do prefer playing without cheats, just to say I can.

I feel no guilt about using gameFAQs with any Leisure Suit Larry game, or Links Awakening, where you have to jump off that bridge into the lake (what the hell? was that nintendo, you had to complete this side quest to finish the game too. Cripes...). There is also Myst II. I could not have finished it without cheats... but at the same time I feel truly defeated by using them.

Of course Myst is the most advanced of advanced, I have only known two or three people who have finished a Myst game on their own. And none of them did so quickly.

 

[Anarchemitis]

I only cheat to.. as GLaDOS once put it "enhance" gameplay. Like being able to set Metrocops on fire in Half Life 2, or Shooting people from beneath the level in Star Wars Battlefront. Lord knows I wouldn't do things like that in online multiplayer.
Glitches are toys, not tools.

 

[SovietSecrets]

1. I felt no shame cheating in Pokemon Red(takes too long to level) or also in Hitman Blood Money on the hardest difficulty(no saves so god mode)

2. The game that gave me most sense of accomplishment was Sim City 2000. After hundreds of attempts i was able to build a city that ran well and wasn't always in debt, given i was 9 at the time was very happy with myself.

3. I feel really shameful cheating in portal when i first got it. I did go back and rebeat it all by skill to somehow atone for my actions.

 

[Kirosilence]

1. I have played a good number of Turok games, and I never feel shame in cheating in them.. for some reason I just can't play them unless I have all the weapons unlocked, with a side of god mode.
2. Every other game.
3. I don't cheat often, I feel it saps the essence of what the developers were going at. (Unless it is an amusing cheat Like big head mode, or unlocking character costumes, something that doesn't take away from the game) In my opinion, activating god mode to blow away a particularly difficult challenge in a way devalues the work put into that encounter.

Of course when it gets to Turok games, I feel quite the opposite, I feel the instinctive need to cheat. I think I can blame the first ones (Turok, and Turok 2) for having such obvious cheats, that really you had trouble beating the game without; It poisoned me in my youth.