Is Cheating on Single Player Computer Games Wrong?

[Mr Skeptic]

Is cheating on single player computer games wrong?

 

Do you consider the following cheating?:

1) Using the game's built in cheat codes?

2) Purposely using a bug in the game to benefit your player?

3) Saving/Loading to avoid losses?

4) Looking at online walkthroughs?

[insane_alien]

on the first time you play through the game, yes to all 4.

 

AFTER you've completed the game normally, nothing wrong at all. I find that cheats can enhance the game if used properly. However, just using them because you cannot figure out how to complete a level is wrong.

[forufes]

However, just using them because you cannot figure out how to complete a level is wrong.

lol, omg...

 

i'd say no to all four, cheat codes are part of the game, they're part of playing it. part of the fun. which games are for, especially in SP.. it's like asking if you can be selfish when masturbating:eyebrow:..

 

even tweaking and hacking the game are part of the fun, even if they're a game of their own, in the end you just enjoy yourself.

 

saves and loads are tools to be used tactically, walkthroughs are money\time savers and nerve soothers...

 

it's really up to the way YOU think a game should be played.

[insane_alien]

it's really up to the way YOU think a game should be played.

 

then why do you laugh at the way i think a game should be played?

 

don't be a hypocrit

[timo]

Doesn't cheating imply lying to someone or abusing someone's trust? I don't see how that would be the case in any single-player game.

[Dudde]

kind of agree with Timo - if it's a single player game, using cheats/hacks/bugs affect no one else. Those kinds of games are just there for you to have fun with, why waste time doing something that doesn't bring you entertainment.

 

Personally, I like losing games, flip the difficulty up and set myself up to die and then go out swingin - like in fallout 3, don't use anything but a combat knife. Ever.

[Pangloss]

Is cheating on single player computer games wrong?

 

Do you consider the following cheating?:

1) Using the game's built in cheat codes?

2) Purposely using a bug in the game to benefit your player?

3) Saving/Loading to avoid losses?

4) Looking at online walkthroughs?

 

In order for me to make a moral judgment that something is "wrong" the action has to first cause harm to me or to some other person unfairly. In this case there could be harm to the player, but that's freedom of choice.

 

So in that sense (the only sense that I care enough to judgment on) it's not wrong.

[Bignose]

What would be wrong would be claiming that you beat the game, and failing to mention the aids you received.

 

I think an a similar analogy would be people who claim they broke 80 golfing when they allowed themselves 1 mulligan per 9, fluffed their lie, and didn't assess themselves the proper penalties. They may have broke 80 at whatever game they are playing, but it wasn't golf. It was golf-like, but golf itself involves following all the rules.

 

I think that the same applies. If you use cheat codes and the like, you may be playing a game similar to the original, but it isn't quite the same.

 

As with Pangloss, it is "wrong" only if it hurts someone else, which is rather unlikely. Gambling on the result is about the only thing wherein someone else gets hurt unfairly, though if everyone goes into the gamble accepting a few rules allowed to be broken (again, a group of golfers that give each other mulligans), then it is fair. Otherwise, it is only you who actually knows what you did.

[Dudde]

good point bignose - although telling other people how well you did is something I attribute to affecting other players, and therefore wrong. Unless you wanted to show some of the absurd things you uncovered, because hacks or cheats can be highly amusing when used right.

[forufes]

then why do you laugh at the way i think a game should be played?

 

don't be a hypocrit

because i think it's funny, to take computer games which you play between you and yourself, seriously enough to label playing them a certain way WRONG..

 

besides, they way you offered the way you think games should be played didn't exactly leave some marginal space of acknowledgment of others' ways of playing, i made it clear my view was subjective, am not sure i can say the same about you:eyebrow:

 

at any rate, chillax man, no need to go throwing the word "hypocrit" around..

[padren]

then why do you laugh at the way i think a game should be played?

 

don't be a hypocrit

 

There is nothing hypocritical here: He's saying it should be up to the player, and he's not disagreeing with how you would play as the player - just with how you would judge other player's as playing it wrong.

 

 

Personally, I think it's up to the player, but agree that "winning" without disclosing how you won to others such as using cheats would be considered lying for sure.