Are you a Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater? Why do you do it?

[SlowCoder]

I'm not typically a cheater. But there are times I may do it to get hat one special weapon or tool. But only in special circumstances. For instance, I've played and beaten all of the Ratchet and Clank games multiple times over (3-4 times each). But I've never gotten the RYNO gun due to the outlandish price for the weapon. So, on my 5th time through Ratchet and Clank 1, I'm cheating, using a bug in the game to get enough money to get that much sought after RYNO. Normally, I'd have to play for weeks on already defeated levels just to get the money.

 

What have you cheated for?

[HatefulGravey]

I have used save states to practice the same level of a highscore game over and over again. For example, I have taken to playing a lot of Kung Fu on the NES lately. I have used an emulator to practice the 4th level over and over again (as the end boss gives me hell). In this way I can improve my skills on that level without having to go through the first 3 boards that are very easy to me at this point every time I want to practice.

 

Not sure if that is really cheating, but save states are normally a cheating tool, so I figured it counts.

[Reaperman]

Sometimes when JRPG's get annoying, I'll 'cut out some grinding.' Usually I'll cleanly get up to a certain point where I know I'm about to quit anyway because I've pretty much stopped having fun. At that point I can either spend a week grinding in circles, or 5 minutes with a cheat device. Oh look, lvl 99 with a billion Gil--suddenly I'm not faced with so much drudgery and can continue the story...with one hit.

 

Also in one specific instance, gran turismo on psp, I cheated by changing what day I was on so I could go to the correct car dealer because they made that game so freeking annoying.

Edited August 15, 2012 by Reaperman

[Cynicaster]

On the rare occasion I'm playing a game where the only object is to "finish" the game, then I'm almost guaranteed to cheat in one way or another if it's possible. Games like that are just for a quick "interactive experience" so what's the point of running around in circles and getting nowhere?

 

On the other hand, I never cheat if I'm playing a game for score.

[NE146]

Unless it's in a multiplayer competitive-type setting, the whole "cheating" thing in video games is overblown.

 

If it's a game meant for single-player enjoyment, play it how you like. It's your leisure.

 

i.e. I've played countless countless games of arcade Pacman and Robotron over the past 3 decades. Well, nowadays sometimes in MAME I like to turn on the cheats for invincibility and other odd things (e.g. no Hulks in Robotron).. and what? What's the controversy there.

[HatefulGravey]

On the other hand, I never cheat if I'm playing a game for score.

 

If you are playing for the score cheating ruins the game entirely. The save state thing I normally do just let me practice something over and over so I can improve on a challenging pattern without dealing with everything else. For example, the third elevator board on Donkey Kong. You can play through every board before it over and over just to die there over and over until you get it, or you can save the state at the start of that board and play it over and over again as a single board. It works.

[+Gemintronic]

I'm pretty sure cheating nowadays is defines as things like using aimbots online. Savestates and game genie codes in single player are just necessary crutches given an adults busy schedule.

 

I still don't understand the fools who subscribe to services that pump out new aimbots and macros for online games. Do they feel they can't compete but still need to feel entitled to prestige? Someone's not raising their kids right..

[NE146]

On the other hand, I never cheat if I'm playing a game for score.

 

If you are playing for the score cheating ruins the game entirely.

 

I don't see anything wrong with that either.. i.e. what if you just wanted to roll over the score?

 

HOWEVER of course it's obviously ruinous if used to dishonestly say to other people: "Look what I scored in this game", or in a competitive setting

[Seob]

I don't cheat to finish a game. But I may cheat when i'm in the mood of some mayham. I did use to drive a montain stage in grantorismo on the ps2 continuesly to generate a lot of money.

[SlowCoder]

Not sure if that is really cheating, but save states are normally a cheating tool, so I figured it counts.

I think I'd categorize what you're doing as practice. You're only using the game saves to practice, then will return to the console to play for real. Kind of like how a boxer practices before his championship fight! If you were actually using the game saves to win the emulated game, that would be cheating.

 

'grinding'

"Grinding". Yes, that's it. Thanks! I don't mind a little grinding, but in my case with Ratchet and Clank, that's a hell of a lot of grinding. In that game, once you've passed a level, you can return, but you won't get nearly the amount of money again.

 

On the rare occasion I'm playing a game where the only object is to "finish" the game, then I'm almost guaranteed to cheat in one way or another if it's possible. Games like that are just for a quick "interactive experience" so what's the point of running around in circles and getting nowhere?

 

On the other hand, I never cheat if I'm playing a game for score.

I do my very best not to ever cheat to forward my career in any game, but in some games, there just seems to be absolutely no alternative. After 3-4 days of hitting a game, to the point of almost losing complete interest, it's time to cheat, just to move forward and enjoy the game again.

 

If it's a game meant for single-player enjoyment, play it how you like. It's your leisure.

 

.. and what? What's the controversy there.

While it's not my style, you'll get no controversy from me!

 

Games are meant to entertain us. If they fail to entertain, and only frustrate, then it's time to "fix" the problem.

[NE146]

Here's a current example. I'm playing Adventures of Lolo 1, 2, 3, As well as the jap versions including Eggerland. All on the DSi XL using an emulator and FULLY implementing save states (which thankfully are super fast using NESds)

 

We all know how Lolo is.. if you mess up one thing (push a block too far) you start the stage over again and repeat. See now that's where Savestates are great. I can save before I push a block and if I overpush I just instaneously load back my spot. It also allows quicker experimentation without having to redo everything prior again, just to get to that point.

 

Yeah it's not the way the game is SUPPOSED to be played, but I'm having a blast playing it. The puzzles still need to be solved. And as far as paying dues, I've finished the games multiple times over the years already playing normally. So now it's just pure leisure.

[the.golden.ax]

It has been a decade or so since I've cheated at a console game with a code or something like that. I'm pretty sure Command and Conquer on Saturn was the last time (when it was still a current game). Now arcade... that's another story. Some of those manic shooters are "quarter munchers" and you have to keep hitting the credit button... that's what they designed them to be (money makers!)

[Protoplasym]

I've never cheated in a MP game. Wouldn't know how to, wouldn't want to even it was easy to do...

 

Half Life and Counterstrike were the last bastions of hope with regard to quality MP Gaming imho... it's all gone downhill since then.

 

 

I was heavily into MP Gaming for a year and a half and loved every minute of it... until the head bots started, until people started Lazer Jumping like madmen all over the place, and then the wall hacks began... needless to say, I gave up on MP gaming. Warcraft 3 reinvigorated the fascination with MPGing once more, but past that... I haven't done 'any' MPGing on the PC (not counting LAN). It's not worth the hassle imo.

[Rex Dart]

Maybe this will answer your question...

[the.golden.ax]

In honor of this thread, before packing up a CMVS I built for someone today, I beat Captain Tomaday on invincible (using the 3.0 bios cheat mode).

[Rex Dart]

I cheat because it's fun to tweak the rules. That's why 50 twists on Poker exist.

[Tursi]

I cheat all the time. I usually just want to see the game, I don't usually have time to get good at it. So unless it's super easy, I'll cheat. Sometimes I'll spend more time working out how to cheat than finishing the game would take, but.. that's fun for me too.

 

I've used cheats to train at games I did care about getting good at too, of course. But there were not too many.

 

Of course I don't cheat at Multiplayer and I don't play anything for score.

Edited August 15, 2012 by Tursi

[+Gemintronic]

Ironically if you find a bug in an online game the developers tend to ban you instead of just fixing said bug. It's not a cheat if it's built into the game.

[HatefulGravey]

Oh yeah, I did cheat at CoD for a while there. I had the infinite coin glitch worked out so I could get all the double xp and gun unlocks and all that jazz as soon as I hit the 2nd prestige. I don't know how many of you that made since to, but there it is. There was no real advantage to it but the look of my name and weapons, but it was surely cheating and at a MP game.

[Schizophretard]

I cheated on the first few Resident Evils because I was only interested in solving the puzzles, exploring, and the story. I didn't like trying to survive to the next type writer and if I died I would go back to the last type writer. They felt like Pitfall 2's check points and were annoying so, I would cheat.

 

I would use the money cheat on Sim City for SNES because I was only interested in the city building and not money management. The same for Civilization 2 on Playstation.

 

I would use the warp cheat and the one that allows you to edit the game on Sonic the Hedgehog.

 

I used cheats on Playstation's Command and Conquer games but I can't remember exactly which ones. I do remember using the code that would turn the resources into people for Soylent Green but that isn't a cheat.

 

I cheated on the GTA games.

 

I used the warp zones on the Super Mario Bros. games.

 

I used my Game Genie for my Game Boy a lot.

[goldenegg]

I've got nothing really new to add here. Like others, many times I just want to see the game through the end. I can still have one hell of a time playing a game using cheats.

[Schizophretard]

Oh, and the two shots on 2600 Space Invaders.

[Shannon]

I don't necessarily cheat n the formal sense (cheat codes)... However since I'm more concerned about "experiencing" the game rather than mastering it I do the following. Please note this is mostly inspired by the fact that I don't have much free time to sit down and play through alot of games.

 

1) Gamefaqs or hint books. I use these alot to show me where things are and in some cases how to solve levels I may hav difficulty with.

2) On emulators rewind and savestates. Used for various reasons.

3) The aforementioned Sim City money cheat.

4) On emulated arcade games alot of times I'll go into the dipswitch settings and give myself the most possible lives and the best extra life settings.

 

Never do I cheat or use cheats when in something like a high score competition, etc.

 

However there is one time I did explicitly cheat online. I activated some cheats in Mario Kart and used them to get my skill points maxed out. Once I got them maxed out I then proceeded to work on "losing" those points and trying to decrease my ranking to make it low as possible. I think dereasing my rank was probably the funnest. I also fooled around alot (for a while there) by trying my best to keep the leaders of a track from winning. that was kinda challenging as well. But that is about the extent of any "online" cheating that I did.

Edited August 16, 2012 by Shannon

[Pixelboy]

I used the FAQs from gamefaqs.com to speed up my playthroughs of Metroid Prime, and the two Zelda Oracle games on GBC, mostly because I didn't have enough free time to allocate to playing these games "normally".

[SlowCoder]

However there is one time I did explicitly cheat online.

Many years ago, when the original Rainbow Six was all the rage, I was pretty good. We weren't a clan, but I, and my team of friends would go online and kick butt against other "clans". In our rooms, cheating was explicitly forbidden. When we got cheaters, who usually used clip/wall cheats, we'd use it against them by setting up a sniper to take them out as soon as they got close to their cheat location. They'd get frustrated, curse a bit, and leave of their own accord after about 10 minutes of not being able to "ownz" us.