To cheat or not to cheat....

It's always amazed me at how fast cheats come out for games after they're released. I personally don't use cheats in games unless it's one that I've beat and I'm just screwing around and trying to find secret areas or items that I may have missed when I played through earlier.

My younger brother on the other hand likes to find cheats for games right away so he can have the best weapons/items from the start and then he blows through the game like it's nothing.

I asked him about why he uses cheats and he told me it's just kind of a habit from when he used to always do it. He said he doesn't use cheats as much as he used to, but sometimes he just doesn't realize it until it's too late.

So, my questions are - aside from the poll: (I consider using a walkthrough as cheating) 

Why do you use cheats to beat a game?

OR

Why do you not use cheats?

Cheats can give the game so much replay value, making parts of a game that were tedious extremely fun.
Don't feel like waiting for the Rocket Launcher in HL2? Impulse 101, and you'll have bodies flying everywhere!

I don't mind using cheats. I pick and choose the cheats i want so i can play the game on my terms. The name of the game is to have fun. That's how i like to do it. And if i'm in the mood for a challenge then i play without. It's no big deal.

And yeah, i guess walkthroughs qualify as cheating. It gives you an advantage in the game that otherwise you wouldn't have.

It's always amazed me at how fast cheats come out for games after they're released. I personally don't use cheats in games unless it's one that I've beat and I'm just screwing around and trying to find secret areas or items that I may have missed when I played through earlier.

My younger brother on the other hand likes to find cheats for games right away so he can have the best weapons/items from the start and then he blows through the game like it's nothing.

I asked him about why he uses cheats and he told me it's just kind of a habit from when he used to always do it. He said he doesn't use cheats as much as he used to, but sometimes he just doesn't realize it until it's too late.

So, my questions are - aside from the poll: (I consider using a walkthrough as cheating) 

Why do you use cheats to beat a game?

OR

Why do you not use cheats?

neatfeatguy

Masturbation isn't soulless! It's essential to a healthy mind! "If you don't whack it, you'll go whacko" as I always say.

Anyhoo.... as far as cheating goes, In my opinion a person who buys a new game and immediately looks up the cheatcodes before even PLAYING it is a total waste of good brain matter. What's the **** point in playing games if you're not even going to TRY to see what the designers have spent all their time developing as a challenge? You're better off taking your CPU into the backyard and laying into it with a tire iron, at least you'll LEARN something by the end of the experience.

Cheating is great as a means of getting past a place you're stuck at. Getting stuck without knowing how to proceed is incredibly frustrating, so why not go online, find out what the next step is, and then go back to playing on your own?

However, habitually cheating in every game you play from the beginning is nothing more than gratuitous laziness.

Yes, I cheat. But just under certain circumstances. If I get a game and I'll know it'll be for the long run (I'm a sucker for Star Wars games) I won't use cheats. But when I've obtained a game and I'm checking it out to see if it's worth an investment (in a lot of time for instance), I'll use cheats to get a quick feeling of the game.

Or another reason for cheating would be when I've misjudged a game (like with Doom 3) and I think a game will be worthwhile, but it'll get boring after a while, I'll cheat to finish is. I know this last argument is lame, but when I've started the game, I want to finish is, anyway I can.

So, to cheat, when the game is a try-out of boring and Not to cheat, when I really want to dive into the experience of a game.

Masturbation isn't soulless! It's essential to a healthy mind! "If you don't whack it, you'll go whacko" as I always say.

Anyhoo.... as far as cheating goes, In my opinion a person who buys a new game and immediately looks up the cheatcodes before even PLAYING it is a total waste of good brain matter. What's the **** point in playing games if you're not even going to TRY to see what the designers have spent all their time developing as a challenge? You're better off taking your CPU into the backyard and laying into it with a tire iron, at least you'll LEARN something by the end of the experience.

Cheating is great as a means of getting past a place you're stuck at. Getting stuck without knowing how to proceed is incredibly frustrating, so why not go online, find out what the next step is, and then go back to playing on your own?

However, habitually cheating in every game you play from the beginning is nothing more than gratuitous laziness.

SageFrenchkiss

I think i have to disagree with that. I don't think games are supposed to be a learning experience or a test of your skill. They can be, but they don't need to be. It's all about fun. Fun is different things to different people. You may like a deep challenge. Others might like putting their skill to the test. Still others might like being a one man wrecking crew. I really don't think it has anything to do with laziness.

I use cheats if I am stuck, and only carefully.  I will never use god mode, but if I really need some health and I just quicksaved and cant restart the battle, I might give myself a health pack or two, maybe some ammo and armor.

Cheating can be fun when replaying games too.  Ever give your KOTOR 2 like 30 wisdom and get level 3 force lighting?  Dead bodies everywhere!

Typically I'll go code free on my first playthrough, only using them if I can't get by without them and I really want to beat the game. Otherwise I'm not going to waste my time if I'm not interested in the story.

that being said, I make no qualms about using cheats. The way I see it, they wouldn't have put them in the game if they didn't want you to use them, so it's really just taking advantage of all of your resources.

I have no problem with cheats, I just personally like the satisfaction of beating a game.

I cheat whenever i'm badly stuck somewhere .

I use Walkthrus sometimes too .

The most I have ever done is consult a walk-through if I am really stuck on something...otherwise I think cheating does not provide the same level of satisfaction.

In the long run, it doesnt really matter if your neighbor used god mode throughout Oblivion.  How does it effect anyone but the person playing the game?  Will you lose sleep if you found out a buddy of yours was playing Oblivion on god mode?  Unless you are playing Counter Strike or something.  Its not really fun for anyone if someone was playing with unlimited ammo or some other cheat that gives him an advantage to everyone else.

Game developers goal is to make the game fun.  Some people do like to screw around hours, others like to breeze through the game to the end, its really what float your boat.  If the goal for people to be satified by having fun in a game, then cheating is an opinion.

Actually I do cheat on games.  What I like to do is trying using really small cheats.  Like playing FEAR or UT 2003, I would max out my ammo and get all the weapons.  I still died a bunch of times in FEAR and UT 2003 with all the ammo I need.  Not dying on FPS games make it too easy and not really fun at all.

Like I said in the end it doesnt matter if someone cheats.  For the developers what matters to them is someone bought their game.  If that person bought it just so they could cheat through the game they made, o well.

In the long run, it doesnt really matter if your neighbor used god mode throughout Oblivion.  How does it effect anyone but the person playing the game?  Will you lose sleep if you found out a buddy of yours was playing Oblivion on god mode?  Unless you are playing Counter Strike or something.  Its not really fun for anyone if someone was playing with unlimited ammo or some other cheat that gives him an advantage to everyone else.

Game developers goal is to make the game fun.  Some people do like to screw around hours, others like to breeze through the game to the end, its really what float your boat.  If the goal for people to be satified by having fun in a game, then cheating is an opinion.

Actually I do cheat on games.  What I like to do is trying using really small cheats.  Like playing FEAR or UT 2003, I would max out my ammo and get all the weapons.  I still died a bunch of times in FEAR and UT 2003 with all the ammo I need.  Not dying on FPS games make it too easy and not really fun at all.

Like I said in the end it doesnt matter if someone cheats.  For the developers what matters to them is someone bought their game.  If that person bought it just so they could cheat through the game they made, o well.

Jd1680a

I play mostly RPG and FPS (in that order). I always use cheats in FPS, because I think it's more fun that way. I never use cheats in RPG, because I don't need to (you can always find some way to progress in the game). 

For me FPS are about killing. You could be killing people, aliens, animals or other things. The main point is that you kill to progress in the game. I like to kill as many enemies as possible, with as many weapons as possible. That's what I think is the most fun about FPS. I want to indulge in unrelentless slaughter when I play and then such petty things as health and limited ammunitíon only prevent me from doing the above. In that way, using cheats serves my purposes very well.

It's a whole different thing when it comes to RPG, because RPG are not all about killng things. The main thing in a RPG is for your character to grow stronger by killing things and completing quests. In a game where the gameplay is set around your character's development from weak to strong, I think it's a waste to use cheats and get strong right away. It's much more rewarding to focus on a number of skills, spells etc. and choose to play the game a certain way, rather than having it all. Also, much more replay value that way.

Did you cheat online or offline in UT2003?dnuggs40

Offline.  you cant cheat while playing online.

I sometimes seek a walkthrough in GameFAQs to solve a puzzle that I'm either too bored to solve, or is in a game with heavy story (e.g. Final Fantasy) and I want to get on with it and see what happens afterwards.  I'm rarely stuck in a game and know if I try enough times, I'll probably get past the point.  It's usually lack of patience or boredom that makes me seek the codes or walkthroughs. 

I sometimes give myself cooler weapons in the more boring first-person shooters, especially the mundane levels.  Never god mode, though, or infinite lives, that takes all of the challenge away.   I always go back through a shooter and replay it with better weapon cheat codes the second time because it brings more replay value to the game.  I replayed Far Cry with a sniper rifle the entire way through which was a lot of fun because the game is mostly on big islands.

Another thing I'll do is sometimes read a walkthrough half-way through a game if its a title with a lot of hidden stuff and I feel I've missed most of it.  Sometimes I'll restart the game and use the walkthrough to give myself a 100% completion or win all the medals, access all the secret levels, unlock everything, etc....