Cheaters, I hate them, you hate them, your grandma who’s currently baking you some sweet apple pie hates them with a burning passion. But why do people cheat in video games? What gain is there from ruining everyone else’s online experience? Today I want to discuss that idea.
Before I go into this though, I have to point out that cheating offline personal at home is perfectly fine. The only person you’re affecting at that point is yourself. However, when you cheat online, it affects everyone. The joy of playing an online game, whether it be Dragon Ball FighterZ, Fifa, Battlefield or Civilization is knowing that everyone is put on an equal playing field. No one person has an advantage over the other person and outwitting/outplaying your opponents can be quite rewarding. It’s a test of skills and an overall sense of competitive play, whether with strangers or friends. Unfortunately, there are those who don’t seem to get it and have instead chosen the darkside.
Many in the gaming community have always just assumed that cheaters are basically losers. People who have no lives and are living in their mum’s basement. I won’t lie, I too have made this claim out of frustration of losing to someone in a fighting game. Realistically, there’s a variety of reasons why someone would start cheating and this video by Ethos titled “The Psychology of Cheating: Why do People Cheat in Multiplayer Games?“, perfectly explains the rationality behind those who decide to cheat.
I personally have cheated, OFFLINE mind you, but I’ve never had the interest of doing something like that online. It feels scummy, heck it IS scummy and I’m always afraid of losing all of my progress that I’ve invested into an online multiplayer. To add, cheating not only affect gamers but developers and businesses too. Can you imagine building a game for 4+ years, with the expectation of gamers playing it for 2+ years, only to have cheaters coming in and basically forcing players to drop the game after 6 months? That’s extremely devastating to these guys who’ve invested a lot of money into developing the game.
This doesn’t just apply to online multiplayer games too. Recently it was discovered that a Guinness world book holder by the name Todd “Zilla” Rogers has been caught lying and cheating in a number of games throughout his career. A video by Apollo Legend titled The Biggest Cheater in Gaming History? (1700+ Scores w/ no Evidence) highlights all of his wrong doings. So as you can see, it’s a big problem.
Personally, I don’t get it. Is it because they’re bad at a game and want to feel good or is it the thrill of knowing that you’re doing to something bad and that makes them feel like a badass? We’ll never know!
However, it’s true that companies like Blizzard are currently permabanning anyone who’s got cheating but that IF they’re caught cheating. As long as people can get away with it, it’ll remain a problem. Anyways, let me know you’re thoughts on the matter and how you feel about cheaters.
