Should games allow you to cheat?

[Legend]

I'm playing FTL for the first time and it's pretty cool. However it's still a roguelike and that's getting in the way of my enjoyment.

So for my third run I opened up the save file and gave myself a huge amount of scrap at the start of the game.

I'm glad it was easy to do.

Yet for Twisty Puzzle Simulator, saves cannot be edited. I put time and effort into making it hard to cheat the game. Is that right?


What are your thoughts on all of this? On one hand multiplayer games are ruined by cheating yet on the other hand games can be improved by cheating.

In The Forged Kingdoms, I'm thinking of building cheating into the game. That way people can cheat if they want, but it functions as a custom easy mode for leader boards and unlocks.

[the-pi-guy]

I have complicated feelings on this, and perhaps it's best to go by example.  

But I'd add the caveat that cheats are kind of loosely defined.  "Cheat codes" are definitely part of the game.  But they could still be considered cheating.  Stuff like using an action replay is not part of the game.  


Pokemon: I cheated in Pokemon by getting an action replay.  This is an instance where I felt okay about this because of how they set up the games and made it absolutely impossible to get certain things without actually going to a special event.  

Age of Empires: in general I feel that cheating takes away from this game in single player.  

Jak/Uncharted games: they had special "cheats" that added to the game.  They felt like rewards. And they were optional things.  

[Legend]

I beat FTL and I ended up save scumming too!

I have complicated feelings on this, and perhaps it's best to go by example.  

But I'd add the caveat that cheats are kind of loosely defined.  "Cheat codes" are definitely part of the game.  But they could still be considered cheating.  Stuff like using an action replay is not part of the game.  


Pokemon: I cheated in Pokemon by getting an action replay.  This is an instance where I felt okay about this because of how they set up the games and made it absolutely impossible to get certain things without actually going to a special event.  

Age of Empires: in general I feel that cheating takes away from this game in single player.  

Jak/Uncharted games: they had special "cheats" that added to the game.  They felt like rewards. And they were optional things.  

When playing Conan Exiles the past few days, I cheated by using the debug console. Instead of grinding for items I'd just spawn them once I discovered a source. It was all in game yet definitely cheating.


Fundamentally I think it comes down to the concept of protecting players from themselves vs accepting that devs are not perfect. 99% of the time players do not know what they want and make for horrible game designers. If they have the wrong type of freedom, it often leads to a worse experience. Hence cars in Age of Empires being fun in the moment yet taking away from the game.

At the same time though, some people aren't the target audience for the "pure" game or they have valid criticisms of it. This freedom allows them to mold the game closer to their ideal version.

[Xevross]

I mean this is really a case by case basis. Cheating like you mentioned in the OP feels wrong because its messing around with game files. Stuff like spawning stuff in in Minecraft though is part of the game and the only person you're really cheating is yourself and the sense of pride and accomplishment!

But I'd add the caveat that cheats are kind of loosely defined.  "Cheat codes" are definitely part of the game.  But they could still be considered cheating.  Stuff like using an action replay is not part of the game.  

Pokemon: I cheated in Pokemon by getting an action replay.  This is an instance where I felt okay about this because of how they set up the games and made it absolutely impossible to get certain things without actually going to a special event.  

Yeah, cheat codes are classic and good fun and normally just do something weird like spawning a plane in GTA. Those are good for sure.

The pokemon example is a good one, action replay was the only way I could get so many pokemon and items back in the day. While it is technically external cheating and probably wrong, the whole events system is also shaming and wrong imo so using those cheats to get pokemon was fine. Cheating in loads of rare candies to skip a grind is very different though.

At the end of the day basically its all about player enjoyment. External cheating should be blocked but then you have to make design choices so that players never feel like they'd want to cheat. And cheating isn't something you think about for 99% of the games you play, especially on console.

[kitler53]

multi-player: never. 

single player: i like it when after you beat a game they give you options to replay the game with cheats in place.  especially if the cheats are silly in nature it can give a game good replay value. 

also i feel like i cheated at valkryia chronicles by saving after every move.  but the perma death thing was not a good game design choice so fudge you game developer. 

bit mostly cheats take the game out of the game and aren't worth it. 

[Legend]

I mean this is really a case by case basis. Cheating like you mentioned in the OP feels wrong because its messing around with game files. Stuff like spawning stuff in in Minecraft though is part of the game and the only person you're really cheating is yourself and the sense of pride and accomplishment!
Yeah, cheat codes are classic and good fun and normally just do something weird like spawning a plane in GTA. Those are good for sure.

The pokemon example is a good one, action replay was the only way I could get so many pokemon and items back in the day. While it is technically external cheating and probably wrong, the whole events system is also shaming and wrong imo so using those cheats to get pokemon was fine. Cheating in loads of rare candies to skip a grind is very different though.

At the end of the day basically its all about player enjoyment. External cheating should be blocked but then you have to make design choices so that players never feel like they'd want to cheat. And cheating isn't something you think about for 99% of the games you play, especially on console.

also i feel like i cheated at valkryia chronicles by saving after every move.  but the perma death thing was not a good game design choice so fudge you game developer.

I "cheese" lots of games. It's easy and fun to beat bosses in ways devs didn't intend.


Full on cheating though is reserved for stuff like both of your examples, where the game design feels bad. Maybe it's universally bad or maybe I'm not the target audience but cheating in those circumstances makes sense.

[Legend]

How crazy, a thread popped up on resetera about this Games you used cheats/mods on to complete and felt great about | ResetEra

There's a Sekiro thread going on and it reminded me of my time with the game where I go managed to get to the half way point and simply gave up because I was tired of getting my dog handed to me and I wanted to play other stuff so....

 I cheated.

 Loaded up a mod, turned the speed right down and increased my damage output and honestly, after getting demolished for 15-20 hours it felt so good to cheese the game I'm not even mad I paid £30 to beat it that way. I got my fun in the end.

 So what games have you done the same with?