Cheats...

Do you like 'em?

Do they really make a game better?

What makes a good/bad cheat?

I think that cheats can improve some games and greatly damage others. Obviously cheating in multiplayer is pointless and just sucks but sometimes cheats in a single player game can add a whole new level of fun.

I like a cheat when it's a reward. For some reason i found it extremely satifying ripping through zombies with an infinite rocket launcher after I unlocked it in RE3. I also love a cheat when it doesn't necessarily make it any easier, just different. For example, I thought 'Ragtime Warfare' in CoD4 was genius as well as 'Large Gems' in GH3.

Post your thoughts!

I wish GTA4 had some of the cheat like in San Andreas.

For example, where the hell is my flying cars cheat? For that matter, where's my invincible exploding other cars on impact cheats?

Bakery:
Cheats...

Do you like 'em?

Do they really make a game better?

What makes a good/bad cheat?

I think that cheats can improve some games and greatly damage others. Obviously cheating in multiplayer is pointless and just sucks but sometimes cheats in a single player game can add a whole new level of fun.

I like a cheat when it's a reward. For some reason i found it extremely satifying ripping through zombies with an infinite rocket launcher after I unlocked it in RE3. I also love a cheat when it doesn't necessarily make it any easier, just different. For example, I thought 'Ragtime Warfare' in CoD4 was genius as well as 'Large Gems' in GH3.

Post your thoughts!

Cheats are great in a game like GTA. I really discourage cheating in the main storylines of games, though. That takes the feeling that you've accomplished something out of it when you beat the game.

Bullet time and special abilities. I've beaten the Max Payne's and I beat the Bourne game. I really wanted cheats for unlimited bullet time and adrenaline (respectively). I just really wanted to OD on those mechanics. When I bear Painkiller, I replayed it almost entirely in slow motion (an available cheat). Was so much fun firing a stake, and then moving to the side and watching it slowly pin demons to the wall.

I like cheating once I've beaten the game already. It's always nice to just walk into something that you know is certain death from experience without fear of harm to your character and having a good time making pretty explosions of the people that got in your way when you just wanted to finish a level.

Hell yeah landslide I did the same thing! :D And you reminded me of something else. It was cool in Enter the Matrix how they explained the cheats as 'hacks' so even when you were cheating, you still felt as though you were playing the game legitimately.

I agree with mjhhiv that cheating before you've finished the main story takes the feeling of acomplisment away.

God cheats are fun along with silly cheats.

Any and all cheats are cool, any and all haxors however suck!

Playing Half-Life 2 legit is one thing.
Playing Half-Life 2 with the developer's console is another.
Playing Half-Life 2 with the developer's console in the context of video production is also another.

depends,some cheats are fun MoH:Frontline's silly hats cheat was spectacular, and any and Mercenaries was hilarious with some of its cheats used. the portable airstrike was insanely unbelieveable.

But they do ruin a game if used before completing it legitamately.

I don't like cheats. I'm always too tempted to use them.

Example:

I couldn't bring myself to play the PC version of Oblivion because of all the cheats I could use. At first it just started as me raising a skill so I wouldn't have to grind, but pretty soon it turns into "hmm, well I'll just give myself that item so I don't have to go through the trouble of actually getting it!"

So I eventually got Oblivion for the 360, and played it the good, old fashioned way.

I always had a cheat cartridge for the gameboy colour, but I promised not to use it on Pokemon Yellow until I had completed it. Which is good, because I lost my bike in the process and Redis a painfully slow walker!

the rule of thumb i use is that you should finish the game without cheating. only after you beat the game should you use it

jim_doki:
the rule of thumb i use is that you should finish the game without cheating. only after you beat the game should you use it

I used infinite health in Graw after 1 mission :p

Game cheats are steroids for lazy thumbs. YOU'LL HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE SHAME FOREVER! ;) But seriously, beat the game and then use the cheats.

Cheat codes and cheat applications offer a limited but convenient way to modify a game.

Being able to weak a game to be more enjoyable is absolutely awesome.

-- Alex

Bleh; I've always found cheats to be irritating. They kill alot of the enjoyment of the game for me. Any game really. Sure, firing off a dozen nukes is hilarious, but it just gets boring after awhile.

Cheats are only fun for messing around. I have no qualm if someone cheats after finishing the game, enjoying being untouchable, or having unlimited shotgun shells, or something to make the game more fun. Though, if you cheat to finish the game, I think it's a waste since you've robbed yourself of the achievement of finishing the game.

stompy:
Though, if you cheat to finish the game, I think it's a waste since you've robbed yourself of the achievement of finishing the game.

So I should rob my self of fun?

Some people appreciate cheats because they would not be able to complete the game, even on easy mode, without them. Yes, these people exist. Yes, they should be able to see all of a single player plot no matter how they choose to do it.

For me, cheats in single player games are a non-issue. The value-add argument alone convinces me, but other good reasons exist. They should be in everything single player game, in my opinion. They should be available in coop modes. Most included cheats could probably be integrated into pvp modes via game modes and votes (like an auto-headshot level where EVERYONE gets 1-shot kills and can peek at clipping). With something like mayhem, more of a destructive thing can often be the funnest option.

I find it strange that people get irritated by cheats. If you don't like them because they "cheapen" the experience then don't use them, but then again I assume those people don't use them. But to get irritated at other people's cheating? What's that about? What is it to you if they "robbed (themselves) of the achievement of finishing the game"?
And to say that it's a waste- since when is the fun of gaming purely from completion? I still havn't completed Okami yet but goddamn that game is fun, it made itself more than worth the money in the first five hours! The only time others cheating would annoy me would be in multiplayer gaming because it disadvantages you, especially for those who feel so intrinsically linked to their character's wellbeing that their ego is bruised every time they're on the receiving end of a headshot.

I don't like cheats in the aspect of actually beating the game. If you can't get past a level, get better, don't just be a pansy and god-mode your way through it.

However, if you're just messing around, it doesn't matter. I have a file on GTA IV with a completed story mode, and if I just feel like having a jolly good time blowing some shit up, I load up a few cheats and go nuts. But when I'm done, I don't save.

So, it's cool to use cheats, just don't use them to your advantage and don't save unless it's just a joke file.

There is one exception to this, which is unlocking stuff you can only unlock via multiplayer, but you don't have any friends that play. The prime example I can think of is GH3. I played through and beat Expert mode, why should I be denied four songs just because I don't have any friends that play Guitar Hero, or who would have the time to sit through an entire co-op career? It's bullshit, I say.

Shadow Tyrant:
I don't like cheats in the aspect of actually beating the game. If you can't get past a level, get better, don't just be a pansy and god-mode your way through it

I likey god mode.

I might cheat to heal myself or get more ammo, but I wouldn't use God Mode. That just makes it boring.

Games are about becoming absorbed (or not absorbed if the game sucks) in a fantasy.

Cheating in games is the fantasy of being any action hero from an american movie.

If anyone wishes to argue against my right to cheat, then please talk to my secretary: Ms. Unlimited Ammo Cerebral Bore, or my complains manager, Mr. Unlimited Ammo Shredder.
Yes, Unlimited Ammo is a very common name where I'm from, or so it would seem.

Shadow Tyrant:

So, it's cool to use cheats, just don't use them to your advantage and don't save unless it's just a joke file.

And who are you to dictate how other people should or should not play their own games?

I love cheats. I usually don't use them outside of old nintendo console games and Grand Theft Auto. They enrich the gaming experience.

Shadow Tyrant:
I don't like cheats in the aspect of actually beating the game. If you can't get past a level, get better, don't just be a pansy and god-mode your way through it.

However, if you're just messing around, it doesn't matter. I have a file on GTA IV with a completed story mode, and if I just feel like having a jolly good time blowing some shit up, I load up a few cheats and go nuts. But when I'm done, I don't save.

So, it's cool to use cheats, just don't use them to your advantage and don't save unless it's just a joke file.

There is one exception to this, which is unlocking stuff you can only unlock via multiplayer, but you don't have any friends that play. The prime example I can think of is GH3. I played through and beat Expert mode, why should I be denied four songs just because I don't have any friends that play Guitar Hero, or who would have the time to sit through an entire co-op career? It's bullshit, I say.

No offense but this post is so hypocritical. It's like you're saying: "If you can't beat the game without cheating, too bad; however, in my case, which is different, it is allowed."
Self-rightous, too.

Afrophysics: It's called an opinion. I'm allowed to have one.

Dance The Revolution: Way to completely misinterpret what I said. There's a difference between beating a game and unlocking bonus content that would be otherwise physically impossible to attain.

Let me just rephrase my entire post:
I don't care what you do with your games, as long as it doesn't affect me (multiplayer). This is how I use it: [Insert post]. I don't think you should get bragging rights for beating Ninja Gaiden on Master Ninja difficulty if you god-moded your way through it. But that's just how I see it.

CHEATING IN MULTIPLAYER:
Multiplayer is ussually a competition. It's a way to show off how good you are at a game, See how skilled you are, and see who's the best player.And most important, it's fun to share a game with friends and have a good time. But When you cheat, You no longer are in any sort of fair competition. And your friends don't really have fun when you are pretty much owning them for 2 hours straight. Not to mention, no one will want to play with you, Your rep goes down, Your Xbox may be bricked, your XBL account banned, ect. Not worth it.

CHEATING IN SINGLEPLAYER:
This is Fine. After you beat a game, cheats can be a great way to get replay value out of a game. For example, Maybe their were secret areas with easter eggs and jokes in them, but you were worried about dying before, and couldn't risk it. A few button presses, and all of the sudden your invincible. Also, It can make some games much more fun. If you've played the sims, Sometimes you don't feel like doing the career building & what not. Maybe you just want to build a mansion. Cheat. One of the main reasons I picked up GTA SA was the expansive cheat system.And in brutally difficult games, some cheats can help make the game more playable.

For me, cheats are only acceptable for replay value.

Shadow Tyrant, I'm glad you managed to learn how to phrase opinions so as to not make it sound like you are self righteous
Disregard that, I misread both your posts, my humblest apologies.
Although I didn't say your not allowed to have an opinion, it annoys me when people use that argument as shield to criticism, as if I'm repressing you. Not that it matters now, with the confusion cleared up and all

*shrug* Cheating is fine if it doesn't involve borking someone else's game experience up, like in some sort of multiplayer experience. For me, I don't particularly play games to achieve anything - which is likely why I don't finish too many. I play them exclusively for enjoyment. When I stop enjoying, I stop playing. It's why I don't get stuck on MMOs. Takes me about 20 levels to get everything out of something like WoW that I'm ever gonna get.

Single players stuff? I'll do whatever is fun. In Bad Company it was methodically razing every structure I encountered to it's foundations. I know, I'm troubled. In the Sims it was building ostentatious houses (with the money cheat), and or convoluted houses that my poor Sims couldn't escape from. Fun! Whatever it takes.

The Debug in Ultima 7: The Black Gate. You can move any item to anywhere, you can tamper with NPC AI, NPC status flags, play around with items, you get a teleport map, God mode... LOTS of fun things to play around with!

shatnershaman:

stompy:
Though, if you cheat to finish the game, I think it's a waste since you've robbed yourself of the achievement of finishing the game.

So I should rob my self of fun?

I think I've worded it incorrectly, sorry. I meant that if you were to cheat, there wouldn't really be any sense of accomplishment. Does that clear things up?