Wasn't sure where to put this, but I figured since it's video game related it'd go here. If not, feel free to move it.

After hearing a bit about a certain incident regarding Team Fortress 2, I was wondering what other people's opinions are about this, or on the matter of cheating in general.

Honestly, I don't play the game, so I don't even really care too much. However, I do feel that this sort of stuff is really dumb, ridiculous even, and it's this sort of thing that ruins online gaming to me. It's not even that these people cheated for the most part (for HATS of all things), but it's that these people are complaining and whimpering about this that really gets me. Yes, these cheaters are complaining about Valve (the company behind TF2) removing their "hard-earned" hats because they clearly broke the rules. Some insist that this "wasn't in the rules" or "wasn't frowned upon". However, anyone who's played online games would know that any use of a third-party program is against the rules as it gives the players who use them unfair advantages. It's gotten to the point that they even created this wall between those who cheated and those who didn't, or TF2's case, those who wear halos (an item Valve released to those who didn't cheat) and those who don't (refusing to heal a non/halo, booting a non/halo, etc.). It's completely absurd and ridiculous how something like this can make such a big disturbance on a gaming community.

As for cheating in general, I'm usually not cool with it. However, depending on the game itself, I may use them usually only to amuse me (such as GoldenEye OO7 for the N64, that's a game that's funner to use cheats then to play legitimately). However, if its cheats that unlock new content without working for them, I'm usually quite against that and would only use it if I find the task(s) in question either to be absolutely impossible (even then, I feel bad about it) or if I lost save data for a game and didn't wish to unlock these features all over again. Other then that, I'm not for cheating and I'm personally against it.

So how about you guys?

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The Local Video Gaming Lunatic

Recent stuff I'm into:

Watching: A Certain Scientific Railgun (ep.14, stalled), Hoshi no Kirby (ep. 71, stalled), Nazo No Kanojo X (ep. 8), Acchi Kocchi (ep. 8)
Reading: nothing

Hmh. People are stupid. Yeah, I pretty much agree with you on all that you said and on the article. Except, the only time I use cheats is to do silly stuff, like changing the characters and colors in those SNES Bomberman games, or experimenting by changing values. I've already beaten the game and it's not a massively multiplayer experience I am disturbing, so there's nothing wrong with it. Can't say that I advocate cheating to gain something you never got before, though, even in games that aren't massively multiplayer. But yeah, I basically agree.

I don't believe in cheating in online games, but for a game that I may not care about so much I'd be willing to toss some cheats in to make it interesting. Normally not ones that give unfair advantages so that there's still a challange to the game, unless I really don't care about the game and am just testing it. Doing this can help make a game feel more fresh, I typically don't use cheats when I play games though.

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"Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they're not entitled to their own facts."

I think using third party programs would be cheating, obviously. But, exploiting the game is fine imo. It's the programmer's fault  

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The Elemental Stone of Shadow

I have some clear cut rules. If it is a single player game I've no moral obligation not to cheat, infact it's fairly likely that I will... especially when comes to unlocking the extras cause I don't feel like draining more time into the things after I've finished them (or for experimental superfun, or whateverd. If it's an online game I don't cheat. I'm not above poking into the games data archives in order to discover information early to aid in my decision making processes though (and to write guides), nor am I afraid of modifying game scripts to make my life easier (interface/view tweaks and other stuff that doesn't change my interactions with the server, just makes it more friendly for me the person to see what's going on). Infact I'm not even opposed to using various hacks (one game required a specific registry entry for example, a GM actually told me that it did, and the required entry was easy to find with the right tools) to force a game into a window despite it being a violation of TOS. Running a program to idle for some gain isn't something I'd do though, I'm quite capable of being idle without the computers help (plus I don't care to do obvious things to get items I'm not entitled to). I'm not afraid of the punishments for my actions though, they can be taken if it needs be. It's never happened yet mostly because I'm not actually doing anything that would affect other players negatively. There's been a few times where I've requested permission to publish a few of my tweaks and was not only given permission but given some rewards for my involvement in the community.

--edit-- also my state doesn't exist in your poll. I neither use cheats only when I can't achieve something or all the time, instead it's a balance based almost entirely on what I feel like doing at any specific time.