A Closer Look at the Mechanics of Games Cheats
Video game cheats are a persistent problem that compromises fair competition and disrupts the gaming experience. From aiming hacks to wallhacks, scripting and ghosting, this article takes a closer look at the mechanics of games cheats and the ongoing fight against them.
For decades, gamers used self-made cheats to overcome the challenges of tough games and improve their scores. These third-party cheats were often based on manipulating the 8-bit computing systems of the time by changing memory values, which were represented as numbers stored in a data block. This process was known as POKE. The results of these changes were often a random change to a stat, like lives or ammo, but they also allowed players to skip through the game and gain access to later levels. Players often shared these third-party cheats with other players by word of mouth, contributing to the popularity of gaming guides and the gaming craze of the 1990s that saw titles like Nintendo Power and Tips & Tricks become staples on lunchroom tables.
In more recent years, the global professional gaming industry has grown and changed how people think about cheats. The emergence of skill-based tournaments, or esports, has put a greater emphasis on rewarding players for their achievements in games without the need to use cheat codes. This shift in mindset has put pressure on developers to prevent cheating by modifying their coding to create controllable environments that cannot be exploited.
The most common types of games cheats include aimbots, wallhacks, scripting and ghosting. Aimbots are commonly used in first-person shooter (FPS) games to provide varying degrees of automatic target acquisition and calibration for the player. A wallhack is a type of software hack that enables the user to see through walls and other obstacles, while a scripting cheat lets the player automatically complete missions or achieve milestones in a game. Ghosting is another type of hack that uses a similar method to create a clone of the player, giving them an unfair advantage over other players by allowing them to hide from enemy detection.
Other types of game cheats involve leveraging the network to undermine the connection between the player’s computer and the server. This is often done by tethering the client computer to another player’s device, using wireless lag switches or by hogging network bandwidth. In the case of a wireless lag switch, this is accomplished by running a program on the player’s machine that tampers with the signal between the client and the server.
To combat these different methods of game hacking, the developers behind a game need to constantly update their anti-cheat software to adjust to new techniques and patterns. In addition to this, they must also continually monitor and report suspicious behavior. These community reporting mechanisms help keep the gaming experience as fair as possible for all players and are a key element in keeping games cheats at bay. In the end, however, it is up to the individual player to decide how they want to play a game and whether cheating is worth the extra effort required to attain their goals.