The Dangers of Games Cheats
When video game players use games cheats to gain an unfair advantage over other gamers, they are engaging in what is known as cheating. Examples of game cheats include auto aiming, speed hacking, teleport hacking, seeing through walls and becoming invincible. Game cheats are often used to get ahead in a game, but they can also be used to create a better gaming experience. Some developers make the use of cheats part of the gameplay experience while others try to prevent them entirely.
Cheating in games has been around since the early days of video games. A small number of gamers developed cheats for their own personal use to help them complete a game, but the majority of games cheats were created and sold by third-party companies that produced external hardware and software to modify game code before or during execution. These devices created a new industry and helped cheating become an integral part of gaming culture. Cheating became more common with the growth of multiplayer online games and the advent of the Internet, which allowed players to communicate cheats with other gamers.
While some cheats are designed to improve a player’s enjoyment of the game, most are intended to create an imbalance in a game. Some of these imbalances are trivial, while others can be significant. For example, if a player modifies their console or keyboard/mouse to fire weapons at a faster rate than the standard speed, they are cheating by creating an imbalance in the game.
A large portion of modern games are designed to prevent the use of cheats, or at least warn gamers if they do so. Some of these games also attempt to detect and punish cheating by disabling Trophies and Achievements, or displaying a message to the player after each wave in the Sanctum series of games.
Whether or not this type of anti-cheat protection is effective is a matter of opinion. Generally, it is accepted that cheating is wrong and should not be tolerated in competitive multiplayer games, especially when the cheater can easily see other gamers’ scores or achievements. However, many gamers simply cannot accept that they cannot beat the competition and begin using cheats in a futile effort to catch up.
Most modern game consoles have built-in tools to prevent the use of games cheats, but cheating is still possible on PCs and other home computers running Windows. A program such as Cheat Engine allows users to alter the memory of a game, modifying any aspect of the gameplay that is based on a numerical value. In order to change a game aspect, the user must first determine what value needs to be changed and then find a way to replace that number with non-operational code. Once the value is changed, the program will stop affecting the in-game behavior. In addition, many games that are played online use anti-cheat software such as PunkBuster, nProtect GameGuard and Valve Anti-Cheat to prevent cheating on their official public servers.